Why It Matters: Legislatures that meet year-round still have outstanding opportunities to enact policies that benefit sportsmen and women. In Wisconsin, reauthorizing the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Fund would continue to provide hunters and anglers with access to the State’s storied fish and wildlife resources, while creating a new hunting season for sandhill cranes would help farmers and dinner tables alike.
Highlights:
- With fall approaching, legislators in Wisconsin will be returning to Madison next month to round out the 2025 legislative year, with two pairs of important sporting bills awaiting them.
- One pair of bills would reauthorize an important fund that has acquired land for hunting and fishing in the State for nearly four decades.
- Another pair of bills would authorize a hunting season for sandhill cranes.
- The Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation (CSF) will actively work with legislators to advance and secure passage of these critical bills that expand opportunities for sportsmen and women.
While most state legislatures around the country adjourned in the early days of summer, those legislatures that meet year-round still have important work to accomplish when they return from their respective summer breaks – and Wisconsin is no exception. For sportsmen and women in the Badger State, there are two pairs of bills that CSF and the Wisconsin Legislative Sportsmen’s Caucus will be looking to help cross the finish line:
AB 315/SB 316: Reauthorizing the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Fund
The Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Fund (Fund) has created hunting, fishing, and trapping opportunities through land acquisition for Wisconsinites since 1989, but its coffers have been progressively eroded with each legislative reauthorization. Safeguarding the Fund, which is widely supported by the public, is a no-net-loss mechanism that is essential for protecting public land pursuits. Although this year’s reauthorization shifts the Fund’s primary focus from acquisition to conserving habitat and bolstering infrastructure on lands that the State has already acquired through the program, it retains acquisition capability.
AB 117/SB 112: Authorizing Sandhill Crane Hunting Season
Following the 2024 passage of a CSF-supported Wisconsin Legislative Council Study on population management options for sandhill cranes, legislation was introduced in both chambers during the 2025 session that would allow for a season. Sandhill cranes are responsible for significant crop depredation in the State and, given that hunting is the preferred wildlife management tool, the prospective season would alleviate agricultural conflict, generate revenue for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources through license sales, and put a delicious game bird, dubbed the “ribeye of the sky,” onto the plates of Wisconsin sportsmen and women.
With a return to Madison on the horizon, the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation will continue to express support to Wisconsin legislators about the importance of creating and maintaining opportunities for folks in the Badger State to participate in our time-honored outdoor traditions.
