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The Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Program
For 37 years, Wisconsin's conservation fund helped protect the places that make Door County special. In 2026, the Legislature let it expire. Here is what the program did for this peninsula — and how you can help bring it back.
© David Heilman
Wisconsin's Best Conservation Tool
Created in 1989 and named for a Republican and a Democrat, the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Program was Wisconsin's promise that land, water, and outdoor access belong to everyone.
For nearly four decades, the program gave the Wisconsin DNR the ability to protect valuable natural areas and wildlife habitat, safeguard water quality and fisheries, and expand outdoor recreation — and it funded a family of grants that helped local governments and nonprofits like the Door County Land Trust do the same in their own communities.
Over its lifetime, Knowles-Nelson invested $1.3 billion to help protect more than 650,000 acres across Wisconsin — at a cost of roughly $11 per resident per year. Research from the Nelson Institute at UW–Madison estimated that the lands it protected return about $2 billion in natural services to Wisconsin every year: clean water, flood protection, carbon storage, and the outdoor economy that communities like ours are built on.
What It Did for Door County
Few places in Wisconsin benefited more from Knowles-Nelson than Door County. By 2021, the program had invested more than $30.8 million in 265 projects across the county — places like the Ahnapee State Trail, Cave Point County Park, the Mink River Estuary, and Sister Bay Waterfront Park.
For the Door County Land Trust alone, Knowles-Nelson provided more than $10.7 million across 83 projects, often covering close to half the cost of protecting a property. Many of the preserves you can walk today exist because that funding was there when the land came up for sale:
- Bay Shore Blufflands Nature Preserve
- Kangaroo Lake Nature Preserve
- Detroit Harbor Nature Preserve
- Sturgeon Bay Ship Canal Nature Preserve
- Three Springs Nature Preserve
- Lautenbach Woods Nature Preserve
In all, the Land Trust has protected 10,600+ acres of Door County's forests, wetlands, and shorelines — and for most of our history, Knowles-Nelson was a partner in that work.
Protected With Knowles-Nelson Support
These graphics come from our 2021 campaign to renew the program — a gallery of Land Trust preserves protected with Knowles-Nelson funding, photographed by our members and volunteers.
How a 37-Year Promise Ended
The Wisconsin Legislature creates the Stewardship Program, named for two governors — Warren Knowles, a Republican, and Gaylord Nelson, a Democrat and the founder of Earth Day.
After a statewide campaign, the Legislature renews the program at $33.25 million a year through mid-2026.
For the first time in the program's history, a state budget passes with no Stewardship reauthorization in it.
Standalone renewal bills are introduced with bipartisan sponsors, but none receives a vote in the state Senate.
The Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Program expires after 37 years.
The program didn't end because Wisconsinites stopped supporting it — polling has consistently shown that large majorities of voters in both parties want it renewed. It ended because renewal never came up for a vote.
What This Means for Land Protection Here
The Land Trust's work has not stopped — but the ground under it has shifted. For decades, when an exceptional property came up for sale, state stewardship grants meant a gift to the Land Trust was matched by state dollars. Today there is no state match. Protecting land in Door County now depends more than ever on private support from people who love this peninsula.
As Executive Director Emily Wood put it in a recent interview with Door County Daily News, the Land Trust is preparing for life after Knowles-Nelson — leaning on outside grants and, above all, the generosity of private donors to keep protection projects moving.
Help Bring It Back
The coalition that fought for renewal has not disbanded. Team Knowles-Nelson, organized by our statewide partners at Gathering Waters, is working to restore the program — and history says it can be done: the program was created, expanded, and renewed across four decades because ordinary Wisconsinites kept asking for it.
You can help in a few minutes:
- Contact your legislators and tell them what protected land means to you and your family. KnowlesNelson.org makes it easy.
- Join the coalition at KnowlesNelson.org to get action alerts when renewal legislation moves.
- Spread the word. Most Wisconsinites have never heard of Knowles-Nelson — even though it built many of the parks, trails, and preserves they love.
Speak Up for Wisconsin's Lands and Waters
Renewal will only happen if legislators keep hearing that protected land, clean water, and outdoor access matter to the people they represent.
