Comprised of recommendations from a stakeholder group led by the Board of Water and Soil Resources (BWSR) and the Department of Natural Resources (DNR), this bill is a package of statute changes designed to improve the public value benefits resulting from the Wetland Conservation Act. Among its many initiatives, the bill includes:
- Stakeholder coordination in a new wetland working group to provide an ongoing process for developing improvements to the Wetland Conservation Act.
- Changes that include allowing counties to offer reduced property taxes to landowners for protecting wetlands on their property.
- Establishment of an interagency “rapid response team” to further wetland replacement.
- A report to the legislature from BWSR on the proposals to implement high priority areas for wetland replacement, in lieu fee replacement, wetland replacement siting, and actions eligible for credit.
STATUS: The bill is in the Finance Committee. (S.F. 1515)
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