AB 856

This bill makes numerous changes to the managed forest land (MFL) program

administered by the Department of Natural Resources.

Introduction

Under current law, certain forested land may be designated as MFL under a

program administered by DNR. Under this program, the owner of land designated

as MFL makes an annual acreage share payment that is lower than, and in lieu of,

the property taxes that normally would be payable. In exchange, the owner must

comply with certain forestry practices and have a management plan prepared for the

land. The owner must also open the MFL to the public for hunting, fishing, hiking,

sight-seeing, and cross-country skiing, but may designate up to a certain number

of acres as being closed to the public. For MFL that is designated as closed, the owner

must pay an additional closed acreage fee. An owner seeking to have land designated

as MFL submits an application to DNR that contains a management plan for the

land. If the MFL meets the eligibility requirements under the program, which

include minimum acreage requirements and requirements as to how much

merchantable timber can be produced on the land, DNR approves the application

and issues an order designating the land as MFL. An owner may choose to have the

order last 25 or 50 years.

Eligibility

Under current law, a parcel of land is eligible for designation as MFL only if it

consists of at least 20 contiguous acres. This was increased from a minimum of ten

acres under

2015 Wisconsin Act 358

. Under current law, the fact that a lake, river,

stream, or flowage, a public or private road, or a railroad or utility right-of-way

separates any part of the parcel from any other part does not render it

noncontiguous. Under this bill, land in a parcel may be composed of individual

portions no smaller than ten contiguous acres each that are not contiguous to each

other as long as all such portions are contained within a tract of contiguous land of

20 acres or more that is under the same ownership. Under the bill, the fact that a

lake, river, stream, or flowage, a public or private road, or a railroad or utility

right-of-way separates any part of the land from any other part does not render a

parcel noncontiguous and does not render ownership of the land noncontiguous.

These changes first apply to land designated as MFL by an order issued on July 1,

2016, which is the date on which the minimum acreage change and other eligibility

changes under Act 358 first applied.

Under current law, land is not eligible for designation as MFL if a building or

an improvement associated with a building is located on it. Current law specifies

that an improvement includes any accessory building, structure, or fixture that is

built or placed on the parcel for its benefit, but does not include, among other things,