If the Town of Baraboo board has their way it will undoubtedly be the end of wonderful natural areas like Baxter’s Hollow in Sauk County.  This time it’s not so much liability gone mad, but tax collectors gone mad.

There was an interesting article in the Baraboo News Republic today stating that the Baraboo Town Board wants to come up with a way to bill non-profit organizations for what they call “unusual costs” in response to local emergencies on their land. This of course is a response to the Nature Conservancy, who owns around 10,000 acres of land in Sauk county, taking about 9000 acres of that land off the tax rolls. To be fair of course, they are tax exempt and were not required to pay anyway. They did. To be good neighbors. Even now they donate at 2007 tax levels and continue to pay the equivalent of the current tax bills for another 960 working acres according to the BNR.  But that doesn’t satisfy some town board members.

To justify their pursuit of some form of non-profit land owner liability, the town seems to be using the rescue last fall of a hiker on the Nature Conservancy’s Baxter’s Hollow land west of Devil’s Lake State Park. You may remember that she spent the night in the woods and was located the next day cold, but alive and well. The town is taking  a unique approach to the issue of who should pay.  To the best of my knowledge, in most other cases around the country when a hiker, climber, or paddler gets into trouble the costs are covered by the tax payers or the individual themselves. Any one even slightly familiar with outdoor recreation is well aware of this debate. “Who gets the bill for the helicopter?”, is a reasonable question and it usually comes down to the individual who we must agree is ultimately responsible for their choices. The town of Baraboo board’s solution is nothing if not novel. Bill the land owner.  Not all land owners, just the non-profits of course. Great. What better way to close more land off to public use and further damage Sauk County’s economy?

I could also ask where normal rescue ends and “unusual” begins. If someone jams a foot in a crack between the sidewalk and the old church foundation who gets the bill? The Church? Heart attack in the Pews?  Who pays?  Again, we already know who gets the bill for public services on non-profit property.  The trick is in the word “unusual” which I only assume means, “Place with trees”. I’ve always believed society should do what they can to cover some rescue costs if possible. I mean, an emergency is traumatic enough without sending an virtually unpayable bill to the victim. Still, I can’t find fault with the concept. As a sea kayaker who’s paddled around the planet a bit, I know if I get in trouble out there, it’s my choice. My responsibility. The Baraboo Board in this case really seems to be saying it’s not about personal responsibility, it’s about the property owner’s tax status.  At a glance it seems as if the town  is pursuing a vendetta against the Nature Conservancy, more than simply trying to recoup costs. Maybe I’m wrong, but I doubt it.   It’s just so amazingly un-thought out. In the end this approach will only hurt residents, hunters, school groups, outdoor enthusiasts and business owners who are now using the land for for a variety of pursuits or profiting from the tourism dollars these lands bring in.

We need to stand with the Nature Conservancy here. We need to point out that if anyone is responsible for a rescue, it’s the person rescued, and that must be determined on a case by case basis as well.  If some new “Bill the Non-Profit” ordinance is passed, the Nature Conservancy will simply close the land to the public.  For a land owner risking liability, it would be the smart thing to do. Then of course the land will become off limits to everyone. Holding non-profit land owners liable, when they are freely opening that land to the public will hurt our community and stymie the growth of eco-tourism in Sauk County.   This proposal by the town of Baraboo seems to be simply short-sighted and possibly a bit vindictive politics by those who wish the Nature Conservancy would just get out of the way.

For More Information

Read – ” Town of Baraboo targets tax-exempt owners: Nature Conservancy would pay emergency costs.” – Baraboo News Republic

Nature Conservancy

Baxter’s Hollow Natural Area Slide Show from Skillet Creek

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