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Saving land without Knowles-Nelson

Saving land without Knowles-Nelson

Plus: EHD reports top 1,600, the Fall Color Report is live, and deer vs. elk

Forrest Koslowski
September 24, 2026

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Mornin’ to the bowhunters. Last season, Matthew Kufahl of Hayward shot a 181-inch buck. Five days later, a new giant showed up on his trail camera. That deer even dropped its sheds right next to one of his cameras, and Kufahl figures they’d have scored around 188. On Sept. 17, he arrowed that buck on public land. Meanwhile, the biggest thing on our trail camera is still Uncle Paul.

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This week’s weekly:

🦌 EHD reports top 1,600, and fewer deer dumpsters this fall

🍁 The Fall Color Report is live

🏹 Deer or elk? Know before you draw

🌲 STORY OF THE WEEK: Saving land without Knowles-Nelson

Vintage postcard illustration of a beaver in an orange vest surveying a Door County creek

🦌 EHD reports top 1,600, and fewer deer dumpsters this fall LINK

The DNR has now logged more than 1,600 reports of dead deer in the southeast from the EHD outbreak, up from about 1,100 when we covered it last week. Most are in Washington County, with around 500 across Waukesha, Ozaukee, Dodge and Milwaukee. None so far beyond 20 miles of a confirmed case.
No changes to seasons or tags. The DNR’s deer health specialist says outbreaks like this are short-lived and herds bounce back quickly, so go hunt. People can’t catch it, and you can report a sick or dead deer on the DNR’s online form.
Separate headache: the DNR wants 17,000 CWD samples this year, but there will be fewer deer dumpsters than last year’s 127 thanks to rising costs and a tight fish and wildlife budget. Which ones go hasn’t been decided, so line up a backup like curbside pickup, a landfill or a transfer station. Not something you want to figure out with a buck in the truck bed.

🍁 The Fall Color Report is live LINK

Travel Wisconsin’s Fall Color Report is up for the season. More than 100 volunteers report on the leaves in all 72 counties, and the map updates all fall.
Sort by where the color is best right now for a last-minute drive, or by predicted peak week to plan ahead. Click a spot and it suggests places to stay, eat and explore nearby, and it links to the Wisconsin Trail Report if you’d rather hike or bike through it.
It got 1.4 million views last fall, making it one of Travel Wisconsin’s most-visited pages. Somewhere, a dad is already planning to pull onto the shoulder every six miles.

🏹 Deer or elk? Know before you draw LINK

Bow season is open, and the DNR wants you sure it’s a whitetail before you shoot. Wisconsin has only about 600 elk, in the central zone around Jackson County and the northern zone in Ashland, Bayfield, Rusk, Price and Sawyer counties.
How to tell: a cow elk runs 400 to 500 pounds and a bull 700 to 800, while your average whitetail is 100 to 150. Elk stand a couple feet taller at the shoulder, their antlers sweep back instead of curving forward, and plenty of them wear ear tags or collars.
Our elk came from Michigan in 1995 and Kentucky in the late 2000s. Elk season opens Oct. 17, with just 16 tags statewide, all drawn in advance. If your deer is wearing a radio collar, that’s your sign.

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🌲 STORY OF THE WEEK: Saving land without Knowles-Nelson LINK

Think of a spot where you like to hunt, fish, paddle or hike. Good chance Knowles-Nelson helped pay for it.

According to the program, nearly everybody in Wisconsin lives within five miles of land or water it helped protect. Yes, even you, Milwaukee. In June, its money ran out. Here’s what that means, one piece at a time.

What it was. For nearly 40 years, the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Program was how the state helped buy land for conservation and public use. It’s named after two former governors, Republican Warren Knowles and Democrat Gaylord Nelson, the guy who started Earth Day. Over the years it put about $1.3 billion into land and water projects.

How it worked. A lot of that land gets bought by land trusts. Those are local nonprofits that raise money to buy land and keep it wild. When a trust found a property worth saving, Knowles-Nelson usually covered about half the price. The trust raised the rest.

What changed. The program needed the Legislature to renew it, and that didn’t happen before its funding expired in June. So now that half has to come from somewhere else.

It was more than money. A Knowles-Nelson grant meant the DNR had looked at the land and agreed it mattered. Charles Carlin of Gathering Waters, an alliance of 40 land trusts, says that stamp of approval made it easier to go to the community and ask for help with the rest. That pitch is harder now.

What it looks like up in Door County. The Door County Land Trust used to get 80 to 90 percent of its project money from state and federal grants. It’s still finishing a 338-acre preserve on Little Sturgeon Bay, a deal about ten years in the making, and expects to close later this year. Director Emily Wood says the sport fish in those waters can all be traced back to the creek there. That one is getting done with federal grants and private donations instead.

So what now? The trusts aren’t quitting, and Carlin says some are even thriving. They’re just choosier about what they chase. Wood’s plan is to protect as much as they can while they still can.

If there’s a land trust near your favorite spot, this is a good year to look them up.

Now get out ’der!

WISCAMPSIN WEEKLY POLL

Last Week's Trivia Check

We asked what a woolly bear’s orange band actually means. Turns out 55% of you took the bait, guessing it was gender! Only 25% knew it’s simply a sign of how long that little guy had to eat and grow. As one reader put it: "Wow! Everything I ever heard was wrong!"

The Correct Answer: The caterpillar's age and how long it has had to feed and grow.

The Takeaway: More orange just means an early spring gave the caterpillar extra time to munch before curling up for winter. Bonus: they survive sub-zero Wisconsin freezes by making their own biological antifreeze!

This Week's Trivia

Fall colors are finally firing up Up North. While yellow and orange were hidden under the green chlorophyll all summer, sugar maples actually burn extra energy making bright red pigments from scratch right before dropping their leaves.