“Fighting for Public Lands and Public Access”

Over 40 years of public service and involvement in Trout Unlimited, Dan Wisniewski has consistently led efforts to preserve and protect special places and the public’s access to them. Those efforts had impact at the local level in both northern Wisconsin and in Dane County, as well as at across the state of Wisconsin and even in national issues involving our organization.

For this service, WI TU will honor Dan in February with a Lifetime Achievement Award. (the second of these to ever be given out)

Dan is a Person Who Knows How to Get Things Done to address most every vexing issue or problem, or to take advantage of opportunities. When he was a leader of SWTU 20 years ago, he was instrumental in a fundraising effort to remove a dam on Token Creek, a major spring contributor to Lake Mendota, and to purchase the key springs area and protect it from nearby development. In a few weeks, he led an effort which raised $30,000 from local TU members and spurred a larger effort to make that project a success. In the years since, he has worked with the Dane County Parks Commission to purchase key easements on miles and miles of the county’s trout streams, which have led to successful restoration project led by his long-time friend and co-conspirator Topf Wells. Their laudable goal has been to buy easements on every mile of every trout stream in the county.

During his career in state government, Dan worked for three governors (including as Chief of staff for Gov. Tony Earl). He advocated for purchase and protection of lands for the public and for development of the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Fund. He also served as Secretary of the State Board of Commissioners of Public Lands, where he managed and planned for use and protection of 80,000 acres of state-owned lands. Dan enabled the Commission to buy some additional lands and, much more importantly, initiated a series of trades and agreements with the DNR that transferred some of the most environmentally important lands to the DNR for better protection.

Dan also played a key role in the 64,000 acre Wild Rivers Legacy Forest sustainable forestry easement acquisition, one of the state’s largest ever acquisitions of land and access rights.

Dan also played several key access-related roles in Trout Unlimited, both at the state and national levels. He suggested and organized the Wisconsin TU Watershed Access Fund, which raises money for purchase of key access rights to our state’s trout streams. At the national level, he served as Wisconsin’s representative to TU’s National Leadership Council during the 2004-2009 period, when some of TU’s top leaders advocated standing on the sidelines when public access rights to our waters were being challenged or abrogated. Dan was a key figure in developing the messages and strategies to win those fights. In the aftermath of those grassroots victories, Dan also served as a member of TU’s Stream Access Working Group, which evaluated potential issues and advised TU whether the organization should get involved.

Congrats, Dan! Well deserved!!!