Newsmakers, December 10, 2015

Regional Bluffland Development-

The end of the summer of 2016 is the goal to have a finalized regional plan for bluffland preservation in the La Crosse area.

A number of local governments and private groups with an interest in land preservation and outdoor recreation are part of a group that’s organized through the La Crosse Area Planning Committee to work on bluffland preservation on both the Minnesota and Wisconsin sides of the Mississippi River.

The group has hired a Madison-based consultant for $90,000 to look at various issues associated with creating a national park-like system for the bluffs, that will help preserve the area’s natural beauty, maintain and improve the habitat for wildlife and provide access for a wide variety of outdoor recreational activities. It will also explore ways to improve a trail system in the Coulee Region bluffs and signage that will improve access. There will also be an inventory created of what bluffs are already owned by government agencies.

The LAPC recently held a public hearing to get input into the plan, and received more than 600 responses to an online survey in less than a week. La Crosse County Planner Charlie Handy said there may not be much change in how the landscape looks after a plan is in place, but a plan can help preserve the bluffs for future use by habitat and people.

“One of the things we found in our public participation activities to this point is those recreational facilities out there now are overused,” he said. “Obviously we know that there’s a lot of people using it and that there’s a real need for it and the public wants it. So how do we make it so that it doesn’t get overused and we damage what we love.”

The approach is unique because the planning will affect the bluffs of southeastern Minnesota as well as southwestern Wisconsin. The steering committee includes representation from Houston and Winona County governments in Minnesota, as well as La Crosse County, the cities of La Crosse and Onalaska and the town of Medary in Wisconsin. Private non-profit organizations that are part of the group include the Outdoor Recreation Alliance and the Mississippi Valley Conservancy.

MVC is a land trust that has operated in nine southwestern Wisconsin counties since 1997 with a goal of land conservation. Executive Director Carol Abrahamzon said taking a regional approach to the area’s bluffs will be important for land conservation efforts.

“It gets everybody on the same page,” she said. “We can look at priorities together and make the best plan with the bluffs. If we don’t have a master plan, it could be that one entity is looking at one area, and another at another area, and we’re never going to be on the same page and bring it all together.”

A draft plan could be ready by April or May of 2016. The group will get public input again, and finalize the report by the end of summer. When that’s done, the real work begins to implement the plan and figure out the best ways to preserve the bluffs for future generations, something that could be a fairly expensive proposition if buying the land is an option.

by John Davis