Badger Oversite Management Commission

On this page, you will find all information available from Sauk County relating to the Badger Oversight Management Commission and the Badger reuse process. For more information or if you have questions, please contact BOMC Chair, Judy Ashford @ 608-493-2071 or jashford@co.sauk.wi.us For open records request, you may contact Brian Simmert in the Conservation, Planning, and Zoning Department @ 608-355-3245.

History:

In early 2000, the Sauk County Board of Supervisors acted to establish a locally driven reuse planning process with the assistance of U.S. Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin and funds provided by the U.S. Department of Labor, establishing the Badger Reuse Committee (BRC). The 21-member BRC included representatives from neighboring communities, local, state, and federal governments, and the Ho-Chunk Nation. In its mission statement, the BRC charged itself with the task of developing "a common vision for the reuse of the Badger property that can be meaningfully considered and realistically implemented by the appropriate local, state, and federal agencies."

Early meetings were devoted to gathering and reviewing basic information about the Badger property and its role - past, present, and future - in Sauk County's landscape, community, and economy. The committee determined nine key values and detailed criteria for each value to guide consideration of future uses. The BRC chose one plan that best fit the parameters of the values out of 25 different proposals. The General Services Administration, the federal agency in charge of the redistribution, then took the recommendations of the committee into consideration in their allocation of the land.

The plan calls for all 7,534 acres to be managed as a whole. The land uses include conservation, prairie and savanna restoration, agriculture, education and recreation. These land uses should contribute to reconciliation and resolution of past conflicts. The conversion of the Badger lands provides remarkable opportunities for the protection, enhancement, use, restoration, and enjoyment of the property's unique natural and cultural features.

The BRC has sought to achieve a realistic, community-based, consensus vision for realizing these opportunities. In the past, the Badger
lands have too often been a place of division, pain, and conflict. It is the hope of the committee that all members of our community may now contribute to a new beginning at Badger, one that honors the past while serving future generations in a spirit of reconciliation.

The Badger Reuse Plan establishes the need for a Badger Oversight and Management Board and is explicit in numerous provisions regarding the composition, responsibilities and authorities of that entity. Since the BIG Parties have previously agreed to work within the framework of and toward the implementation of the Reuse Plan, it is incumbent upon the BIG Parties to respect the elements of the Plan and to establish an Oversight Board that closely reflects the will of the BRC. The use of the name “oversight and management board” reflects a decision by the BRC that this entity shall have considerably more authority than what would be implied with an “advisory board.”

Creation of the Commission:

INTERGOVERNMENTAL AGREEMENT CREATING THE BADGER ARMY AMMUNITION PLANT OVERSIGHT AND MANAGEMENT COMMISSION

THIS AGREEMENT is made, by and between the State of Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, the Ho-Chunk Nation, the County of Sauk, the Township of Merrimac and the Township of Sumpter for the purpose of creating the Badger Army Ammunition Plant Oversight and Management Commission. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the United States Department of the Army
(Army) will appoint liaisons to the Commission and, to that extent, are signatories to this Agreement.

RECITALS:

WHEREAS, the Badger Army Ammunition Plant (Badger) was acquired by the United States Government in the early 1940s during the national emergency of World War II, and since that time, the property at Badger has been utilized for a public purpose furthering national defense and benefiting all American citizens, but the United States Army has determined that Badger is no longer necessary for national defense, and the property will be transferred to several property owners for uses consistent with Badger Reuse Plan; and,

WHEREAS, Badger is contiguous with the Baraboo Range National Natural Landmark and Devils Lake State Park which are areas of tremendous regional significance to the quality of the natural and human environment, and the Baraboo Range has further been designated as one of the Last Great Places by the Nature Conservancy; and,

WHEREAS, a significant reason that Badger is of such natural and human importance is that it is very unlikely that 7,354 contiguous acres will ever be available again in this part of Wisconsin, and future uses of Badger should promote an appreciation of the Sauk Prairie landscape through education, restoration, research, recreation, agriculture, cultural and other activities that are defined in the Badger Reuse Plan, and there is a consensus vision among the prospective property owners and all units of government responsible for the area surrounding Badger that Badger can be best maintained and served over the long-term through management of the property as a whole and intact unit, regardless of formal ownership arrangements; and

WHEREAS, a locally driven process involving a diverse and representative group of stakeholders participated in the Badger Reuse Process, and the resulting Badger Reuse Plan provides a vision for the future of the property which the parties to this Agreement have adopted; and, WHEREAS, the United States General Services Administration has been charged with the disposition of Badger, and two federal agencies, the United States Department of the Interior and the United States Department of Agriculture have requested certain lands in Badger, as has the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources; and,

WHEREAS, all the parties subject to this Agreement have signed a Memorandum of Understanding that provides for an Oversight and Management Board, and the parties have agreed to create an intergovernmental commission to function in this capacity.

NOW, THEREFORE, THE PARTIES AND SIGNATORIES COVENANT AND AGREE AS FOLLOWS:

Section I. Authority. This Commission is created pursuant to the authority contained in Sections 66.0301, 59.03, 60.22, 60.23(1) of the Wisconsin Statutes, the Intergovernmental Cooperation Act of 1968 and other applicable legal authorities.