Wisconsin League of Conservation Voters
CONSERVATION SCORECARD For 2001-2002 Dear Scorecard Reader, Welcome to the first edition of the Wisconsin League of Conservation Voters' Conservation Scorecard. The WLCV believes that the best way to assure the protection of the environment is to elect people who will enact sound environmental laws. We also believe that conservation and the environment should be non-partisan issues. Republicans, Democrats, and "third-party" voters all benefit from a clean environment. The scorecard process began when we invited over 50 individuals active in environmental and conservation groups in Wisconsin to review our list of possible scorecard issues. Based on those suggestions, the Advisory Committee recommended a list of votes, and the WLCV Board approved the final choices. This scorecard analyzes votes on key issues in the Wisconsin Senate, Assembly, and several legislative committees. It then presents tallies of how legislators voted on these issues. The end result is not a reflection of what party a legislator belongs to, but what values their voting record reflects. Some people would like to separate hunters and anglers from environmentalists, insisting that these groups have different values and objectives. We don't believe that's true. We all want to breathe clean air, drink clean water, swim in clear lakes and streams, hike or hunt in unspoiled forests. We all need safe and livable communities, and we all want to leave a world that is a better place for our children than the one we came into. In short, we all have common goals. Wisconsin has a rich tradition of being in the forefront of the conservation and environmental movements. Aldo Leopold is perhaps the best known of our homegrown conservation leaders. An avid hunter and angler, Leopold grew to understand the connection between soil and water conservation and wildlife habitat. Far ahead of his time, he saw the need to manage wildlife on a sustainable basis, recognized the role of wolves in the fabric of nature, and extolled the virtues of preserving wild places. In more recent times, many others in Wisconsin, including Governor Warren Knowles and Senator Gaylord Nelson, have carried on Leopold's legacy. We hope you will join us in using this Conservation Scorecard to assess the level of conservation leadership in Wisconsin Legislators. The 2001-2002 legislative session opened following a U.S. Supreme Court decision removing federal protection from isolated wetlands. This court ruling led to Wisconsin's most important piece of conservation legislation of those two years. On January 9, 2001, the nation's high court ruled that federal wetland protection does not extend to "isolated" wetlands not connected to navigable water. Isolated wetlands are important for plants and waterfowl and for water quality and groundwater recharge. Only 50% of Wisconsin's original wetlands still exist, and this ruling put an important portion of those at risk.
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Wisconsin League of Conservation Voters
CLEAN AIR CLEAN WATER CLEAR CHOICES
PO Box 455 Waunakee, WI 53597-0455 (608) 850-4585 www.wlcv.org