Federal Land Protection Stripped to Facilitate Wisconsin Land Swap for Private Moss Producer

This bill is all about clearing a path for a specific land exchange in Wisconsin involving the Black River State Forest and a private company called Deli, Inc., which produces sphagnum moss. Currently, about 31.83 acres of the state forest land are under a federal restriction—a “reversionary interest”—that requires the land to be used for public purposes forever, thanks to the Bankhead-Jones Farm Tenant Act. This bill essentially tells the Secretary of Agriculture to drop that federal protection, but only if the State of Wisconsin and Deli, Inc. agree to a specific land swap.

The Deal: Forest Land for Forest Land

The core of the action is a conditional land exchange. If the State of Wisconsin offers a written agreement to give the 31.83 acres of state forest land to Deli, Inc., then Deli, Inc. must transfer approximately 37.27 acres of its own land (the "Deli land") to the State. Once the State agrees to this specific swap, the bill mandates that the U.S. government’s reversionary interest in the 31.83 acres is immediately released. The Secretary of Agriculture is then required to issue a quitclaim deed—a document that officially gives up the federal claim—to the State before the actual exchange deeds are recorded. This is a highly specific, targeted piece of legislation designed to enable one particular transaction between the State and a private entity, allowing the State to consolidate its forest holdings while giving Deli, Inc. clear title to the land it needs.

Why This Matters to the Rest of Us

For the State of Wisconsin, this is a win for land management; they swap an encumbered parcel for a larger, unencumbered parcel (37.27 acres) that will be added to the Black River State Forest. This helps consolidate the forest and potentially makes management easier. However, the real policy shift here is the removal of the federal guarantee. That "reversionary interest" wasn't just bureaucratic jargon; it was the federal government’s way of ensuring that piece of land must remain in public use forever. By releasing it, the bill removes that specific, long-term public use protection. While the land is immediately being swapped for a different parcel that will also become state forest land, future policy decisions regarding the newly acquired land won't have that specific federal backstop.

The Fine Print and the Future

This entire federal action is contingent on several non-federal steps. Deli, Inc. must acquire or have an option on its land, and the entire swap needs approval from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, the Natural Resources Board, and the Governor. The bill is essentially waiting for Wisconsin to finalize its state-level approvals before the U.S. government steps in to clear the title. For people who care about public land use, this bill highlights how specific legislative actions can override decades-old federal protections to facilitate local commercial transactions. It’s a clean-up job for a land boundary issue, but it comes at the cost of removing a key federal safety net that guaranteed public use in perpetuity for that specific parcel.