Note for listeners: This story has been updated to clarify there was more than lawmaker that is objected to the Pelican River Forest funding.
Following up on the Pelican River Forest report WXPR brought you Monday.
We now know that one of the anonymous lawmakers who objected to funding the conservation project was State Senator Mary Felzkowski.
She told their reporter she, “voted to hold it up”.
According to WJFW, Felzkowski’s reasoning for objecting was because, “it takes 69% of the land mass in the Town of Monico and makes it so it's never available into perpetuity."
The Pelican River Forest is 70,000 acres of woods, wetlands, and streams mostly in Oneida County that the Conservation Fund bought in 2021 with the intention of preserving it for future generations.
As WXPR reported, this isn’t the first time this has been done by the Joint Finance Committee. There have been several other similar projects that never got a meeting or hearing because a lawmaker anonymously objected, and JFC never scheduled a meeting about it.
WXPR has renewed its request to Sen. Felzkowski for an interview. We’ll update you as we learn more.
