SHEBOYGAN COUNTY, WI (WHBL) - Sheboygan County is now more than halfway towards recovering the costs for purchasing Amsterdam Dunes.
The county got word this week it will receive over two-point-four million dollars in a Wisconsin DNR Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Grant. The money will be put towards the four-point-two million dollar purchase cost for the land along Lake Michigan near Cedar Grove.
County Administrator Adam Payne tells WHBL News the grant is just the beginning for the county to recover its cost for the land purchase last September. He adds the county is looking at more areas for funds such as the damage assessment for the Sheboygan River and grants from the Environmental Protection Agency for land restoration purposes.
"We are confident that the full four-point-two million dollars will be reimbursed to Sheboygan County," says Payne.
The county is also working with the state DNR, the EPA, and the Army Corps of Engineers to create a wetland mitigation bank on the property to put funds towards the purchase and create a county revenue source.
"If it’s a road or airport runway extension; if it’s a Sargento or Kohler company that needs wetland mitigation credits because they’re going to be impacting wetlands somewhere else, they can purchase those from the county," says Payne.
Payne says around 20-percent of the 333-acre Amsterdam Dunes property would be designated for the wetland mitigation bank. It will take a number of years before it is set up for use.