Chapter 27

27.01(9)(a) (a) Generally. The department may waive the fees under subs. (7) and (8) or may charge admission fees in addition to or instead of those fees. Fees or fee waivers may vary, based upon any of the following:

27.01(9)(a)1. 1. Certain classes of persons or groups.

27.01(9)(a)2. 2. Certain areas.

27.01(9)(a)3. 3. Certain types of visitation or times of the year.

27.01(9)(a)4. 4. Admission to special scheduled events or programs.

27.01(9)(a)5. 5. Admission based on a per person basis.

27.01(9)(bn) (bn) Annual vehicle admission receipt fee waiver. The department shall waive the fee, including the issuing fee, imposed under sub. (7) for an annual vehicle admission receipt for any vehicle, except a motor bus, that has Wisconsin registration plates and that is owned by a person who produces evidence that he or she is the owner, is a state resident, and is a service member, as defined in sub. (7) (a) 1m. Each person who qualifies for this waiver may receive the waiver only once. For purposes of administering this paragraph, the department shall establish and maintain a list of service members, as defined in sub. (7) (a) 1m., who have received the onetime exemption.

27.01(9)(c) (c) Annual trail fee waiver. The department shall waive any annual fee for admission to state trails that is established under sub. (8) (c) for any person who produces evidence that he or she is a state resident and a service member, as defined in sub. (7) (a) 1m. Each person who qualifies for this waiver may receive the waiver only once. For purposes of administering this paragraph, the department shall establish and maintain a list of service members, as defined in sub. (7) (a) 1m., who have received the onetime exemption.

27.01(10) (10) Campgrounds; fees.

27.01(10)(a) (a) Definition of resident. As used in this subsection “resident” means a person who maintains his or her place of permanent abode in this state. Domiciliary intent is required to establish that a person is maintaining his or her place of permanent abode in this state. Mere ownership of property is not sufficient to establish domiciliary intent. Evidence of domiciliary intent includes, without limitation, the location where the person votes, pays personal income taxes or obtains a driver’s license.

27.01(10)(b) (b) Establishment, operation and categories of campgrounds. The department may establish and operate state campgrounds in state parks, state forests and other lands under its supervision and management. The department may classify, by rule, state campgrounds into separate categories.

27.01(10)(c) (c) Imposition of camping fee. Except as provided under par. (f), no person may camp in a state campground unless the applicable camping fee is paid.

27.01(10)(d) (d) Camping fees. Except as provided under pars. (f) and (h):

27.01(10)(d)1. 1. The department shall charge a camping fee of not less than $15 but not more than $30, as determined by the secretary, for each night at a campsite in a state campground for a resident camping party, except as provided under par. (fm).

27.01(10)(d)2. 2. The department shall charge a camping fee of not less than $19 but not more than $35, as determined by the secretary, for each night at a campsite in a state campground for a nonresident camping party, except as provided under par. (fm). Beginning on July 7, 2023, the maximum camping fee allowed under this subdivision is $45.

27.01(10)(e) (e) Determination of residency. The department shall base its determination of whether a camping party is a resident or nonresident camping party upon the residency of the person who applies for a reservation under sub. (11) at the time the application for reservation is made or, if no reservation is made, the residency of the person who registers for the campsite at the time of registration.

27.01(10)(f) (f) Waiver of fees; special fees. The department may waive camping fees, charge additional camping fees or charge special fees instead of camping fees for certain classes of persons or groups, certain areas, certain types of camping or times of the year and for admission to special events.

27.01(10)(fm) (fm) Fee adjustments. The secretary may raise the fees under par. (d) 1. or 2. by not more than $5 above the respective maximum fee specified under par. (d) 1. or 2. or may lower the fees under par. (d) 1. or 2. by not more than $5 below the respective minimum fee specified under par. (d) 1. or 2.

27.01(10)(g) (g) Additional camping fees. Besides the additional camping fees authorized under par. (f), the department may charge:

27.01(10)(g)1. 1. An additional camping fee of $1 per night for a resident camping party.

27.01(10)(g)2. 2. An additional camping fee from $1.50 to $1.75 per night for a nonresident camping party.

27.01(10)(g)3. 3. An additional camping fee of $1 for each pet accompanying a camping party.

27.01(10)(g)4. 4. An additional camping fee of $1 per night per camping party for a Friday, Saturday or Sunday night.

27.01(10)(g)5. 5. Except as provided in subd. 6., an additional camping fee of $10 per night for a camping party that uses electricity supplied at a state campground if the campsite has an electric receptacle.

27.01(10)(g)6. 6. An additional camping fee of $15 per night for a camping party that uses electricity supplied at a state campground located in Devil’s Lake State Park, High Cliff State Park, Kohler-Andrae State Park, Peninsula State Park, or Willow River State Park, if the campsite has an electric receptacle.

27.01(10)(h) (h) Increased camping fees. In addition to its authority under par. (f), the department shall determine which state campgrounds are located in areas where local market conditions justify the establishment of higher camping fees to be charged by the department. For these state campgrounds, the department shall promulgate rules to establish higher camping fees to be based on the applicable local market conditions.

27.01(11) (11) Campground reservation system.

27.01(11)(a) (a) Authorization. The department may establish and operate a campground reservation system for state campgrounds in state parks, state forests and other lands under the department’s supervision and control. The department may participate with owners of private campgrounds in a cooperative reservation system.

27.01(11)(b) (b) Rules. The department shall promulgate rules for the operation of the campground reservation system. The rules shall include all of the following:

27.01(11)(b)1. 1. The authority to refuse to accept campground reservation applications before a certain date or to treat applications received before that date as if they had been made on that date.

27.01(11)(b)2. 2. The authority to give reservations for each year until all of the available sites in a campground that are open for reservations for a given date have been reserved.

27.01(11)(c) (c) Reservation fee. A reservation fee sufficient to equal the estimated cost of administering the system shall be charged.

27.01(11)(cm) (cm) Contracts. The department may enter into a contract with another party to operate the campground reservation system that the department establishes under par. (a).

27.01(11)(cr) (cr) Contracts; distribution of fees. A contract entered into under this paragraph shall require that the department retain $1 of each reservation fee collected. Under the contract the other party shall be required to do either of the following:

27.01(11)(cr)1. 1. Remit the entire amount of each reservation fee it collects to the department. The department shall credit to the appropriation under s. 20.370 (1) (er) for payment to the party all but $1 of each fee remitted.

27.01(11)(cr)2. 2. Remit $1 of each reservation fee it collects to the department.

27.01(11)(i) (i) Cooperation with tourism. The department of natural resources and the department of tourism shall work jointly to establish an automated campground reservation system.

27.01(12) (12) Legal counsel. A representative of the department of justice designated by the attorney general shall act as legal counsel for said department of natural resources, both in proceedings and litigation, and in giving advice and counsel. The respective district attorneys of the county or counties where said park is or shall be located shall prosecute all violations of this section occurring within their respective counties as provided in s. 26.18.

27.01(13) (13) Police supervision. The department shall have police supervision over all state parks, and its duly appointed wardens may arrest, with or without warrant, any person within such park area, committing an offense against the laws of the state or in violation of any rule or regulation of the department in force in such state park, and deliver such person to the proper court of the county wherein such offense has been committed and make and execute a complaint charging such person with the offense committed. The district attorney of the county wherein such offense has been committed shall appear and prosecute all actions arising under this subsection.

27.01(15) (15) Certain types of campsites.

27.01(15)(a) (a) In this subsection:

27.01(15)(a)1. 1. “Rustic state park campsite” means a state park campsite in a campground that meets all of the requirements that are promulgated by rule by the department for campgrounds that do not provide modern facilities such as electrical receptacles, flush-type toilets and showers.

27.01(15)(a)2. 2. “State park campsite” means a campsite that is located in a state park.

27.01(15)(b) (b) The number of state park campsites with electric receptacles shall be maintained by the department so that all of the following apply:

27.01(15)(b)2. 2. No more than 50 percent of the state park campsites in any one state park have electric receptacles.

27.01(15)(b)3. 3. No less than 25 percent of all state park campsites in the state are rustic state park campsites.

27.01(16) (16) Procedure required for alteration of a Perrot State Park entrance.

27.01(16)(a) (a) The department may not alter any entrance to Perrot State Park after January 1, 2005, that will result in any change in the access to or egress from that state park unless the department receives approval under par. (b) from the town that has jurisdiction over the road on which the entrance is located.

27.01(16)(b) (b) The department shall request approval for the alteration of an entrance to Perrot State Park from the town that has jurisdiction over the road on which the entrance is located. The department shall file written notice with the clerk of the town of the department’s intent to alter the entrance. The notice shall include a request for the town’s approval of the alteration and the reasons for the proposed alteration. The town board shall hold a public hearing within 60 days after receipt of the department’s notice. The town board shall provide a class 3 notice of the time and place that the board will consider the department’s request. The town’s notice shall contain a statement of the entrance that is being considered for alteration, the reasons provided by the department for that alteration, and a scale map of the area around that park entrance. The town board shall hold a public hearing at the time and place stated in the notice before taking any action on the department’s request. The department and other interested parties may testify at the hearing. Within 30 days after the hearing, the town board shall provide the department with written notification of the board’s decision regarding the alteration.

27.01(17) (17) Limited golf cart use. The department shall permit the use of golf carts by persons age 16 and over in Governor Tommy G. Thompson Centennial State Park and the Peshtigo River State Forest. The department shall promulgate a rule that specifies when and where golf carts may be used in the state park and the state forest. The rule shall allow golf carts to be used for at least the same hours and in at least the same places as golf carts were used in the state park and the state forest before they were acquired by the state.

27.01(18) (18) Alcohol sales in Peninsula State Park. The department shall allow a person with whom it contracts for the operation of a golf course or a golf clubhouse in Peninsula State Park to sell alcohol beverages on the golf course or in the golf clubhouse and shall allow users of the golf course or golf clubhouse who are at least 21 years of age to possess and consume those alcohol beverages. In the contract described under this subsection, the department may impose restrictions on the sale of alcohol beverages that are consistent with the restrictions imposed upon Class “B” licensees and “Class B” licensees under ch. 125.

27.01 History History: 1971 c. 125, 215, 326; 1973 c. 90 s. 538; 1973 c. 245; 1975 c. 365 s. 62; 1977 c. 29, 71, 424; 1979 c. 34, 175; 1981 c. 20, 343; 1983 a. 19; 1983 a. 27 ss. 644 to 674, 2202 (38); 1983 a. 325; 1985 a. 29, 125; 1987 a. 27, 277, 295, 399; 1989 a. 31, 56, 213, 359; 1991 a. 39, 269; 1993 a. 16, 213; 1995 a. 27, 312, 391; 1997 a. 27, 248; 1999 a. 9, 83; 2001 a. 16; 2005 a. 25, 94; 2007 a. 20, 165; 2009 a. 28, 54, 70, 302; 2011 a. 168; 2013 a. 6, 20; 2013 a. 168 s. 21; 2015 a. 55; 2017 a. 59; 2023 a. 19, 113.

27.01 Cross-reference Cross-reference: See also chs. NR 8 and 45 and ss. NR 1.30, 1.47, 1.61, and 10.28, Wis. adm. code.

27.01 Annotation Merely expressing a statement of purpose, nothing in sub. (1) establishes the requisite criteria for a petitioner to use s. 227.52 or 227.53 to challenge the Department of Natural Resources’ or the governor’s decisions impacting state parks. Lacking such substantive criteria, nothing in this section protects, recognizes, or regulates any person’s interests or contemplates a challenge to a department decision to convey land to a private party. Friends of the Black River Forest v. Kohler Co., 2022 WI 52, 402 Wis. 2d 587, 977 N.W.2d 342, 19-0299.

27.011 27.011 Copper Culture Mounds State Park. The department of natural resources shall accept a grant of lands in the city of Oconto, Oconto County, and shall develop and maintain it as a state park to be known as Copper Culture Mounds State Park.

27.011 History History: 1973 c. 333.

27.014 27.014 Liability of vehicle owners.

27.014(1c) (1c) Definition. In this section, with respect to a vehicle that is registered, or is required to be registered, by a lessee of the vehicle under ch. 341, “owner” means the lessee of the vehicle.

27.014(1m) (1m) Liability.

27.014(1m)(a) (a) If the department finds a vehicle in a vehicle admission area, as defined in s. 27.01 (7) (a) 3., that does not have a valid receipt affixed to it or otherwise displayed as authorized under s. 27.01 (7) (e) and the department cannot locate the operator of the vehicle, the owner of the vehicle shall be presumed liable for a violation of s. 27.01 (7) (b).

27.014(1m)(b) (b) Notwithstanding par. (a), no owner of a vehicle involved in a violation of s. 27.01 (7) (b) may be convicted under this section if the person who, at the time of the violation, is operating the vehicle or who has the vehicle under his or her control has been convicted for the violation under par. (a) or s. 27.01 (7) (b).

27.014(1m)(c) (c) Service may be made by certified mail addressed to the vehicle owner’s last-known address.

27.014(2) (2) Defenses. The following are defenses to the imposition of liability under sub. (1m):

27.014(2)(a) (a) That a report that the vehicle was stolen was given to the department before the violation occurred or within a reasonable time after the violation occurred.

27.014(2)(b) (b) If the owner of the vehicle provides the department with the name and address of the person operating the vehicle or having the vehicle under his or her control at the time of the violation and sufficient information for the department to determine that probable cause does not exist to believe that the owner of the vehicle was operating the vehicle at the time of the violation, then the owner of the vehicle shall not be liable under sub. (1m) or s. 27.01 (7) (b).

27.014(2)(c) (c) If the vehicle is owned by a lessor of vehicles and at the time of the violation the vehicle was in the possession of a lessee, and the lessor provides the department with the information required under s. 343.46 (3), then the lessee and not the lessor shall be liable under sub. (1m) or s. 27.01 (7) (b).

27.014(2)(d) (d) If the vehicle is owned by a dealer, as defined in s. 340.01 (11) (intro.) but including the persons specified in s. 340.01 (11) (a) to (d), and at the time of the violation the vehicle was being operated by or was under the control of any person on a trial run, and if the dealer provides the department with the name, address and operator’s license number of the person operating the vehicle, then that person, and not the dealer, shall be liable under sub. (1m) or s. 27.01 (7) (b).

27.014 History History: 1995 a. 27; 1997 a. 27.

27.016 27.016 State parks and forests grant program.

27.016(1) (1) In this section:

27.016(1)(a) (a) “Endowment fund” means an endowment, trust or other segregated fund for the benefit of a specific state park, southern state forest or state recreation area.

27.016(1)(b) (b) “Friends group” means a nonstock, nonprofit corporation described under section 501 (c) (3) or (4) of the Internal Revenue Code and exempt from taxation under section 501 (a) of the Internal Revenue Code that is organized to raise funds for state parks, state forests or state recreation areas.

27.016(1)(c) (c) “Southern state forest” means a state forest that is located within the region specified in s. 25.29 (7) (a).

27.016(2) (2) 

27.016(2)(a) (a) The department shall establish a grant program under which friends groups that qualify under par. (b) may receive matching grants for the operation and maintenance of state parks, southern state forests or state recreation areas.

27.016(2)(b) (b) To qualify for a grant under this section, a friends group shall have established an endowment fund for the benefit of a state park, a southern state forest or a state recreation area and shall have entered into a written agreement with the department as required by the department by rule.

27.016(3) (3) The department shall promulgate rules to establish criteria to be used in determining which friends groups and which activities related to the maintenance or operation of state parks, southern state forests or state recreation areas are eligible for these grants.

27.016(4) (4) The department may not expend more than $30,000 as grants under this section for a given friends group, state park, southern state forest or state recreation area in a fiscal year.

27.016(5) (5) The amount of a grant under this section shall equal 50 percent of the amount of matching funds that are provided by the friends group for the grant. A friends group may only use the interest generated by the endowment fund for purposes of providing the matching funds. The matching funds and the grant may be used only for the operation and maintenance of the state park, southern state forest or state recreation area that the endowment fund was established to benefit.

27.016(6) (6) Annually, on or before January 1, the department shall review all applications received under this section in the previous year and shall make the grants that it approves from the appropriation under s. 20.370 (1) (eq). If insufficient funds are available to pay all approved grants, the board shall prorate the available funds among the applicants in proportion to the approved grant amounts.

27.016(7) (7) Beginning in fiscal year 1996-97 and for each fiscal year thereafter, any moneys not encumbered or expended for grants under sub. (6) from the appropriation under s. 20.370 (1) (eq) may be used by the department for the operation and maintenance of the state parks, of the southern state forests and of state recreation areas.

27.016 History History: 1995 a. 27; 1997 a. 313.

27.016 Cross-reference Cross-reference: See also s. NR 1.71, Wis. adm. code.

27.016 Annotation A friends group exists as a corporate entity pursuant to ch. 181. Indeed, under sub. (1) (b), an entity can only qualify to become eligible for specified grants if that group first exists as a non-stock, nonprofit corporation that is tax-exempt. Having followed the legislature’s prescribed path to recognition as a qualifying, grant-eligible friends group, a friends group has the same default powers as any other ch. 181 corporation, including the power to sue and be sued, complain, and defend in its corporate name, as provided under s. 181.0302 (1). The friends group in this case had the capacity to sue the Department of Natural Resources. Friends of Blue Mound State Park v. DNR, 2023 WI App 38, 408 Wis. 2d 763, 993 N.W.2d 788, 22-1127.

27.019 27.019 Rural planning.

27.019(2) (2) Definition. “Rural planning” as used in this section means planning for the health, general welfare, and amenity of the settler; planning for the establishment of the best possible transportation facilities; planning for the creation and development of the most logical community centers where country people can come together for social and business relations; planning for the setting aside of country parks, recreation fields, county fairgrounds, community woodlands, places of local and historic interest, and for the reservation of land for public uses along river fronts, lake shores, fine outlooks from hilltops, and for the preservation of our native landscape.

27.019(3) (3) Department of agriculture, trade and consumer protection, duty. The department of agriculture, trade and consumer protection shall stimulate interest and disseminate information along lines of rural planning and shall cooperate with county rural planning committees in carrying out their duties as provided by sub. (7).

27.019(4) (4) County committee. In each county there shall be a county rural planning committee. The committee shall consist of the chairperson of the county board and the chairperson of the county highway committee, and 2 others, to be appointed by the chairpersons every 4 years for a term of 4 years and until a successor is elected and qualified. Terms of appointed members expire on July 1. The chairperson of the county board shall be chairperson of the committee.

27.019(6) (6) Expenses. Elected members shall be freeholders of the county and have a general interest in and knowledge of rural planning. All members shall be reimbursed by the county for their actual and necessary expenses incurred while acting as members of such committee. The county board may set a per diem for such members for days attended at committee meetings or spent in the interests of rural planning and, in counties where the rural planning committee operates a county park or parks which bring a financial return to the county, the county board may provide a salary for the secretary of the rural planning committee.