Ice age trail
Wis. Stat. § 23.17
in effect(1) Definition. In this section:
(a) “Municipality” means a city, village, town, county or special purpose district.
(b) “State agency” has the meaning designated under s. 16.01 (1).
(2) Designation. The ice age national scenic trail, as provided for in 16 USC 1244 (a) (10), plus the lands adjacent to each side of that trail designated by the department, is designated a state scenic trail, to be known as the “Ice Age Trail”.
(3) Duties of the department. The department shall:
(a) Encourage other state agencies, municipalities, organizations and individuals to participate in planning, establishing, developing and maintaining the ice age trail.
(b) Provide information to any person involved in planning, establishing, developing or maintaining the ice age trail regarding trail design, signs, interpretive markers and any other aspects of the ice age trail in which uniformity is desirable.
(c) Encourage municipalities to develop land use plans which preserve rights-of-way for future establishment of the ice age trail.
(d) Prepare a trail management plan and plan for interpretive markers for the ice age trail, in cooperation with the national park service, federal department of the interior.
(e) Coordinate the activities of all state agencies which own property that includes any existing or planned portion of the ice age trail and maintain regular contact with such agencies.
(f) Identify portions of the ice age trail which are proposed to be located on state-owned property, especially highway rights-of-way, and contact state agencies which own such property as soon as possible so that adequate plans for the location of the trail on state property may be developed and the trail location may be altered if the use of state property proves to be impossible.
(g) Coordinate its planning efforts relating to the location, development and maintenance of the ice age trail with the efforts of the national park service, federal department of the interior and any statewide nonprofit organization established for the purpose of planning, developing and maintaining the ice age trail.
(4) Powers of the department. The department may acquire land for the ice age trail under s. 23.09 (2) (d) 10., and may develop the ice age trail on lands under its ownership along the trail route.
(4m) Chippewa County interpretive center designation. The interpretive center in the Chippewa Moraine State Recreation Area in Chippewa County is designated the David R. Obey Ice Age Trail Interpretive Center.
(5) State land.
(a) A state agency may not refuse to permit construction of a portion of the ice age trail on property owned by the state agency if the state agency determines that the trail does not conflict with other existing or proposed uses of the property.
(b) Each state agency shall consider the ice age trail in the long-range plans for property owned by the state agency.
(5g) Permitted uses. The construction on or use of land designated by the department as part of the ice age trail under this section and s. 23.293 is a permitted use under any zoning ordinance enacted by a municipality.
(5r) Municipal land. A municipality may not refuse to permit construction of a portion of the ice age trail on property owned by the municipality if the municipality determines that the trail does not conflict with other existing or proposed uses of the property.
(6) Other trails.
(a) This section does not limit the authority of the department to designate other trails under s. 23.115.
(b) This section does not preclude any portion of the ice age trail from being designated as a part of the national trails system.
Source: WI Statutes (Official Site)URL: https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/document/statutes/23.17Fetched: 10/7/2026