WI-GOV: Tiffany (R) accepts donation from business owner he's helping to purchase national forest land

Last July, U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany authored legislation that will allow a Forest County concrete supplier to purchase 14 acres of the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest. In October, the owner of the business made his first ever political contribution — $520 to Tiffany’s gubernatorial campaign.

Tiffany’s bill, the Wabeno Economic Development Act, would allow Tony’s Wabeno Redi-Mix to buy the national forest land adjacent to the company’s current property for “market value.” The purchase of the land includes the mineral rights for extracting underground resources from the current public lands.

The 14 acres involved in the sale amounts to a miniscule portion of the more than 685,000 acres of federal land in Forest County. Tiffany and other northern Wisconsin officials have frequently complained that the massive amount of public land in the area prevents the growth of private industries.

But Tiffany also has a history of opposition to public lands, including joining with right-wing anti-conservation groups working to prevent Wisconsin from protecting large swathes of the state’s Northwoods. In Forest County, he assisted efforts to rewrite local land use policy to be friendlier to extractive industries such as logging and mining.



https://wisconsinexaminer.com/2026/06/12/tiffany-accepts-donation-from-business-owner-hes-helping-to-purchase-national-forest-land/