Conservation Group Seeks Court Injunction Halting Certain Activities At Former Badger Ammo Site

A group that’s trying to prevent the use of motorcycles, helicopters and gunfire at the former Badger Army Ammunition Plant near Baraboo will ask a federal appeals court for help Thursday.

The Sauk Prairie Conservation Alliance is opposed to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources’ master plan for what’s now called the Sauk Prairie State Recreation Area, because the plan allows for dual-sport motorcycles, National Guard helicopter training and dog training that includes use of firearms. The group has filed federal and state lawsuits against the plan.

Thursday morning, a three-judge panel at the U.S 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago will look at the The Sauk Prairie Conservation Alliance’s request for an injunction to immediately halt those potential uses.

Alliance attorney Brian Potts said the need is urgent: “The DNR should not be allowed to do activities which we think are illegal on the property while we wait for a judge to decide whether or not those activities are illegal, particularly when we think those activities will cause environmental damage that’s irreparable. We need a quick decision. the whole purpose of an injunction is to stop and prevent harm while a case proceeds through the courts because getting a decision out of a circuit court is generally a slow process.

The state DNR declined comment on the pending litigation. But in a legal brief filed this fall, Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimel argued the conservation group has failed three times to get an injunction in Wisconsin courts, failing to show that the activities would cause irreparable harm to the environment.