Patrick Durkin: Registering nonmotorized recreational ‘assets’ makes sense in Wisconsin

Those of us with long memories perked up in April when voters at Wisconsin’s annual conservation hearings supported registering nonmotorized recreational “assets,” which often go adrift or are left stranded on weak ice.
Imagine that, making folks pay fees to register canoes, kayaks, paddleboards, nonmotorized boats, portable ice shanties and other equipment that help us hunt, fish, explore, soak up sunlight and breathe fresh air. Other states, like Minnesota, impose such fees to cover work by conservation wardens and law-enforcement officers to reunite owners with their possessions after severe storms or simple carelessness.