The Wisconsin Land Economic Inventory was authorized by chapter 489, Laws of 1929 which created section 20.60(7) of the statutes and appropriated money for land economic inventories and other surveys. Commonly known as the Bordner Survey, after director John Bordner, the Land Economic Inventory was undertaken to promote the most complete and practical utilization of land in Wisconsin. Over-expansion of agricultural land during World War I and the subsequent cutback at the end of the war had resulted in abandoned lands, cutover areas, and unwisely planned drainage projects. This idle land led to an inability to pay taxes, tax delinquency, and reversion of the land to public ownership. The Land Economic Inventory was to show the current economic status and relative potential of Wisconsin lands for farms, forests and recreational purposes so that counties could rezone the land and begin reforestation programs, improvement of watersheds, and development of farm wood lots, recreational areas and agriculture on the better lands. This would encourage return of some of the land to the tax rolls and would guide prospective farmers to good land.
Field workers, mostly trained forestry graduates, crossed the land at intervals of one-half mile, touching each forty and mapping the land. The object of the inventory was to show the current economic status and relative potential for farms, forests, and recreation areas so that counties could zone the land properly and begin reforestation programs, improvement of watersheds, development of farm wood lots, more intensive development of agriculture on better soils, and development of recreational areas.
The Land Economic Inventory operated from various departments, from the Department of Agriculture and Markets beginning in 1929, to the State Planning Board in 1937, and back to the Department of Agriculture in 1941. Chapter 332, Laws of 1947 repealed section 20.60(7) of the statutes.
