Posted: Monday, September 5, 2011 --- 4:32p.m.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) -- Want a free canoe from the University of Wisconsin-Madison? It's yours -- as long as you pick it up in New Orleans.

UW-Madison geology professor Henry Wang has taught summer courses in New Orleans for four years. He says the 16-foot canoe was purchased for several hundred dollars and used to conduct wetland research, such as collecting water and sediment samples.

Wang says once the research was finished the university planned to leave the canoe with a nonprofit group that was helping out.

But it's not so easy. Before any Wisconsin property can be donated to an out-of-state nonprofit, it must first be offered to all state agencies and nonprofits.

University official Matthew Thies tells the Wisconsin State Journal (http://bit.ly/rkuKTc ) the goal is to make sure Wisconsin taxpayers don't suffer.

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Information from: Wisconsin State Journal, http://www.madison.com/wsj

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)