Lawmakers criticized at wolf hunt meeting

At Wednesday’s meeting of the Natural Resources Board in Stevens Point, lawmakers were accused of overstepping their bounds on environmental policy. The criticism involves the law mandating Wisconsin’s first wolf hunt.

Republican Assemblyman Scott Suder of Abbotsford told DNR board members in no uncertain terms they were not carrying out the demands of the state legislature, because their kill quota of 201 wolves was too low. “I would like to make the legislative intent of the bill known to this board. To be clear: the intention is to manage wolves down to the 350 goal.”

The goal of 350 wolves comes from a 1999 management plan; Wednesday, several biologists said the plan was 13 years out of date, and no longer valid. Tim Van Deelen is a UW wildlife ecologist: “advocating for a goal of 350 reflects a misreading of the 1999 wolf plan and to the extent that it represented a judgment based on conservation science. That science is over a decade out of date.”

At the end of the meeting, board member Jane Wiley asked DNR Secretary Cathy Steppe to keep the politicians from meddling in environmental policy, “I’d like to ask Cathy to convince the legislators not to use their collective heavy hand to enact laws rather than to go through the usual administrative rule process. And if the legislature ignores you Cathy, I hope you can appeal to the governor not to sign environmental laws forwarded to him.”

Cathy Steppe said the DNR will continue to do what lawmakers tell it to do. “I’m very respectful of Jane’s position as a board member, and I’m also very respectful of the role that the legislature has. And ultimately we are the state’s workforce. It is our responsibility to carry out the wishes of elected officials and policy makers and that’s what we’ll continue to do.”

The quota of 201 wolves may be revised next year.