Michael
Van Offeren
Since taking office in January of
2011 Governor Walker has deeply influenced the Wisconsin Department of Natural
Resources. The majority of Walker’s influence has affected deer management
practices throughout the state. These include the appointing of the so called
“deer czar,” a Texas biologist by the name of Kroll, and the banning of the
controversial Earn-a-Buck zones. Governor Walker made a promise stating; “Vote
for me, and I’ll appoint someone to fix what’s wrong with the DNR. (Bestul)”
Some people are still skeptical however that the changes will help with the
current deer situation.
“It is not unusual for Wisconsin
hunters to kill nearly half a million deer in a season. (Bestul)” People come
from all over the nation just to hunt in Wisconsin which in turn brings in
massive revenue for the state. Lately however, the deer totals for each season
has been declining from 450,000 in 2008 to 329,103 in 2009 (Bestul). This has
many hunters complaining about the current deer population. Many hunters
believe that the population estimates the DNR is reporting is not accurate.
With one of the state’s major sources of income falling the Governor stepped in
and took action, but where these actions the right actions to take?
When Governor Walker first appointed
Kroll to the newly created position of Whitetail Deer Trustee there was a lot
of controversy about appointing a Texas native to the position. Skeptics commented:
“What does a Texan know about the Wisconsin deer herd?” and “Walker is repaying
is friends down in Texas for all the support during his election campaign.”
While supported claimed that there is finally someone that knows what he is
doing in charge and as a highly respected biologists he might just be the right
man for the job. Before Kroll took position as the “Deer Czar” he was already
working, visiting Wisconsin communities trying to get a grip on the
relationship between Hunters and the DNR. He found a deep fracture between the
two (Bestul). Once Kroll took his position he appointed two more biologists to
his team; a Mississippi native, who invented the Deer Management Assistance
Program, and a Pennsylvania native, who was the head of Pennsylvania’s deer
program during the so called “Deer Wars” (Bestul). Again, some Wisconsinites
cried out “Why aren’t Wisconsin people getting these positions?” With a college
famous for its natural resources across the nation, UW-Stevens Point, located
right here in Wisconsin, I even have to ask that question, but with the team in
place they began work on fixing Wisconsin’s deer problem.
The first thing the team did was go
over the reports the DNR has compiled on the deer herd. They deemed most of the
reports to be flawed. They also think that the DNR is putting too much emphasis
on population density goals and not enough emphasis on deer habitat and people
interactions (Bestul). Kevin Wallenfang reported that the DNR has known about
these problems for a long time and that a $2 million dollar research project is
currently investigating how to improve population estimates and the impact of
predators. This project started before Kroll took his position.
The major changes will not begin
until Kroll publishes his final report but already Governor Walker is working
hard to change the present situation including the ban of Earn-a-Buck. With so
many hunters looking on to see if these changes will work Kroll and his team
will have to work fast to come up with a solution that will make the majority
of hunters happy, otherwise it could be the end of his career before it gets a
chance to start. Deer hunters hold a lot of political pull in Wisconsin and
they are eager for the deer to return. (Bestul)
References:
Bestul, Scott.
"The Deer Czar." Field & Stream 117.3 (2012): 72-76. Military
& Government Collection. Web. 17 Sept. 2012.
1 comment:
Im having difficulity telling if you are for or against what Walker is doing to manage the deer populations. I personally agree with the comment asking why Walker would bring in people from other states to manage Wisconsin deer populations instead of giving much needed jobs to Wisconsin citizens. I agree with this post, I cannot figure out why Walker would manage the deer populations this way, spend so much money on it, and have worse results then before to show for it. I am a Minnesota resident so this is a new issue for me, but I am surprised by the govenor of such a large hunting state handleing the deer populations so loosly, this seems like it should be a much bigger public issue! I guess that after reading this post, I have to wonder what Walker is really doing to handle the deer populations and if the public is aware of this?
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