Board overrules DNR, sets wolf kill quota at 300.
In a contentious meeting Wednesday that exposed a widening rift between some members of the Natural Resources Board and Department of Natural Resources staff, the board approved a statewide kill quota of 300 gray wolves in a fall Wisconsin hunting and trapping season.
The board’s vote was 5-2.
The kill goal would be spread across the state’s six wolf management zones, excluding American Indian reservations. State law requires a wolf hunting and trapping season if the species is not listed as threatened or endangered. The season is scheduled to open Nov. 6.
The actual quota available to state-licensed hunters may be less than 300 depending on tribal declarations.
As of Wednesday, Ojibwe tribes, which are entitled to 50% of fish and wildlife resources in territory ceded to the U.S. in treaties, had not issued a statement on the matter.
The DNR had proposed a quota of 130 wolves, which it termed “conservative.”
Todd Ambs, DNR deputy secretary, said such a quota was essential to maintain the long-term stability of the wolf population and to achieve the department's objective of managing wolves at their current level until a new management plan is completed next year.
The existing wolf plan, written in 1999 and tweaked in 2007, set a management goal of 350. Authors of the plan have repeatedly said the number was not intended as a ceiling but as a threshold above which management actions, including hunting, could be considered.
Ambs said extra caution was required this fall because the February 2021 wolf hunting and trapping season, compelled by a court order, resulted in 218 wolves being killed, 83% above the state-licensed quota.
In addition, the DNR defended the proposed quota of 130 because the February wolf season took place during the wolves' breeding season, with unknown impacts on reproduction, and the agency was not able to complete a post-hunt population estimate.
Thirty six of 48 organizations or people who testified Wednesday asked for a quota of fewer than 130, with many requesting a zero quota.
The other 12, including the Wisconsin Conservation Congress and Wisconsin Wildlife Federation, which both asked for a quota of 300, wanted more wolves taken this fall.
According to the DNR's latest wolf population estimate, the state had 1,136 wolves before the controversial season in late February. The number represented a 5% decline from the previous winter.
However, after the registered kill of 218 wolves, and an unknown number of unreported kills, the state's wolf population could be 25% lower this summer than it was a year ago, said Adrian Wydeven, retired DNR wolf biologist and member of conservation group Wisconsin's Green Fire.
Keith Warnke, DNR administrator of fish, wildlife and parks, said the 130 quota gave the “best odds of no change in the wolf population.”
But several board members pushed for a higher kill.
Board member Greg Kazmierski said the department had an obligation to manage toward the 350 wolf population goal expressed in the existing management plan. He proposed a statewide quota of 504.
Based on past tribal declarations, Kazmierski said it would work out to 300 for state-licensed hunters and trappers and 204 for the tribes.
DNR Secretary Preston Cole was furious with the disrespect the calculation showed toward legally required consultations with Ojibwe tribes.
“You are manipulating the number based on tribal declarations,” Cole said. “On its face, it's damn near illegal. You folks are so out of bounds. You do you, we'll do us.”
Cole said the idea of a 504 quota was “so outrageous, there a reason USFWS (federal wildlife official) is in the room.”
The federal government is both being sued to put the wolf back under protections of the Endangered Species Act and pressured to do so without a court order. Many wildlife advocates say the overkill in the rushed February season in Wisconsin is proof states can't responsibly manage wolves. A move by the board to overrule the DNR's quota recommendation for this fall could bolster arguments for relisting.
Kazmierski's proposal of 504 failed by a 4-3 vote, as did a subsequent amendment for 350.
But board member Terry Hilgenberg then sought a quota of 300, which passed, 5-2. Board members Sharon Adams, Bill Bruins, Hilgenberg, Kazmierski and Fred Prehn were in favor. Bill Smith and Marcy West were opposed.
The board also approved 10 times as many licenses be made available as the quota.
Further, after the tribal declarations and any DNR administrative adjustments, the board's amendment specifies it must approve the final quota number prior to the season.
It's the second time in three months that Bruins, Hilgenberg, Kazmierski and Prehn overruled the DNR on a harvest quota issue. In June they ignored local County Deer Advisory Council recommendations, which were supported by the DNR, and voted to slash the numbers in a handful of northern counties. The move angered Cole, who had pledged to the volunteers on the CDACs that they would be consulted about any changes.
The dispute over wolf quotas is part of long-running controversies over wolf management.
State law requires the DNR to hold a hunting and trapping season running from early November to the end of February if the wolf is not on the endangered or threatened species list.
Minnesota and Michigan, part of the western Great Lakes population of wolves, do not have such a law and have no plan to hold a hunting or trapping season this year.
Wisconsin held wolf hunting and trapping seasons from 2012 to 2014 during the last period of state control over the species. Preseason planning spanned about seven months and hunters and trappers required about two months to fill the quotas. Each season ended in December.
In the three seasons (2012-14) of state control, hunters and trappers killed 117, 257 and 154 wolves, respectively. The DNR expressed its objective at the time to “put downward pressure” on the wolf population but did not have a stated population goal.
Years have passed but the agency has yet to establish a target or new plan for the species.
After the wolf was removed Jan. 6 from the Endangered Species List, the DNR intended to wait until fall to hold its next wolf season but a lawsuit forced one in late February.
The DNR convened a wolf management plan committee this year; the group has had one meeting and has a goal of producing an updated plan in 2022.
The wolf declarations by the Ojibwe are expected by late August. The DNR then plans to conduct a license drawing in September or October.
The state received 27,000 applications for the fall wolf season, including 10,000 for preference points only, according to Warnke.
The wolf season would run Nov. 6 until quotas are reached but end no later than Feb. 28, 2022.