Spring hearings questions finalized
The 2020 Department of Natural Resources annual fish and wildlife hearings and Wisconsin Conservation Congress meetings will be held April 13 in each county of the state.
Commonly referred to as the "spring hearings," the meetings are held to gauge public support on fishing, hunting, conservation and environmental issues.
This year's final ballot of questions was posted Monday on the DNR's website and is available for public review.
It includes 37 questions from the WCC, nine from the DNR wildlife bureau and nine from the Natural Resources Board.
Participation is expected to be high this year, both due to controversial issues on the slate and, for the second year, the option to vote over the Internet.
"When you have deer issues on the agenda, we typically get a large amount of input," said Larry Bonde, WCC chairman. "And we hope that the online portion will work well again, too."
Most of the NRB questions were advanced by board members Fred Prehn and Greg Kazmierski, and seek to test the public's appetite for deer regulations changes. They include:
Extend the current nine-day firearm season by adding 10 days.
Eliminate the antlerless-only holiday firearm deer season.
Establish a two-day or five-day nohunting period before the first day of the firearm deer season with the exception of waterfowl hunting.
Invalidate archery and crossbow buck tags during the firearm deer season.
Restrict the early crossbow deer season to October.
In addition, the board will ask if the public supports:
Prohibiting baiting and feeding deer statewide.
Establishing a spring bear hunting season.
The DNR will also ask several questions related to potential prohibitions on use of lead ammunition by hunters on public land.
And the WCC will ask whether voters support a legislative change to once again allow the use of Earn-A-Buck regulations by local deer councils. Several County Deer Advisory Councils have requested the return of EAB to help them achieve their local goals. The regulation was taken out of the DNR's toolbox in the last decade by the Legislature.
As part of a new feature implemented last year, the public will again be offered the choice of voting at the established meeting sites or voting online.
The Internet option resulted in input from 10,712 participants last year, a 55% increase from 2018, according to DNR and WCC data.
It was the first time online voting was available in the 85-year history of the congress.
This year the Internet option will go live at 7 p.m. April 13, the same time the spring hearings begin, and will remain open for 72 hours. A link for online voters will be posted in April on the DNR's website.
All of the items this year will be advisory in nature.
Due to Act 21, a 2011 state law that lengthened and complicated the administrative rule-making process, giving more power to the Legislature, potential regulation changes are typically only considered at the spring hearings in odd-numbered years.
However, votes on the issues can be used to support future rule changes or legislative action.
The gatherings are free and open to the public.
The 2020 meeting agendas begin with elections of local congress delegates, followed by an update on preliminary deer management recommendations from the local County Deer Advisory Council, votes on DNR wildlife and NRB advisory questions, submission of citizen resolutions and votes on congress advisory questions.
Citizens are allowed to comment for up to 3 minutes on any question or rule change.
Attendees may vote and leave or stay for the entire proceedings. Meetings typically last from 1 to 3 hours.
As established in state statute, the Wisconsin Conservation Congress serves as a public advisory body to the NRB and DNR. The congress has five elected delegates in each county.
Meeting locations include Cudahy High School in Milwaukee County, Theisen Middle School in Fond du Lac County, Webster Middle School in Ozaukee County, Appleton North High School in Outagamie County, Union Grove High School in Racine County, Plymouth High School in Sheboygan County; Kewaskum High School in Washington County, Waukesha West High School in Waukesha County and Webster Stanley Middle School in Winnebago County.
Visit dnr.wi.gov for more information.