Wild Things: Spring Hearings Back to In-Person

With a colorful sunrise highlighting its feathers, a bald eagle kept an eye out for breakfast near Lake Michigan last weekend. Photo by Kevin Naze.

For the first time in five years, citizens can gather at the county level to vote for representation on the Wisconsin Conservation Congress (WCC).

The Department of Natural Resources (DNR) fish and wildlife hearings and WCC county meetings will be held April 8 in all counties, with an option to provide input on a variety of natural resources issues online between noon April 10 and noon April 13. 

Locally, hearings will be held at Sturgeon Bay High School (Alumni Hall), Kewaunee High School (Theater) and Northeast Wisconsin Technical College in Green Bay (Room SC130). 

The annual gatherings were victims of COVID-19 restrictions in 2020, and DNR-mandated protocol in 2021. But after hearing from many citizens opposed to online-only voting, the agency has agreed to add the in-person opportunity.

DNR staff presentations will begin at 6:30 pm, followed by Conservation Congress delegate and alternate elections. After that, DNR spring hearing questions, WCC questions and any citizen resolutions will be discussed and voted on. Results are advisory only, but sometimes lead to rule changes. Learn more at dnr.wisconsin.gov/about/wcc/springhearing.

Fishing Update

Anglers were taking advantage of unseasonably warm weather earlier this week to try their luck for yellow perch, northern pike, walleyes and whitefish on Green Bay; brown and lake trout along the Lake Michigan shoreline; and rainbow trout, pike and a few holdover fall-spawning browns still swimming in the Ahnapee River.

The yellow perch season on Green Bay and tributaries closes at the end of the day Friday, March 15, and remains closed until the third week of May. 

Very little snow this winter has tributaries and wetlands quite dry. It’ll take more than light rain and snow flurries to improve conditions for fish, frogs and waterfowl. 

Fire danger was extremely high at midweek. Check out the latest fire conditions across the state at apps.dnr.wi.gov/wisburn/#/. For updates on current drought conditions, see dnr.wisconsin.gov/topic/WaterUse/DroughtStatus.html.

Wild Turkey Leftovers

Hunters quick on the trigger will have a shot at picking up a bonus spring turkey tag next week.

The leftovers are available at 10 am each day, beginning with Zone 1 on Monday. To save time, it’s a good idea to purchase your license and stamp privilege before getting in line — in-person or on an online queue — on the day permits go on sale for the zone you want.

Cost for bonus tags is $10 for residents and $15 for nonresidents, with a limit of one per hunter per day. Any leftovers that aren’t sold the first five days go on sale next Saturday, March 23.

Hunters and anglers can purchase licenses and bonus tags via the state’s Go Wild site (https://gowild.wi.gov/) or in-person at any businesses that sell licenses.

Wolves Kill Five Dogs

Wolves have killed at least five dogs and wounded two others in three northern and central Wisconsin counties since early February, including pets in Ashland and Bayfield counties and hunting dogs in Clark County. One of the pets was a yellow lab; the other was a mixed breed. The hunting hounds were three walkers and a plott.  

There were also verified wolf harassment or threats to 230 beef cattle in separate incidents in January in Douglas County, and to two pet dogs in early February in Vilas County. 

Unconfirmed depredation or complaints include captive deer in Douglas County and livestock in St. Croix and Waupaca counties. 

MFL Enrollments

Nearly one-third of the more than 1,400 enrollments made this year in the Managed Forest Law (MFL) property tax incentive program are new to the program.

A total of 107,304 acres were added to MFL this year, with 1,411 individual landowners and 24 large parcels of at least 1,000 acres. The average size of the new enrollments is 64 acres for individual landowners and 719 acres for large ownerships.

A total of 22,281 acres are open to the public for hunting, fishing, hiking, sight-seeing and cross-country skiing, with more than 15,000 of that part of large ownership parcels.

State of TNC in WI

The Nature Conservancy’s Wisconsin State Director, Elizabeth Koehler, recently took a look back at some local wins for nature and people achieved last year. You can watch the recorded presentation, “The State of the Nature Conservancy in Wisconsin 2023,” at youtube.com/watch?v=XBLx-ax-rJU.

Weekly Water Levels

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers estimates that Lake Michigan water levels are about 2 inches lower than at this time last year. Levels have dropped about 33 inches since the record-March-high set in 2020, but are still about 31 inches above the all-time monthly low, set in 1964.