Managing predators complex
By Paul Smith
In the world of the outdoors, 2009 might go down as the year of the big predator.
In Wisconsin and across the nation, burgeoning populations of bears, wolves and mountain lions are seizing headlines – and stressing wildlife officials.
It’s the residue of success.
For roughly the past 50 years, wildlife management in the United States has embraced a science-based model, one that closely monitors animal populations, protects species that need it and controls harvests on those that can sustain it.
One result has been a remarkable comeback of many top predators. This year, Wisconsin is likely at a modern-era high in numbers of wolves (about 650 coming into the spring, according to the Department of Natural Resources), bears (as many as 40,000) and mountain lions.
OK, so only one handsome male cougar was seen this spring west of Spooner. But there likely are others. And if recent history is any guide, the number of big, wild cats in the state will only increase.
That’s this year’s prevailing story line for top predators – increasing numbers and expanding ranges.
Gone are the days of bounties on wolves, when government paid cash for carcasses.
In are the days of regulated hunting, when hunters pay fees to support responsible management that in the end supports the animals.
It was just 90 years ago that Aldo Leopold, today held as a bastion of enlightened wildlife management, wantonly killed wolves and cougars to protect deer and livestock. Leopold wrote in 1920: “But the last one must be caught before the job can be called fully successful.”
He changed his mind in later years and taught a generation of wildlife managers at the University of Wisconsin who have employed a more balanced approach.
We now might have more bears in the Badger State than our state animal. The DNR issued 7,310 bear permits, a record, for the hunting season that opened Wednesday in Wisconsin.
The bruins obviously have thrived under carefully controlled hunting.
The state’s wolf population recovered under the Endangered Species Act. It exceeds the recovery goal and will one day likely be managed – in part – with hunting. Because of a series of legal flip-flops, the wolf is under federal protection in the Upper Midwest.
But a wolf hunt commenced Sept. 1 in Idaho, where permits cost $11.75 for residents and $186 for out-of-staters. Idaho officials expect to sell about 70,000 permits, which will help fund study and management of the wolf population. The wolf harvest is likely to be less than 200 out of a population of more than 1,000, officials predict.
And a wolf hunt is planned to begin Sept. 15 in Montana.
A request for an injunction to stop the Idaho and Montana wolf hunts was denied Tuesday in a U.S. district court.
Any hunt for wolves in Wisconsin is years away, according to DNR managers, who are keen to coordinate it with activities in Minnesota and Michigan.
That will come too late for some and too soon for others.
But like all responsible wildlife management plans, when enacted it will ensure a safety margin for the animal.
Wolf numbers in Wisconsin and elsewhere have grown high enough to justify limited hunting. Though the debate is focused elsewhere, that fact alone – a successful recovery of a native species – is cause for celebration.
For what it’s worth, there is no wide-scale blood-thirst for wolf hides in the state’s hunting community. Certainly some, especially those who live in the north and have lost a dog to wolves or are concerned about the impact the predators have on deer and elk, will welcome the opportunity to buy a wolf tag.
But the majority of hunters in Wisconsin, it seems, would not take part but do support responsible management of a recovered species.
The hard part now falls on wildlife managers as they attempt to craft a science-based wolf plan in our increasingly complex 21st century.
In a perfect world, all the money being spent on wolf lawsuits and campaigns of persuasion would instead fund the biologists and wildlife managers. Their track record over the past 50 years has earned such support.
Wolves and bears and mountain lions properly inspire awe in humans. Other emotions, too. To get a sample, just start a conversation on wolves in a North Woods tavern or downtown coffee shop.
But fear for survival of the species shouldn’t be one of them.
Earn-A-Buck alternative: The DNR will ask the Natural Resources Board to approve public hearings on a proposed alternative to the Earn-A-Buck deer hunting regulation. The proposal includes: a statewide 16-day gun deer hunt to begin two Saturdays before Thanksgiving; an archery season running from mid-September to the second Sunday in January in most of the state; a statewide five-day youth hunt beginning the second Saturday in October; and a four-day antlerless hunt in December in Central Forest and Farmland zones. If approved, the public hearings will be held in October at eight sites, including Waukesha. Any change in the regulations would not take effect until 2010.