WAUSAU, Wis. (WSAU) – Biologists and stakeholders in the state’s wolf populations will be meeting this weekend to go over data.
It’s the annual DNR Wolf meetings. The meeting on Friday is an annual gathering of trackers for the DNR who estimate the wolf population for the DNR. Rebecca Schroeder – Bureau director for endangered resources programs – says they’ll get together and share their data collections. “It’s wolf tracking, it’s calls, it’s a number of things to determine pack size.” It’s from that data that the state will estimate the minimum number of wolves in the state.
The meeting on Saturday is for the local and regional stakeholders in the wolf populations. Schroeder says they’ll be meeting together to discuss the wolf impact on the local economy and wildlife populations. “It’s a diverse group. Some of them are the same as Friday’s meeting, but we have people who have different information on the wolves that day.” Farmers, guides, foresters, biologists, hunters, and Native American tribes will all take part.
Saturday’s meeting will also be the start of rules negotiations and input on an upcoming wolf hunt. Now that the wolf is off the endangered species list, the state will now be looking at rules for wolf management including the opening of a wolf season in October. Rules for the hunt have not yet been put into place, but they will take everyone’s input into the plan when rules are written.
Last year’s estimate of the wolf population was around 800 animals, and Schroeder expects that number to go up this year.