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Email: timberwolfinfonetwork@gmail.com

Wolf Advisory committee recommends range of wolf population goals

By Paul A. Smith of the Journal Sentinel

At issue: How many wolves should Wisconsin have?

How much time do you have?

The Wisconsin Wolf Advisory Committee met Wednesday in Wausau and spent seven hours debating its recommendations on the topic.

In the end, a majority of committee members voted to advance four wolf management options for consideration to Department of Natural Resources executives: Establish the statewide wolf population goal at 350 animals; establish the goal at 650 animals; establish the wolf goal as a range of 300 to 650 animals; or establish a threshold or minimum number of wolves at 350 with no upper limit.

The DNR is working to revise the Wisconsin wolf management plan. The agency last updated the plan in 1999; it included a statewide population goal of 350 wolves.

Since then wolf numbers increased to more than 800 animals, according to DNR reports of the overwinter wolf population. The annual assessment is conducted in late winter when wolf numbers are at their annual low and the animals are easiest to track and observe.

Biologists estimate Wisconsin’s habitat could support more than 1,000 wolves. The social carrying capacity, however, is a matter of great debate.

Several hunting and conservation groups, including the Wisconsin Wildlife Federation, Wisconsin Trappers Association and Wisconsin Bear Hunters Association, are strongly pushing the DNR include a 350 wolf population goal in its next wolf management plan.

But a 2014 DNR survey of public attitudes toward wolves found a majority of residents supported a wolf population at least as large as is presently found in the state. The majority support for the current number of wolves was found even among residents of wolf range, where wolf depredation of pets and livestock occurs.

Wisconsin had a minimum of 660 wolves in early 2014, according to the DNR.

Wolf numbers typically double each year in spring when pups are born then begin to decline due to various sources of mortality.

Since 2012, that has included public hunting and trapping. Last year hunters and trappers killed 257 wolves in Wisconsin, leading to a 19% decline in the wolf population, according to DNR estimates.

The agency established a lower kill goal of about 150 wolves this year. The 2014-’15 Wisconsin wolf hunting and trapping season begins Oct. 15.

Wisconsin officials hope to have a new wolf management plan in place in 2015.

The wolf advisory committee includes representatives of the DNR, U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture wildlife services, the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission, Timber Wolf Alliance, Wisconsin Bear Hunters Association, Wisconsin Cattlemen’s Association, Wisconsin Conservation Congress, Wisconsin Trappers Association and Wisconsin Wildlife Federation.

The committee will next meet Sept. 30 and Oct. 8 in Wausau.

Its recommendations are advanced to DNR executives who decide which to include in a draft wolf management plan.

The draft plan will be released to the public in October. Public hearings will be held at locations around the state in October and November, MacFarland said.

Following the hearings, the agency will prepare a final wolf management plan. The final plan is expected to be released to the public in January and presented to the Natural Resources Board for a vote in February.

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