Wisconsin Ag Connection - WFBF Pleased with Conservation Congress Hearings This Week

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WFBF Pleased with Conservation Congress Hearings This Week
Wisconsin Ag Connection - 04/17/2008

Voters at this week's Conservation Congress spring hearings approved three key position that the state's largest farm organization had its eyes on. The Wisconsin Farm Bureau announced that it was pleased to see citizens take action on banning deer baiting, the rejection of a managed forest law, and support for establishing a hunting season for wolves during the Monday night forums.

WFBF Public Affairs Director Paul Zimmerman says his group endorsed the statewide ban on baiting and feeding of deer. Voters during the hearings also supported the move by 54-percent.

"As recently as 2006, 56 percent of Conservation Congress voters were against a feeding ban when polled," Zimmerman said. "With bovine tuberculosis diagnosed in deer and cattle in Minnesota and Michigan, the Farm Bureau wants to step up efforts to prevent the disease from appearing in Wisconsin. While controversy has swirled around this issue for decades, the scientific research is clear. Baiting and feeding deer leads to increased risks of disease transmission."

He notes that Minnesota's recently altered bovine TB ranking makes it more expensive and difficult for livestock producers there to move animals across state lines.

Voters turned down a question that asked 'do you support legislation that would require all future Managed Forest Law contracts to allow public access as currently defined in state statute?' The Farm Bureau claims that under the current Managed Forest Law, landowners have the choice to enroll their land as either open to the public or closed at a higher per acre fee. Closed MFL lands may be posted as such, while open MFL must allow public access for hunting, fishing, cross-country skiing, sight-seeing and hiking.

And citizens overwhelmingly favored developing a hunting season to maintain the state's wolf population within the Department of Natural Resources' management goals. The question passed in every county.

"The Farm Bureau was glad to see how this vote came out, as our organization contends that without the use of a management plan, livestock producers will be subject to increased depredation problems and have no legal means to control problem wolves," Zimmerman said. "Gray wolves have made a dramatic comeback in Wisconsin and were recently taken off the Federal Threatened and Endangered Species List. Their population is predicted to continue to grow if no control methods are implemented."

WFBF supports the DNR's wolf management plan that intended to keep the wolf population between 300 and 500 animals statewide. With no public harvest system in place to maintain the population, there are now an estimated 600 wolves roaming Wisconsin.

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