Spring wildlife and fish rules hearings April 16

Questionnaire now available on DNR Web site

MADISON – In addition to getting taxes filed, Wisconsin residents will have another stop to make on the way home from the post office on April 16: the 2007 Spring Wildlife and Fisheries Rule Hearings, which are held annually in every county of the state.

At the hearings, people’s comments on proposed rules that regulate fishing, hunting, trapping and other outdoor recreation activities in Wisconsin are recorded. Those results, along with written comments on proposed rules, are presented to the state Natural Resources Board for their consideration in acting on the proposed rules. Votes are non-binding and are presented to the Natural Resources Board as advisory only.

Traditionally, the Department of Natural Resources fisheries and wildlife spring rules hearings were held on the second Monday in April. However, due to unforeseen legislative changes, this year the spring hearings will be held on the third Monday in April.

The public can access the Spring Wildlife and Fisheries Rules Hearings hearing agenda and rule proposals from the Department of Natural Resources Internet site [dnr.wi.gov]. The Web site also list hearing locations for every county of the state. All hearings begin at 7 p.m.

The hearings are combined with the Wisconsin Conservation Congress county meetings during which, residents can introduce resolutions that if found popular, could appear on future spring rules hearing agendas.

Questions are grouped into two categories: those of statewide significance and those with mainly local impact. Only those rule proposals identified as statewide in nature will be voted on in all counties. Local rule changes will be presented only in affected counties unless someone in the audience in an unaffected county requests a vote on a local rule change. This system moves the hearings along more quickly while still allowing a resident of one area to vote on an issue affecting a favorite lake or wildlife area in another part of the state.

Some of the key wildlife rule changes proposed by the department include:

• reducing the number of wild turkey management zones from 46 to seven;
• eliminating jackrabbit hunting;
• requiring blaze orange visible on all sides of ground blinds whenever blaze orange clothing rules are in effect;
• requiring that ground blinds display a DNR customer ID number or name and address of the owner when left unattended on public lands; and
• several proposals relating to waterfowl hunting on the Mississippi River resulting from new management plans for the Mississippi River National Fish and Wildlife Refuge being proposed by the US Fish and Wildlife Service.

Joe Hennessy, regulations specialist for the state fisheries management program, says the advisory questions are probably of most interest to the greatest number of anglers. The three statewide fisheries questions all affect small groups of anglers, and none of the questions are expected to be controversial; one proposes to eliminate the maximum size limit for landing nets, another would increase the minimum length limit for musky caught on the St. Louis River and St. Louis Bay to 50 inches, and a third would require that people who spear carp and other rough fish have barbed points on the spear.

The advisory questions Hennessy highlights ask anglers whether the musky fishing season in the southern zone – those waters south of Highway 10 – should be extended to Dec. 31, and one that would require a quick strike rig when fishing with large live bait, to set the hook more quickly and reduce the chance that fish caught and released will die.

“These advisory questions are just that – advisory,” Hennessy says. “There are no rules in process. The department wants feedback on these ideas, and based on that feedback, will decide what to do next.”

In its role as the policy setting board for natural resource management in Wisconsin, the Natural Resources Board (NRB) has authority to place advisory questions on the Spring Wildlife and Fisheries Rule Hearing ballot.

This year, the Natural Resources Board has placed two questions in regard to use of lead shot in upland hunting situations:

• Should non-toxic (non-lead) shot be required for dove hunting on DNR managed lands; and

   

• Should non-toxic (non-lead) shot be required for hunting of all birds other than turkey on department managed lands.

All-Electronic Voting

Introduced on a limited basis several years ago, electronic voting was used in every county in 2006 and will be in place again in 2007. All-electronic balloting maintains voting privacy and reduces the time and workload of tallying the statewide votes.

Some counties will have vote counting machines at the hearing location. Others will have ballots collected by hearing officials and transported to a central location where ballots from several counties will be fed into a vote counting machine. There is no age or residency requirement to vote on any of the fish and wildlife rule proposals in the spring hearing questionnaire.