Make your voice heard at the annual spring hearings
The Annual Spring Hearings take place on Monday, April 14 in every county in the state. In-person participation, the second year since the pandemic, starts at 6:00 p.m. at designated locations for each Wisconsin county. Online voting starts at 7:00 p.m. on the 14th of April and closes on April 16th at 6:00 p.m.
The meeting location for Clark County is Greenwood High School Cafeteria, for Marathon County, the DC Everest Middle School Auditorium, and in Taylor County, the Medford Senior High Library. You don’t need to attend the meeting for the county you live in, and if you are traveling out of the area a full listing of the meeting locations can be found on the DNR website.
Sign-up and presentations will run until 7:00 p.m. At that time the election of Wisconsin Conservation Congress Representatives will take place. Each county has five delegates to the congress. At 7:30 the in-person voting is scheduled to start. Some discussion of each question takes place prior to the vote, allowing citizens to debate the merits of the problem or lobby for or against the question.
Most counties decide to skip questions that pertain to local issues not in their area, unless someone at that county meeting expresses an interest to vote on a particular question. Perhaps they fish that lake, have a cabin in the area the question pertains to, or they live in that area and needed to attend a meeting away from home. This year there are 74 questions in total. Four questions pertain to Wildlife Management rule changes. There are six questions on statewide proposed Fishery Management rule changes, and 26 on proposed Local Fishery rule changes. There are seven questions on panfish bag limit proposals.
The NRB poses three Advisory Questions and the Wisconsin Conservation Congress (WCC) seeks a vote on 28 Advisory Questions. Advisory questions do not become rule changes even if they receive a tremendous amount of support. If an advisory question passes, it may appear the following year in the DNR rule change portion of the questions.
Advisory questions come from the WCC committees or just an average Wisconsin hunter with an idea. The meetings provide an opportunity for any Wisconsin citizen to submit a proposal to the WCC delegates at the meeting. The statewide youth deer hunt originated from a Wisconsin average Joe with an idea. Maybe you have the next great idea.
You might want to voice your opinion with a vote or state your piece on the panfish questions. There are bag limit questions for some Marathon County lakes and one lake in Taylor County.
Several questions on size limit, slot sizes, and bag limits for northern pike are for individual lakes on the questionnaire. Of course, walleye, bass, and trout all have questions, just like every other year. One question proposes opening the Inland Trout season in early April. Sturgeon even will get some attention this year.
For land based wildlife, there are questions for deer, bear, trapping, and more.
Participating in this process represents one way that hunter and angler involvement improves outdoor recreation. Involvement brings net gains like in the “Corner Crossing” fight going on in western states.
Last week the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit ruled that corner crossing is legal in Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Utah, and Wyoming. The court felt that the public cannot be denied access to public lands. Public land advocates feel that this sets a precedent for other states to follow.
Sportsmen’s organizations provided the funding and push for this and the original court battle over this. Sportsmen’s organization that are supported and funded by us, the hunters and anglers.
Participation in the process won the battle for access for hunters and anglers to public lands, that for well over a century were treated as if it was private land, and in many cases not hunted heavily. For the next several years hunters that correctly follow the process for legal corner crossing will reap the benefits of hunting elk, mule deer, black bear, and more in those states. Several area hunters head to those states every year to hunt big game.
Opportunity created by hunters and anglers for everyone occurs from advocating for the wise use of resources. Advocating by telling our story and participating in the process.
Consider taking an evening and attending a county meeting for the Annual Spring Hearings or take a few minutes for the online version.
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CHUCK K OLAR LOCAL OUTDOORSMAN
