DNR brings on Doden to fill Taylor/Rusk wildlife biologist position
Taylor and Rusk counties have their own Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources wildlife biologist again with the agency’s late-summer hiring of Emma Doden.
Doden officially began her work as the new local biologist in mid-September and is based out of the DNR’s Ladysmith Service Center. Over a month into it, Doden said on Oct. 28 that she’s still learning a lot each day, but it’s been an enjoyable process getting to know the area and its people.
“I’ve been of course learning a lot, asking lots of questions but I’ve been getting out and trying to explore the area a little bit,” Doden said. “I’ve been out on the county forest a little bit and of course on our Pershing Wildlife Area and just getting more familiar with the management side of things with that. Just trying to get out and see what the wildlife is like out there and get a feel for the hunting culture and everything.”
The Rusk/Taylor biologist position has been in flux for about four years since the 2017 retirement of DNR veteran Mark Schmidt. Joshua Spiegel filled the spot in 2018 but, before long, he was shifted back to Sawyer County. For the past several months, Spiegel and Derek Johnson of Price County had been pitching in as the county’s DNR contacts.
For Doden, the hiring came at a perfect time where she was finishing up her latest studies and she and her husband were looking to relocate closer to family.
“I most recently was out in Utah actually at Utah State University,” Doden said. “I was doing my masters out there. I was researching nuisance beavers and translocations actually. It was nice to be out in the mountains for a few years. It’s beautiful out there, but I’m from the Midwest originally and I’m happy to be back where there’s more water, more trees and greenness.”
Doden grew up in northeastern Illinois, about five miles from the Wisconsin border. She said she didn’t grow up in a hunting background, but she was exposed enough to the outdoors as a youngster to lead her to a career in wildlife management and attended UW-Stevens Point for her undergraduate studies. “I have family up in northern Wisconsin,” Doden said. “We’d go to the cabin there a lot and spend time on the lake. We went on a lot of camping trips and went out west for a few trips. So I think I was just exposed to the outdoors at a young age. I just really loved animals. I think when you’re younger you don’t really know that the wildlife field exists. I probably just thought I like working with animals so I want to be a veterinarian. After I started learning a little more and attended UW-Stevens Point, you learn about the whole field of wildlife management. I was really drawn to it because I’m able to work with wildlife and be in the outdoors and help conserve and manage the species that are out there. I want to keep those species going as long as we can for generations to come.”
Since graduating from UW-SP in 2016, Doden has worked as a wildlife technician in states like Michigan, Arkansas and Idaho, mostly on research projects.
“I’ve moved around quite a bit, but I think that’s given me an interesting perspective on how different places manage their wildlife and bringing it all back to Wisconsin and kind of seeing how I can apply everything I’ve learned back here in Wisconsin,” she said.
And, with the help of her husband, she has started to dabble in hunting, mostly for upland birds and turkeys so far, with a duck hunt and a mule deer hunt mixed in.
“I’m definitely looking forward to being back in Wisconsin where there’s more opportunities and I can spend quality time in the woods and learn more about deer hunting,” she said.
Doden will be the DNR wildlife liaison for the County Deer Advisory Councils in Taylor and Rusk counties and is listed on the DNR website with assigned subjects such as chronic wasting disease, the Deer Management Assistance Program and wildlife damage permits and programs.
