DNR News
January 24, 2006
The DNR News is updated every Tuesday at noon. Click on the current issue link at left to reach the most current issue.
Previous DNR News are also available on-line.
Edited by Paul Holtan
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
PO Box 7921
Madison WI 53707
(608) 267-7517
Fax: (608) 264-6293
E-mail address: paul.holtan@dnr.state.wi.us
This Week's Articles
- Deer Donation 2005 closes with more than 324,000 pounds of venison donated
- Comment period extended on additional protection for northern rivers
- EEK! Web site surpasses 3 million visitors in 2005
- Wild turkey and pheasant stamp design contest winners announced
- Free turkey hunter education clinics offered statewide
Deer Donation 2005 closes with more than 324,000 pounds of venison donated
MADISON – Wisconsin hunters donated nearly 7,207 white-tailed deer to the Wisconsin Deer Donation 2005 program, which ended Jan. 3, providing more than 324,000 pounds of ground venison for needy families across the state.
“Wisconsin hunters have again been generous to needy people through their hunting efforts,” said Bryan Woodbury, Wildlife Damage Program Coordinator with the Department of Natural Resources. “We are grateful for their generosity and to the system of processors and volunteers that prepared the meat and distributed it to food pantries.”
The Wisconsin Deer Donation Program has been in existence for 6 years. In that time, hunters have donated more than 1.9 million pounds of venison to food pantries across the state
One hundred thirty Wisconsin meat processors in 58 counties participated in the deer donation program this year, boning, grinding and packaging venison for distribution to pantries. A large network of volunteers including sports groups, church groups, civic organizations, and food pantry staff worked together to distribute the meat from the processor to the food pantries. Department of Natural Resources staff, United States Department of Agriculture-Wildlife Services staff, county wildlife damage staff and Hunt for the Hungry, headed by Lee Dudek of northeast Wisconsin, also partnered to administer the program.
The top meat processor in 2005 was Johnson’s Sausage Shoppe of Rio, followed by Pat’s Country Market, Arcadia and Cedar Creek Meats, Appleton.
Hunters can also make financial contributions to the deer donation program, and more than 6,000 hunters donated $17,000 to help the program in 2005. The monetary donation option implemented in 2002 allows hunters the opportunity to donate a dollar or more to the deer donation program when they purchase their license.
The 7,207 deer donated in 2005 was a decrease from the 2004 all-time record of 10,938 deer donated but very close to the number of deer donated in 2003 (6,771) and 2000 (7,765).
DNR wildlife managers say that there could be many reasons for the decrease in donations from 2004, but it is likely that not having any Earn-a-Buck (EAB) units outside of the chronic wasting disease management zones and a drop in the over-all number of Zone-T units from 2004 to 2005 had effects. EAB requires a hunter to first harvest an antlerless deer in order to earn a buck harvest authorization. Officials believe that at least some of the extra deer harvested in EAB units end up being donated to the pantry program. Also, the number of EAB hunting days in the CWD zones was reduced in 2005.
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: Laurie Fike - (608) 267-7974 or Bryan Woodbury - (608) 266-2151
Comment period extended on additional protection for northern rivers
MADISON – The public comment period on a proposal to add 40 northern Wisconsin river segments to the state’s list of Outstanding or Exceptional Resource Waters will be extended through Feb. 28, 2006. Additional information on the proposal – which would provide increased legal protection to these waters – including a study of the social and economic impacts of the water classifications, has been made available on the Internet.
Public hearings were conducted earlier this month on the proposal, which responds to an August 2004 petition from conservation and environmental groups requesting that the Department of Natural Resources add 100 northern Wisconsin river segments to the list.
Written comments on the proposal must be postmarked by Feb. 28, 2006, and sent to: Laura Bub, Bureau of Watershed Management, 101 S. Webster St., P.O. Box 7921, Madison, WI 53707-7921, or e-mailed to Laura Bub at: laura.bub@dnr.state.wi.us
In response to public comments at the hearing, Bub has posted materials referenced at those hearings for the public to review on the DNR Web site.
Among those materials is a document that summarizes the findings of a study ordered by the Natural Resources Board in the early 1990s to investigate the social and economic effects of the Outstanding and Exceptional Resource Water designations. The study looked at Marinette County, which had the most streams classified as Outstanding or Exceptional Resource waters, and generally found positive impacts: no projects were halted or incurred higher local costs because of the designations and that 70 percent of the landowners said the designation makes recreational property more desirable. The report and other materials can be found on the Outstanding and Exceptional Resource Waters pages of the DNR Web site.
Designations as Outstanding or Exceptional Resource Waters act to preserve water quality in these streams by triggering additional levels of protection from wastewater pollution, primarily from new sources of wastewater to be discharged directly to the streams. As a result of a pair of 2004 laws, the designations also trigger environmental reviews for new applications for high capacity wells and for projects along the streams.
2003 Wisconsin Act 118, aimed at streamlining waterway permitting, allowed more than a dozen activities including riprap replacement, culverts, and pilings to be exempt from needing a permit unless the projects were proposed for Outstanding or Exceptional Resource Waters or other high quality, sensitive waters waters.
2003 Wisconsin Act 310, a water quantity law, requires DNR to review the environmental impacts of high capacity wells proposed for within 1,200 feet of Outstanding or Exceptional Resource waters.
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: Laura Bub (608) 261-4385
EEK! Web site surpasses 3 million visitors in 2005
MADISON – School children, teachers, librarians and others made more than 3 million “virtual” visits to the outdoors through Wisconsin’s Environmental Education for Kids, (EEK!) Web site in 2005.
The Department of Natural Resources launched the EEK! Web site in 1998, and there’s been a steady increase in readership ever since, according to Carrie Morgan, education team leader for the DNR Bureau of Communication and Education who created the site.
Morgan has received e-mail from kids telling her they use EEK! because it’s “awesome” and “fun.” Adults also e-mail saying they use the site because it contains easy to understand information they can’t find elsewhere.
EEK! contains a wide variety of information on environmental education such as the biology and ecology of plants and animals found in Wisconsin, information on air and water quality, recycling, endangered species and invasive species, phenology, as well as games and activities, and a special section for teachers.
The department tracks visits to its Web site each month and reports for 2005 indicated there were 3,103,982 visits (nearly 36.9 million “hits”) to the EEK! site.
“Critter Corner” -- where kids can find information on all kinds of animals from snakes to wolves -- is the most popular EEK! section visited. Morgan said seasonal sections also receive high volumes of visits. “The Wild Turkey,” “Why Do Leaves Change Color,” and “Earth Day” are pretty popular pages during Thanksgiving, fall, and spring seasonal features.
“We get visits from a lot of school kids and children and parents who home school, but also from teachers and librarians,” Morgan said.
“For example,” she said “we received one e-mail from a teacher who said she has used the site for quite a few years to enable her students to get information about state plants and animals to create a group ‘field guide’ as a science/technology project.”
Barbara Huntington, consultant with the Department of Public Instruction’s Division of Library Services said many libraries like EEK! and have it bookmarked on their computers because they can download activity sheets and replicate them in their own libraries.
“EEK! plugs you into a network. It’s good for resources, references, and programming,” Huntington said.
Morgan said the site is also popular with people from outside Wisconsin, judging from the e-mail she has received from people around the world in such places as New Zealand and England.
“One e-mail came from a gentleman in Africa who used our information about worm composting for a project. It’s fascinating and fun to be sitting at my desk working and receive an email from someone on the other side of the world.”
There is a purple EEK! icon link to the site on the DNR Home Page.
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: Carrie Morgan - (608) 267-5239
Wild turkey and pheasant stamp
design contest winners announced
MADISON – A design by a Wisconsin artist who is a veteran at winning stamp contests will grace the 2007 Wisconsin turkey stamp while a design by an artist who has won his first contest after previous entries only received runner-up awards will be featured on the 2006 Wisconsin pheasant stamp.
An acrylic painting of a tom turkey with a hen in the background by Samuel Timm of Wautoma is the winning entry of the 2007 Wisconsin Wild Turkey Stamp contest. A colored pencil drawing of a rooster pheasant in a prairie setting by John Nemec, Jr. of Peshtigo is the winning entry in the 2006 Wisconsin Pheasant Stamp design contest.
Judging for the 2007 Wild Turkey Stamp design contest took place during the statewide conference of the Wisconsin Chapter of the National Wild Turkey Federation held in Middleton in January.
A total of 15 artists submitted artwork for the 2007 Wild Turkey Stamp design contest. The winner, Timm, is a self-taught wildlife artist, and an avid sportsman who has won previous Wisconsin wildlife and fisheries stamp contests. First runner-up was John Nemec Jr. of Peshtigo. Second runner-up was a tie between Vernon Javes of Appleton and Robert Metropulos Jr. of Minocqua, and the third runner-up was Virgil Beck of Stevens Point.
Sales of the wild turkey stamps help provide for future opportunities for turkey management and hunting in Wisconsin. All turkey hunters are required to purchase the $5.25 turkey stamp to legally hunt turkeys in Wisconsin. Sales of the turkey stamp brings in over $500,000 annually for habitat management and restoration projects, education, research, equipment, and for managing the turkey program in our state.
Judging for the 2006 Pheasant Stamp design contest took place in Madison in November. A total of 16 entries were received from around the state. Winner John Nemec, Jr. has been entering the contest for a number of years, and has received many runner-up awards. This is the first time Nemec has won the contest. First runner-up was a tie between Robert Leum of Holmen and Robert Metropulos of Minocqua. Second runner-up was John Rickaby of Green Bay, and third runner-up was Camela Sell of Montello.
Sales of the $10 pheasant stamp annually brings in more than $370,000 for developing, managing, conserving, and maintaining the wild pheasant population on public and private lands throughout the state. A pheasant stamp is required to hunt within the pheasant management zones.
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: Andrea Mezera - (608) 261-8458
Free turkey hunter education clinics offered statewide
MADISON – Hunters can brush-up on skills and learn new techniques to help hunt the elusive wild turkey by attending any of a series of free Turkey Hunter Education Clinics that will be held around the state beginning in February.
The clinics typically last two-and-half to three hours and are designed to cover turkey biology and behavior, hunting methods, regulations, safety precautions, hunter/landowner ethics, scoring trophy birds, and a few ideas on preparing turkeys at home.
These free clinics are presented by volunteer instructors, and are sponsored by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and the National Wild Turkey Federation.
The clinics begin in February and run through early April. Information on where and when clinics are being held is available at DNR Service Centers and on the DNR Web site or by calling (608) 261-8458. For the latest additions or changes in the schedule please refer to the DNR Web site.
CONTACT: Andrea Mezera (608) 261-8458
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