Board OKs plan for CWD management
Members of the state Natural Resources Board approved a framework for chronic wasting disease (CWD) management during the 2008 deer hunting season today, while stressing that they ultimately want a comprehensive new statewide plan for controlling the fatal nervous system disease.
The plan for the 2008 hunt reflected input from citizens during eight public hearings around the state that were called to try to generate cooperation in CWD management efforts. Previous attempts to stop the spread of the contagious disease by killing as many deer as possible in the core disease area in south-central Wisconsin have been unpopular with hunters and many residents.
The new plan includes:
* Combining the core disease eradication zone and the surrounding herd reduction zone into one CWD management zone with the same season and consistent regulations. Hunting seasons also will be more consistent with those in the rest of the state, though an unpopular Dec. 24-Jan. 4 holiday season was allowed.
* Raising the deer population goals from five deer per square mile in the core area and 10 per square mile in the reduction zone to goals of 20 percent below the population goals that were in place in deer management units in 2001, the year before CWD was discovered.
The new goals range from 10 to 24 deer per square mile.
* Authorizing the use of rifles within the CWD management zone, except in metropolitan areas.
* Allowing the hunting of white and albino deer in the CWD management zone.
The DNR rule also prohibited bringing in whole deer, elk or moose carcasses from areas outside Wisconsin where CWD has been identified, and restricted movement of whole carcasses from the CWD management zone to elsewhere in the state. But that rule will not be effective until the 2009 deer season to allow time for hunters to find options for processing or taxidermy.
A proposal to allow shooting deer from a farm tractor or other farm implement was not advanced by DNR staff because of opposition at the public meetings and a lack of proof that it was effective.
But though the board approved the proposals for the deer hunt this year, several members expressed concern about failure of the DNR to take actions sufficient to control CWD.
"CWD is expanding in spite of what we are doing," said board member David Clausen. "I have problems with locking into goals when they are not sufficient to impact the disease."
Long-time board member Gerald O'Brien, who is leaving the board, recalled that originally the goal was to kill all the deer in the core CWD area near Mount Horeb, but that the goals have been reduced a little at a time.
"Do you think this will work? CWD keeps expanding and could wipe out the deer herd in the state. This (plan) reminds me of the ad on TV where the guy puts a stick of gum in the crack of a dam. When will we do something serious?" he asked.
"We need a more drastic plan. We were criticized by a state audit that found we have more deer than when we started."
Board Chairman Christine Thomas said the best science shows that the DNR was on the right track from the beginning, in trying to sharply reduce the herd in the disease area to limit transmission to more animals, but that landowners did not cooperate.
However, she maintained, the DNR has been successful in limiting the percentage of deer that have the disease to under 2 percent.
Alan Crossley, CWD coordinator for the DNR, responded that the agency is attempting to persuade people socially and politically to reduce deer populations.
"If the goal is so low that people feel it cannot be reached, we are less likely to get there," he said. "Twenty per square mile is probably not low enough, but can we work with the psychology of hunting to get to that point and then re-evaluate?"
People did not like previous measures such as earn-a-buck by killing a doe or an October hunting season, he said.
"Before we eradicate the disease, we have to think about controlling it. If we want to keep the disease from moving across the state, at some point we have to take an aggressive approach other than recreational shooting," such as using sharpshooters, Crossley said.
"We also will have to tackle a statewide ban on baiting and feeding again."
The board members agreed that they would look at season issues again next year and review deer population goals in two years.
DNR Secretary Matt Frank maintained that the agency has been successful in containing the disease in a set management zone.
"It is important that we set credible goals to have the hunting community working with us," Frank said. "Ultimately we need board support and hunter support and legislative support. All these things are intertwined."
But Clausen disagreed with the idea that the disease has been contained. It has already spread throughout most of the southern part of the state, and may also exist in the north, he said.
"This thing is slowly spreading and we are not picking it up. We just don't know yet how far it is going," he said.
Frank agreed that a long-term statewide strategy is needed, instead of a season-to-season approach. "More resources would be needed to test extensively in areas outside the CWD zone, he said.
File photo
A plan to manage chronic wasting disease was OK'd by the Natural Resources Board Wednesday.
