Washington County Weekend Post

T he Natural Resources Board (NRB) did no favor to the state's County Deer Advisory Councils (CDAC) when it voted to override the antler- less harvest quotas recom- mended by 11 CDACs in northern Wisconsin. The NRB also rejected the recommendation from the Grant and Marquette CDACs to hold a holiday antlerless-only season that would have run from Dec. 24 through Jan. 1, 2021. NRB Vice Chair Greg Kazmierski of Pewaukee introduced the amendment to override the CDAC's rec- ommendations along with a 16-page report stating why he wanted the override at the June 24 NRB meeting. The amendment came as a surprise to several NRB members who either had not seen the report before the meeting or had received it only an hour before. The vote to approve the amend- ment was 5-2. Three former NRB mem- bers criticized the decision to override the recommen- dations, suggested open meeting laws had been vio- lated and an improper meet- ing notice had been issued. The NRB called an emergen- cy meeting June 30 to recon- sider the quotas. In a mostly symbolic gesture, the NRB restored the CDAC quota recommendations for four counties. CDACs were established in 2014 to gather and consid- er public input and provide recommendations to the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and the NRB on deer management issues in their county. Two of their primary responsi- bilities are to set a three- year goal for the county to maintain, decrease or increase the deer popula- tion and then to recommend antlerless deer quotas to achieve that goal. Kazmierski was a vocal advocate to establish the CDAC program. Each CDAC forwards an antlerless deer quota recom- mendation to the DNR for review before it is sent to the NRB for approval. In the past, very few changes were made by the DNR or the NRB. By approving the override this year, the NRB is basically telling the DNR and the CDACs that they know more about deer man- agement than biologists and people who live and hunt in the effected counties. That slap in the face comes at a time when area CDACs are struggling to find volunteers for their councils. The councils have a chair and vice chair from the Conservation Congress, along with seven citizens who represent stakeholders from agriculture, forestry, tourism, transportation, local government (urban), hunting organizations and the Deer Management Assis- tance Program (DMAP). It's hard to prove that the action of the NRB has made filling vacancies more diffi- cult, but it stands to reason that some citizens might not want to waste time setting local quotas when bureau- crats can change them on a whim. According to the DNR website, the Washington County CDAC has vacancies for citizens representing transportation, tourism and DMAP. Ozaukee County has vacancies for urban, tourism, forestry, DMAP, and hunting organization. Waukesha County has vacancies for forestry and agriculture. Many other counties have similar vacancy rates. "The CDACs are the clos- est to the information because they live in that deer management unit," Washington County CDAC chair Brett Weir said. "All CDACs look at three infor- mation sources. One is social. One is biological and the other is science." Social sources include input from hunters, farm- ers, commuters and people who just like to watch deer. Biological sources include doe-to-fawn ratios, surveys of food sources that include over-browsing of vegetation and rut activity, etc. Science sources include car kill numbers and deer harvest statistics. Car kill numbers also have a social aspect because it affects all drivers, not just hunters. Citizens interested in serving on a CDAC can go to the DNR website and enter CDAC in the search window. Applicants will be asked to create a username and pass- word before answering some basic questions and providing two or three references. See more hunting and fishing photos and news on Facebook at Larry Polenske Outdoors. Comments or ideas for this column are also welcome. 8 • WASHINGTON COUNTY POST • SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2020 GMTODAY.COM SERVICES Place your ad 24/7 @ www.gmtoday.com/classifieds For assistance call 262.306.5000 or conleyclass@conleynet.com .COM Southeast Wisconsin TREE TRIMMING PLUMBING PAINTING LAWN CARE & LANDSCAPING LAWN CARE & LANDSCAPING HOME REPAIR & IMPROVEMENT HANDYMAN DRYWALL CONCRETE HEALTH & BEAUTY CLEANING CARPENTRY AUTO REPAIR LARRY POLENSKE Huntin' for Fun NRB votes to override antlerless harvest quotas

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