By Taylor Finger, WDNR Migratory Game Bird Ecologist
This article first appeared in WWA’s March 2019 electronic Newsletter
I wanted to take the opportunity to recognize that the Waterfowl Program has made some improvements to our WDNR waterfowl webpage. These improvements have increased the amount of information for hunters and improved the functionality of the page. We have waterfowl reports, waterfowl surveys, rules and regulations and public input information. We also started something new this year and asked over 20 WDNR wildlife biologist to provide bi-weekly updates on waterfowl migration, habitat conditions, hunting pressure and ice conditions all in our Notes from the Field report on our WDNR webpage. Please take the opportunity to visit our webpage and see all of the information that is provided as it could be beneficial for hunters and waterfowl enthusiast alike.
We are also coming down the homestretch with our 10 year Waterfowl Management Plan. This is a plan designed to guide waterfowl management in Wisconsin for the next decade. The plan has been developed by an Ad Hoc Committee comprised of WDNR staff, Federal staff, Tribes and Conservation groups including WWA. We nearly have a management plan that ready for public comment and we look forward to asking Wisconsin waterfowlers for feedback on our management plan and the direction we are heading in for the next 10 years.
In addition, we have somethings happening for 2019 which include the development of an online public input tool that will gather input on the 2019 hunting season structures. We will also begin the process this summer to discuss potential changes to Wisconsin’s migratory hunting zone and split configuration. The timing for zone and split changes will be such that we will collect hunter input in the spring of 2020 and because of federal timelines will not go into effect until 2021.
I look forward to hearing from all of you this spring as we go through the process for setting the 2019 hunting seasons!