Photo by Joshua Mayer
I took a break from the advocacy blog after the massive push to renew the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Program this summer. The conservation community's official position is that we tried hard and that the Stewardship re-authorization was better than it would have been without that extraordinary effort on the part of many conservation organizations and thousands of citizens.
True but not true enough. The re-authorization is inadequate in funding and duration; and any anonymous member of the Joint Finance Committee can, in effect, veto many Stewardship grants. Incredible and incredibly sad.
Maybe a break would return me to my more positive, optimistic nature; maybe we'd have some good conservation news to report; maybe with the partisan furor of the budget over policymakers would find the common good in some conservation measures.
Some good news came in the form of the best press release of the year and the memories and gratitude it sparked. See the following link, “DNR Biologist Finds ‘Holy Grail’ of Rare Plants in State Natural Area”. It tells the story of Ryan O'Connor's discovery of the green violet, one of Wisconsin's rarest plants. Ryan is a DNR field biologist working with rare species and on State Natural Areas. One of the most charming aspects of the story is the letter his young daughter gave him the night before he found the flowers, wishing that he would find lots of rare stuff.
Green violet, a species last documented in Wisconsin in 1958, was found this spring on a State Natural Area in west central Wisconsin by DNR Conservation Biologist Ryan O’Connor. Photo and caption credit: Wisconsin DNR
This is cool on many fronts and it reminded me of the many DNR field biologists I've known or corresponded with over the years and my gratitude for their great work.
Photo by Joshua Mayer
Just a few examples: Dave Vetrano, then the fish biologist for parts of the Driftless Area. When I asked him to teach a session on trout streams to Wisconsin Conservation Corps crewleaders, he traveled from LaCrosse to Pigeon Lake in Bayfield County to do so—on a Harley. The crewleaders loved the presentation and his mode of transportation.
Doris Rusch, a wildlife biologist in Dane and Rock Counties and later with the SNA program bought many of the Waterfowl Production Areas in southern Dane County and planned my all time favorite wetland restoration on one.
Our Southern Wisconsin Trout Unlimited Chapter helped Bradd Sims, a fish biologist in Lafayette and Grant Counties, with a restoration on Steiner Branch and he then led us on a long hike to find brook trout spawning areas.
This year Camille Bruhn, one of the water quality biologists in southwest Wisconsin. informed me that wild trout are beginning to re-appear in a small stream I've always been interested in. Hint: the stream is named after the best of breakfast foods.
The work these folks and their colleagues have done to preserve and restore our natural resources, to make them available to us, to discover the wonderful life that still surrounds us is difficult, wonderful, and deserves our full support.
It's a damn shame that the Chair of the DNR Board, the State Senate, and some DNR leaders don't realize that. Yes, indeed, my temporary good mood has vanished.
Dr. Frederick Prehn, Chair of the DNR Board, has refused to relinquish his seat even though his term has ended and Governor Evers has appointed a replacement. The Senate, controlled by a Republican majority, refuses to hold hearings or approve Sanda Naas, Evers' appointment. Prehn argues that he is entitled to stay on the Board until that approval occurs.
Of course, it gets worse. The Board under Prehn's leadership has now passed a controversial antlerless deer quota in some northern counties and then topped that with an expanded wolf quota. Both actions ran counter to strong positions and arguments put forth by DNR biologists and leaders. The wolf decision outraged many conservationists and wildlife advocates. Some folks and organizations, many in northern Wisconsin, applauded it.
At both meetings, shouting matches erupted between some Board Members and DNR leaders. This week DNR leaders recommended that the September meeting be cancelled and Prehn concurred. Meanwhile, the Attorney General has sued Prehn, arguing that his staying in office is illegal. I'm not even going into the emails between Prehn and different legislators and lobbyists.
The official DNR statements indicate the meeting is cancelled for a lack of agenda items. Literally incredible. I've reviewed DNR Board agendas for several years and each month's is filled with both routine and important matters. This September meeting would not have been an exception.
What's going on? Perhaps a desire to avoid the unseemly behavior of the last two meetings. Probably a decision not to have a conservative majority on the Board decide important policy matters, in particular those related to water quality and pollution. The DNR leaders, the Secretary and his executive staff, clearly believe Prehn should not continue to serve as Chair.
This situation is disgraceful with plenty of blame to go around. As problematic as Prehn's presence might be, adults should be able to conduct a DNR Board meeting with some semblance of dignity and order. Prehn, in my opinion, has made a terrible mistake. He has injected raw partisanship into the agency's policy making. He has irretrievably sullied his reputation as a conservationist. Evidence of that comes in the form of many respected, state-wide conservation groups that have called on him to step down. The chief culprit, though, is the State Senate. That body has a duty to consider and vote on a Governor's appointments.
Ms. Naas appears to be a sterling candidate, a high school teacher from Ashland with a solid conservation record. She seems to me to have good conservation values and achievements and to be the sort of down to earth, let's work together sort of person we should have on the Board.
The Senate and the Republican majority who run it should discuss and vote on Ms. Naas's appointment. Assuming her record is as good as it appears, the Senate should confirm her.
Again, it's incredible and incredibly sad that in Wisconsin, with its rich conservation history (do any of these folks remember Aldo Leopold?) and with the decades of the DNR's conservation achievements, the public has to confront this wretched mess.
Obviously we should care about this because now the DNR is not getting some important work done. I'm thinking, though, of all the hard-working DNR staff in the field. What must their morale be? They deserve better.
I don't know if it will do any good but please write or call your State Senator and ask that she or he do all in their power to have a vote on Ms. Naas as soon as possible.
Thank you,
Topf Wells, Madison Audubon board of directors and Advocacy Committee chair
