Ag Damage Not Top Priority For Crane Hunt Plan, Record Shows

State Rep. Joel Kleefisch, (R-Oconomwoc) indicated his plan to have the state establish a Sandhill crane hunt is dead, according to an email from his office received today:

He said for me to let you know that the bill is dead and he will discuss it with you if he re-introduces it next session.  

His office was responding to questions I posed to him about the motivation for his proposal that had reached the bill-drafting stage - - here is a link to the bill - - and even made the pages of The New York Times.

The Journal Sentinel had this to report about the issue:

Rep. Joel Kleefisch (R-Oconomowoc) said that the sandhill crane population has grown to the point where the birds are causing excessive damage to farmers' cornfields. He is proposed a hunting season to control the crane population.

But a September 6, 2011 summary memo among records released to me last week under the state open records law by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources about the plan, and other topics, said this about Kleefisch and the proposed crane hunt:

*  His interest was motivated by his personal hunting experience and his work with several hunting groups.

*  Agricultural damage was not his primary reason for proposing this legislation.

Media reports about Kleefisch's plan had emphasized its relationship to crop damage from cranes.

Here are some examples:

From the Associated Press:

MADISON (AP) - To bird lovers, sandhill cranes are majes­tic creatures whose cries hearken back to prehistoric times. To others, they're the ribeye of the sky.

A Wisconsin lawmaker quietly has proposed a bill that would let hunters blast the birds to stop them from chewing up farmers' cornfields. 

There was this example from a local paper in Kleefisch's Waukesha County district:

Kleefisch: Cranes are the 'ribeye of the sky'

By DONNA FRAKE

Posted: Feb. 6, 2012

A local legislator, prompted by concerns from farmers and sportsmen, is hoping to establish a hunting season for sandhill cranes.

State Rep. Joel Kleefisch of Oconomowoc proposed the bill that would require the Department of Natural Resources to create a season for the birds, making Wisconsin the 14th state to do so. The DNR would be allowed to limit the number, under the proposal.

At issue are farmers who point to the damage done to crops from the birds.

Another example, from Great Lakes Echo:

Meanwhile Wisconsin state lawmaker Rep. Joel Kleefisch, R-Oconomowoc, is proposing a sandhill crane hunting season. His bill is a response to farmer’s complaints about the birds eating corn and other seeds.

But "agricultural damage was not his primary reason for proposing [it]...," according to a DNR meeting summary prepared by a lead staffer after DNR personnel met with Kleefisch and his about the proposal, records show.

The DNR records indicate this time line and activities:

After an email inquiry from Kleefisch's office to the DNR's legislative liaison staff on September 2, 2011 about "a sandhill crane hunting season," the agency convened a 12:30 p.m. meeting on the subject September 6th among several DNR officials, Kleefisch and a staffer from his office.

The meeting was memorialized after it ended in a memo distributed at 2:17 p.m. September 6th by DNR wildlife manager Kent Van Horn to nine DNR officials, along with "summary points" titled "Steps to a hunt on Sandhill Cranes.doc."

"I prepared the attached summary points and went over them with Rep. Kleefisch in order to explain the federal-flyway-state process."

In the memo, Horn wrote:

Key points and reactions of Rep. Kleefisch were:

*  His interest was motivated by his personal hunting experience and his work with several hunting groups.

* Agricultural damage was not his primary reason for proposing this legislation, although we discussed these issues. I explained that we would need to begin paying crop damage compensation on sandhill cranes if we initiate a hunting season.

The remaining points in Horn's memo, along with later records, covered various steps needed or suggested to move the process along.

So I sent this request to Kleefisch for comment last Friday:

Several media accounts in their coverage of the issue stressed the need for the season to address crop damage, but I also note the opposite in a September 6th email with the message line "Sandhill Crane Hunting in Wisconsin," from Kent Van Horn to other DNR officials, after the close of a meeting that day with yourselves and DNR staffers:

"Key points and reactions of Rep. Kleefisch were:
 
*  His interest was motivated by his personal hunting experience and his work with several hunting groups.
 
*Agricultural damage was not his primary reason for proposing this legislation, although we discussed these issues. I explained that we would need to begin paying crop damage compensation on sandhill cranes if we initiate a hunting season."

Maybe we'll revisit this if the bill is reintroduced.