Bayfield Co. hounders again throw cautions & hunting dogs to the wolves

This was the headline on a blog post of mine one week ago. You can file it under 'the more things change, the more things stay the same.' 

WI hunters keep throwing hounds to wolves in Bayfield Co.

This is the message line and detail in an email from the Wisconsin DNR Monday afternoon: 

Hunting Dogs Depredated in Bayfield and Douglas Counties 

On August 21, 2021, USDA-Wildlife Services verified that wolves killed a 3-year old female Plott trailing hound in the Town of Delta, Bayfield County.

On August 22, 2021, USDA-Wildlife Services verified that wolves killed a 7-year old male Plott trailing hound in the Town of Highland, Douglas County. 

This is what a Plott hound looks like:

This is the headline on a blog post of mine from Aug. 3, 2020:

Hunters keep releasing hounds into fatal wolf encounters; WDNR compensation available

Here are a few paragraphs from that post: 

I have followed this sad sacrifice for years; while Wisconsin is not the only state with legacy hunting traditions, it is the only state where so-called sporting lobbies had convinced the Legislature decades ago to include reimbursements to hound owners by the DNR of up to $2,500 per hound killed or injured by wolves.

As of April 20, the state has paid out more than $845,000 to hound owners requesting reimbursement for hounds killed or injured by wolves, records show.

(The DNR program also compensates livestock and pet owners for similar losses.)

Media have noted that state reimbursements are made to hound owners who are repeat payment collectors - or scofflaws, and to owners who released their hounds into known wolf activity areas mapped out and posted online by the DNR.

Several of 12 hounds injured or killed this summer in recent encounters with wolves were Plott hounds, perhaps like this one, DNR records show.

These are the recent hound-wolf encounters listed by the DNR: 

This is the headline and some text from a blog post of mine from September 2, 2016: 

28th hound killed in '16 WI bear hunt 'training' by wolves

On Aug. 31 - - the last day of the state's legal, off-leash bear hound 'training' period - - the Department of Natural Resources said by email today that the year's 28th bear hound was killed by wolves in Wisconsin [and] the 25th bear hound killed just this month by wolves in Wisconsin. 

More unhealthy air over SE Wisconsin's lakeshore counties

Remember when the WI DNR quickly gave Foxconn permits to expel nearly 800 tons of air pollutants every year? Only the company's failure to begin any production keeps today's degraded air quality in the region from getting worse:

Advisory for Ozone (Orange) Start Date/Time: Monday, August 24 - 3:30 pm CDT End Date/Time: Monday, August 24 - 11:00 pm CDT Counties: Kenosha, Racine, Milwaukee, Ozaukee, & Sheboygan Comments: The air quality index (AQI) is expected to reach the UNHEALTHY FOR SENSITIVE GROUPS (USG) level. Sensitive groups, including children, elderly people, individuals with respiratory and cardiac problems, and anyone engaged in strenuous outdoor activities for a prolonged period of time, should avoid extended outdoor exposure. Details about this advisory are available on the Wisconsin Air Quality Monitoring Data site.

Air Quality Index Chart Learn more about the Air Quality Index (AQI) on the AirNow website.

Sanctions shred Senatorial sanctimony, but do voters care?

At first glance it's an open-and-shut Badger State case study in how not to hold public office, let alone run for re-election.

We're referencing Wisconsin's senior GOP US Senator, who faces a plunging approval record - 

Trumpista Forever Ron Johnson

- while weighing a third-term run which he promised he would not make.

And if poor polling and a broken promise wouldn't already have derailed an incumbent bent on re-election - especially one whose recent self-serving maneuvers shattered his earlier sanctimonious self-accounting - consider that Johnson is also deep into an expanding political minefield of his own creation:

* Begin here, with one Andril Derkach, a Ukrainian legislator who was just sanctioned by Ukraine:

Ukraine sanctions lawmaker accused of meddling in U.S. election

* This is the same person - designated by US officials as a "Russian agent" - whose associates and others were already sanctioned by the US Government during the Trump administration for interfering in American politics: 

January 11, 2021

WASHINGTON – Today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) took additional action against seven individuals and four entities that are part of a Russia-linked foreign influence network associated with Andrii Derkach. 

Russian agent Derkach was designated on September 10, 2020, pursuant to Executive Order (E.O.) 13848, for his attempt to influence the 2020 U.S. presidential election....

Since at least 2019, Derkach and his associates have leveraged U.S. media, U.S.-based social media platforms, and influential U.S. persons to spread misleading and unsubstantiated allegations that current and former U.S. officials engaged in corruption, money laundering, and unlawful political influence in Ukraine. 

* Now here's why this might ring an alarm bell for Johnson, and Wisconsin voters: 

State Dept. provides House Dems docs previously given to Ron Johnson's Biden probe

Democrats have raised concerns that material gathered by Derkach, who met in December with Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, has been laundered into Johnson’s material. 

Johnson has strenuously denied the allegations, but Democrats sought the documents he obtained from the State Department to understand the direction his probe is taking. 

POLITICO first reported that Derkach mailed information about the Bidens to Johnson, but Johnson’s office has denied receiving anything from Derkach.

Derkach has pushed many of the same claims against Biden that Johnson, who chairs the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, is pursuing. Johnson’s probe centers on allegations that a Democratic public-affairs firm sought to leverage Hunter Biden’s position on the board of Burisma in order to influence the Obama-era State Department. 

* Not to mention this report which ran in the Wisconsin State Journal Aug. 9, 2020: 

A national intelligence document released Friday by the Trump administration revealed Russia is using pro-Russia Ukrainian officials to slander presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, undermining a key pillar of U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson’s ongoing investigation into the former vice president.

Johnson, who is chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, has drawn criticism from Democrats and foreign policy experts for what they see as an attempt to smear Biden as he challenges Republican President Donald Trump.

* As well as this related August, 2020 lengthy item, which includes Johnson's denial of any wrongdoing:

Earlier this month, Johnson defended himself on a local Wisconsin news station saying, “What have I published, what have I reported on, that is not true, that is any form of Russian disinformation? There has been nothing....”   

We provide a roadmap for understanding this disinformation operation currently in progress, using U.S. elected officials as a vehicle.

 You'd think all this would have led Johnson months ago to announce there'd be no third-term run, but maybe it's all too complicated for voters to digest.

And remember that he won two elections which plenty people said he wouldn't win, so maybe his Teflon is actually advanced, impenetrable Kevlar.

 

Tiffany 'greets' traumatized Afghans w/unfounded fears & smears

Afghans already traumatized after escaping the Taliban's violent takeover have begun arriving at Ft. McCoy where the best of America and Wisconsin will offer them an Emma Lazarus greeting.

But as he coincidentally consistently does when discussing people of color who already shoulder outsized burdens - be they southern border refugees, citizens of Asian descent or historically-marginalized African-Americans - Northwoods US GOP Rep. Tom Tiffany - 

US Cong. Tom Tiffany, (R-WI)

- wasted no time giving these newest immigrants - many of whom aided the American war effort at great personal risk - his signature fear-mongering, ignorant and empathy-free attention:

"I am deeply disturbed by reports that as many as 5,000 Afghans per day are headed to the United States – many without valid visas or even basic identity documents. Biden administration officials have said they plan to transport many of these individuals to Fort McCoy in Wisconsin – but have declined to elaborate on how many will come, what screening will be carried out prior to arrival, or what will happen after they land here."

"Alarmingly, the White House has also declined to say whether these individuals will be held in custody during vetting, or if we will see the same kind of catch-and-release policy we’ve seen on our southern border. Adding insult to injury, President Biden has not bothered to seek the approval of Wisconsin leaders, or the local communities that will be affected by this haphazard plan..."

"The White House should abandon this dangerous, ready-fire-aim plan and mitigate risk by transporting Afghans to safe third countries for vetting before bringing thousands of unknown people into Wisconsin or other U.S. states. Our national security has been deeply degraded in the months since January 20 and allowing the mass entry of foreigners from a known hotbed of terrorism will only make this situation far worse."

Note that sixteen Republican House members voted against funding a speed-up processing paperwork which key Afghan refugees need to legally settle in the US, so maybe Tiffany should take his phony, unfounded fears about "what will happen after they land here" to his colleagues. 

 

Removing Walker lame-duck resources official would revive WI elections' value, too

WI Republicans are trying to freshly extend at taxpayer expense their broad and persistent power-grabbing - a partisan strategy implemented immediately after Gov. Evers was elected in November, 2018 - by blocking Evers' appointees from serving on the very powerful -  but now tainted - state Natural Resources Board so it can continue to protect and serve Walker and GOP agendas.

Walker, the DNR and its oversight agency the Wisconsin Natural Resources Board sacrificed clean water, exposed public trust wildlife like wolves to repetitive, science-free slaughter and continually promoted corporate policies, not broader public agendas.

So it's good to see a) that Wisconsin Atty. General Josh Kaul is trying to remove a key Walker Board member who refuses to step down from the Board and relinquish its chairmanship - though his term has expired - and, b) that top-shelf citizen organizations and attorneys have joined the fight, which is also a fight to restore fairness and credibility to the Board and Wisconsin elections:

WI Environmental and Conservation Organizations Support Legal Action to End NRB Chair’s Holdover Past the Expiration of His Term

For immediate release: July 22, 2021

On Tuesday, attorneys for the law firm Pines Bach, LLC directed a complaint to Attorney General Josh Kaul that outlines the reasons why Frederick Prehn is unlawfully occupying a seat on the Natural Resources Board (NRB) and requests the Attorney General take action to obtain a writ of quo warranto under Chapter 784 of the Wisconsin Statutes.

Midwest Environmental Advocates, Wisconsin's Green Fire, League of Women Voters of Wisconsin, Clean Wisconsin, River Alliance of Wisconsin, and Sierra Club - Wisconsin Chapter jointly make the following statement:

Our organizations hold a variety of interests and positions on matters that come before the NRB. Our own positions as organizations are not always fully aligned with the groups that filed the complaint, Humane Society of the United States and the Center for Biological Diversity. On many issues, we in fact hold opposing viewpoints. However, on this issue our organizations agree strongly: Frederick Prehn’s continued presence on the NRB undermines the “sound, responsible, and accountable management of natural resources held in the public trust.”1

The NRB is part of Wisconsin’s tradition of limiting the influence of politics in natural resources and conservation decision-making. Frederick Prehn’s continued refusal to vacate a seat on the NRB after the expiration of his term is doing great damage to that tradition.

1 Westerberg, Christa. Request for Quo Warranto Action, Wis. Stat. s. 784.04(1)(a), Regarding Dr. Frederick Prehn, July 20,2021. Letter.

    

1

The NRB was created by the Kellet Reorganization Bill in 1967, which merged the then Department of Conservation with the then Department of Resource Development.2 At that time, many in the conservation community were concerned that development and business interests would hold disproportionate power over the resulting agency, the Department of Natural Resources (DNR).3 The structure and composition of the NRB was the result of a critical compromise: it preserved for Wisconsinites a direct role in setting natural resource and conservation policy and was meant to insulate DNR decisions from undue political influence. Critically, NRB members are to act as citizen-representatives for their six-year term. During that time period, they are stewards of the public interest. The notion that any former NRB member may attempt to maintain power after the expiration of their term, when a duly nominated and qualified member is able to serve, is inconsistent with legislative intent and is anathema to both the role of an NRB member and the long tradition of the NRB.

These unique aspects of the NRB’s history and function provide context for the legal points made in the complaint. At the time of the NRB’s creation, the Legislature chose not to include a holdover clause in statute creating the NRB,4 even though the statutory model for giving appointees the ability to holdover had been established by previous legislatures.5 This decision by the Legislature, reflected in the text of Wis. Stat. § 15.34(2)(a), is consistent with the intent and spirit that motivated the creation of the NRB. The drafters of the Kellet Bill did not permit what Frederick Prehn continues to do because the NRB was created not as a body comprised of political actors seeking to maximize their power but as citizen-representatives who serve in the public interest for a set period of time.

We emphasize that our support for the complaint is neither about a particular policy issue before the NRB nor the particular political party of the governor who made the most recent appointments. George Meyer is a former DNR Secretary who served in Republican Governor Tommy Thompson’s administration. Mr. Meyer was recently quoted as saying that Frederick Prehn staying in his seat, “overturns the will of the people that was voiced through the election of the new governor, and I would say this regardless of the parties here. It makes no difference whether the Democrats are in charge or the Republicans....Either way, this would be contrary to the way the system is set up...."6

Over the next months, the NRB will be setting policy for the people of Wisconsin on a wide range of issues, including wildlife management, PFAS water quality standards, addressing nitrate contamination in drinking water, land acquisition, among many others. Our respective organizations may have differing views on these issues, but we agree that the people of Wisconsin have a right that these matters be addressed by an NRB that is accountable and comprised of members who are lawfully acting in the people’s interest.

###

2 Sinykin, Jodi Habush. "At a Loss: The State of Wisconsin After Eight Years Without the Public Intervenor's Office." Marquette Law Review. 88 (2004): 648.
3 Thomas, Christine L. "One hundred twenty years of citizen involvement with the Wisconsin Natural Resources Board." Environmental History Review 15, no. 1 (1991): 75.
4 Wis. Stat. § 15.34(2)(a)
5 See, e.g., 1961 Wis. Act 507, § 8 (“All appointed trustees [of the Wisconsin Investment Board] shall serve until their successors have been appointed and have qualified.”).
6 Kaeding, Danielle. “Evers Seeks Fresh Faces On Natural Resources Board, But Current Chair Isn't Stepping Down Yet.” Wisconsin Public Radio, May 25, 2021. https://www.wpr.org/evers-seeks-fresh-faces-natural-resources-board-current- chair-isnt-stepping-down-yet.

  

2

Two more WI Republicans extend GOP's COVID coddling

Polling data show a stark division between Wisconsin Republicans and Democrats on many matters pandemic:

A new statewide poll shows a partisan divide in vaccinations and more negative perceptions toward last year's shutdown

Here's up-to-date-data highlighting another straight line to follow in COVID-slammed Wisconsin - 

Cases	1,391	+45%	709,504
Tests	10,357	–14%	—
Hospitalized	671	+124%	—
Deaths	4	–34%	8,336

- that you can trace from this ideological insanity - 

Congressman Tom Tiffany (R-Minocqua) spoke against masks at the (Monday night Rhinelander School Board) meeting, equating the CDC guideline on masks to its one on eating raw cookie dough.

* To this even more serious and unfolding story:

GOP Senator Railed Against Vax, Caught COVID, Then Hid It From Dem Colleagues

A Republican state senator who has proven to be one of Wisconsin’s most virulent critics of mask and vaccine mandates became sick enough to be hospitalized last week after contracting COVID-19, his office confirmed to The Daily Beast.  

What’s more, a possibly infectious Sen. André Jacque, who testified maskless during a Joint Senate and Assembly Education Committee meeting last Wednesday at the statehouse in Madison, neglected to inform his colleagues about their potential exposure—and they’re not happy. 

I wish State Sen. Jacque - 

- and his family full and speedy recoveries; let's also hope COVID19 and its super-infectious Delta variant was not spread to constituents, other legislators, Capitol staffers, medical workers and random contacts.

No more suffering!

But let's be honest: 

* The seeds of this dangerous resistance to science and common sense were planted last October, for example, by Sen. Jacque's Racine County GOP colleague Sen. Van Wanggaard - 

...three weeks-and-a-day-ago on October 8th, Racine's GOP State Senator and unofficial lead state COVID shoulder shrugger Van Wanggaard said Wisconsin's cases could multiply ten-fold and he still wouldn't support a statewide making order.

* And to an even earlier display by WI GOP Assembly Speaker Robin Vos - 

Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, a Republican, wore a mask, gloves and other protective gear as he sought to assure voters it was "incredibly safe" to vote in person for Tuesday's election amid the coronavirus pandemic. 

"You are incredibly safe to go out," Vos told The Journal Times in a Facebook livestream. Vos said he was serving as an election inspector and that wearing the personal protective equipment, or PPE, was mandatory. 

Standing in front of cars lined up for curbside voting, Vos said people working at polling locations and those voting in person face "very minimal exposure."

To others: 

* On May 5th, 2020, The Wisconsin Supreme Court - meeting virtually and respecting COVID19 distancing guidelines -  heard arguments in a case brought by GOP Legislative leaders to overturn Democratic Gov. Tony Evers 'Safer-at-Home' order extension. The Justices overturned the Evers order several days later by a 4-3 vote.

During the May 5th argument, Chief Justice Patience Roggensack (the Court is officially non-partisan, but has a 4-3 majority which usually supports conservative and GOP positions) opined that a highly-publicized outbreak of COVID19 in Brown County (the Green Bay-area) meatpacking plants which employed large numbers of migrant workers in close quarters had not hit "regular folks."

The food and commercial workers union called it "shocking and deeply offensive that Roggensack would suggest that workers in meatpacking plants aren't 'regular folks' who deserve protection."

On May 5th, state data showed a total of 1,966 confirmed COVID19 cases and 13 confirmed deaths in Brown County. Using the latest, December 18 data, those Brown County numbers had soared to 25,042 confirmed cases and 155 confirmed deaths, with both categories having jumped by more than by a factor of 10....

* On August 3rd, 2020, GOP Senate Majority Leader [and now-US Rep.] Scott Fitzgerald urged the Senate to overturn a statewide mask-wearing order issued by Democratic Gov. Tony Evers. 

“I just said I think it’s a mistake,” Fitzgerald said of the mask order. “I think things are going well right now. People are complying if they want to.” 

On August 3rd, the confirmed COVID19 case number in Wisconsin was 55,328 and the death toll was 949. By December 18, the confirmed case number had soared to 451,676 and the death toll to 4,345....

Which brings us to Wisconsin's senior GOP US Senator and all-in Trump enabler Ron Johnson. 

* In fact, in the very early days of the pandemic on March 18, 2020 - note that Wisconsin did not report deaths until March 20th, state data show - Johnson was sugarcoating COVID19's risks and framing them in business-like/balance-sheet statistics, as The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported:

"...97 to 99 percent will get through this and develop immunities and will be able to move beyond this. But we don’t shut down our economy because tens of thousands of people die on the highways. It’s a risk we accept so we can move about. We don’t shut down our economies because tens of thousands of people die from the common flu,” Johnson said.

Johnson acknowledged that coronavirus has a far higher fatality rate than the seasonal flu, but said, “getting coronavirus is not a death sentence except for maybe no more than 3.4 percent of our population (and) I think probably far less,” he said...

By the way, 3.4 percent of the US population is more than 11 million people. 

Tom Tiffany, cookie monster

I'd noted Tom Tiffany's penchant for using his Congressional perch and perks - like a taxpayer-paid newsletter - to spread bad information.

Or through public remarks that downplayed the Jan. 6th violent attack on the US Capitol - his workplace - as "one isolated event" while also voting against the legal certification of Joe Biden's legal election win. 

US Cong. Tom Tiffany, (R-WI)

Regrettably, he's at it again.

Tiffany appeared before a school board meeting Monday night in Rhinelander where he a) spoke against a proposed mask mandate made reasonable by the ominously dangerous and rapidly-spreading COVID Delta strain: 

C.D.C. Internal Report Calls Delta Variant as Contagious as Chickenpox

The amount of virus in a person infected with Delta is a thousandfold more than what is seen in people infected with the original version of the virus, according to one recent study....Infection with the Delta variant produces virus amounts in the airways that are tenfold higher than what is seen in people infected with the Alpha variant, which is also highly contagious, the document noted.

and, b) compared Centers from Disease Control about COVID prevention to its advice against eating cookie dough to avoid what are occasional cases of food poisoning.

From a Wisconsin radio station report, this:

School District of Rhinelander Board Adopts Optional Mask Policy with Room for Admin Changes

Congressman Tom Tiffany (R-Minocqua) spoke against masks at the meeting, equating the CDC guideline on masks to its one on eating raw cookie dough.

Why would a Member of Congress trivialize risk to constituents and children during pandemic times?

COVID is not the seasonal flu and it is certainly not food poisoning, as seriously nasty as it can be.

For the record, more than 640,000 Wisconsinites have contracted COVID19 - that's more than 10% of the state's 5.85 million residents - and the virus has killed nearly 7.500 Wisconsinites, current state data show, while illness outbreaks caused by what may be in tainted cookie dough are infinitesimally smaller. 

And whether this useless Covid-to-cookie dough conflation came from Tiffany's personal Internet browsing, Republican talking points or incompetent staff work, his bit wasn't even original, as this recent news report from North Carolina seems to suggest.

North Carolina reverses course, urges masks in all schools

Top North Carolina Republicans worry the abrupt shift in recommendations from state and federal health officials will prompt fewer residents to come in for a vaccine because they’ll still need to wear masks indoors.

“All we’re getting from public health authorities are shifting rules and perpetual panic,” Republican Senate leader Phil Berger’s office said in a news release. “The CDC offers more consistent guidance on consuming raw cookie dough than on masks. That’s a problem and here’s why: If the CDC erodes its credibility on masks, then it risks eroding its credibility on the far more important message of vaccines.”

Honestly, I don't see much difference between Tiffany's advice on masks and vaccines, (even to his own family) and some nameless parent at a school board in Anywhere, USA endorsing driving the carpool to school without buckling the kids in their seat belts.

WI hunters keep throwing hounds to wolves in Bayfield Co.

Every summer and fall, it's the same nasty story:

So-called 'hounders' - presumably releasing their GPS-collared hunting dogs as training for the fall bear season  - keep running some of their dogs despite warnings posted online by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources straight into the jaws of wolves in Bayfield County where known wolf activity is mapped and posted online

Between July 9 and August 13, five hunting dogs have been killed - four of them Walker hounds like this one - 

- and two additional Black and Tan hounds were injured by wolves, according to WI DNR data and maps.

One reason for this gory sloppiness: 

A unique Wisconsin state reimbursement program wherein the owner of hound killed during hunting training by a wolf - even if killed in known wolf territory, or released into a fatal encounter with a wolf by an owner who has done so in the past and is even a scofflaw has even run afoul of the law - is entitled to a $2,500 state check.

I have written often about this shameful state-subsidized wolf-dog carnage; a sample post put up nearly two years ago to the day is here -

2 more WI hounds thrown to wolves. Total DNR reimbursements to owners will exceed $800k

Life continues to be cheap for too many Wisconsin hunting hounds, but their sacrifice sure is remunerative to their owners, even to repeat state check applicants. Even to scofflaws....

Two more hunting dogs have been reported killed by wolves during this summer's continuing bear hound 'training season' - - a two-months period during which bears and wolves are needlessly chased, harassed, and traumatized, while anyone out in the woods not running hound packs gets no relief.

That brings to twelve the number released off-leash this summer to their deaths by owners now eligible for $2,500 state reimbursement checks. That's $30,000 down the drain, too.

- And this state-enabled practice and payment plan operates in a state that otherwise outlaws dog fighting and cruelty to animals. Talk about your double-standard, as I noted in 2014:

In Milwaukee,  a man involved in dog-fighting for money got five years in prison....

Elsewhere in rural Wisconsin - - right now - - other dogs are being allowed to chase bears as part of hunting dog training.

And should a dog get killed by wolves in the bear-hunt training, even if the dog was let loose in a known wolf activity area - - not to worry - because the same state and taxpayers now housing the Milwaukee dog-fighting perpetrator will pay the hunter who let his dog get torn apart by the larger wolves up to $2,500 - so the hunter can go get another disposable dog.

This Wisconsin DNR chart shows that state payments for so-called wolf 'depredated' dogs is approaching $850,000 since the program began decades ago.

The state, as the chart shows, also pays farmers for wolf-related livestock losses and pet dog owners for animals killed by wolves, too.

More about the whole sad, sick and worsening Wisconsin FUBAR wolf 'policy' is here, as I wrote Friday:

Another Wisconsin wolf policy announcement came by email Friday, below. 

It needs close examination because:

1. The state's Natural Resources policy [sic] board - chaired by a Walker appointee who refuses to relinquish his now-expired appointment, influence and seat - just arbitrarily threw out a DNR staff recommendation for a fall wolf kill of 130.

2. And substituted instead - against the recommendations of DNR staffers, scientists, Native American and allied advocates - the authorized and unprecedented science-free wolf-slaughter of 300 wolves. It's a number pulled from a Republican special interests' grab bag of bloody treats that echoes the winter, 2021 all-too-predictable Wisconsin quota-busting overkill, so...

I urge the DNR and the WNRB to add this simple disclaimer to future invitations for public participation in decisions which effect the people's water, land, clean air and wildlife:

*Note: Any decision by the Department of Natural Resources or its oversight body Wisconsin Natural Resources Board is subject to partisan tampering, special-interest manipulation or outright cancellation regardless of documentation, facts or other pesky evidence and/or commonsense.

Wisconsin climate crisis deepened by damaging GOP mischief, denial

After welcoming back our electricity and tossing our fridge-and-freezer-loads of food - minor inconveniences compared to downed trees and even a lightning-destroyed home not far away - I noted this for-Journal Sentinel-subscribers-only headline and story: 

Severe storms and tornadoes pummeled Wisconsin in August. Climate change could make them more frequent

The headline a) understates the obvious, and, along with the text, b) omits the Walker-era's malignant neglect of science and realities which guarantee that Wisconsin's climate change burden which has already has harmed people, businesses, budgets, waters, forests, land and longevity will be needlessly painful.

I'm listing below just some of evidence I'd previously gathered, so let's expand the record:

* From October, 2018:

Walker's eight-year attack on the environment, in 21 parts

...the political environment and natural environment absolutely are in trouble. Hence this 21-part series, "Walker's 8-year war on the Wisconsin environment" -  covers climate science, clean water, fresh air, critical wetlands, public trust wildlife, science, information, expertise, budgets, transparency and fairness.

------------------------------------------------------ 

Also:

* From March, 2018:

About that wildfire season the DNR says is 'heating up.'

Academics have been studying the projected impacts of climate change and temperatures increases on Wisconsin forests for years. 

In the coming century, forecast climate changes caused by increasing greenhouse gases may produce dramatic shifts in tree species distributions and the rates at which individual tree species sequester carbon or release carbon back to the atmosphere. The species composition and carbon storage capacity of northern Wisconsin (USA) forests are expected to change significantly as a result. Projected temperature changes are relatively large (up to a 5.8°C increase in mean annual temperature) and these forests encompass a broad ecotone that may be particularly sensitive to climate change. 

The Union of Concerned Scientists sees a link between a warming climate and greater wildfire danger- As the world warms, we can expect more wildfires

 * From August, 2018:  

Wisconsin landscape flooded with water, dismissal of science, too

Wisconsin was hit earlier this year by flooding that scoured away cars, pavement, and land. Now it's happened again.

We've also got Scott Walker's 'chamber of commerce mentality' management that scrubbed away important information about why the flooding is likely to get worse, having ignored expert, public warnings about insufficient stormwater management and funding since 2003.

The rains in SE Wisconsin did stop and flooding from Dane County to Ixonia to Watertown to I-43 in Milwaukee County has receded, but water levels will continue to rise and more rain is in the forecast.

So I wonder: is there a bigger picture to this?, since parts of Wisconsin - - Watertown, 2016, Racine County,2017, Racine County, 2008, Madison, 2018, historic flooding in NW Wisconsin in 2018 and 2016

 etc.  - - have been hit by rains routinely labeled heavy, historic, worst ever, and so on. 

* From August, 2017:

Wisconsin dismisses climate science as farms, roads and people suffer

For perspective - - Many Western Wisconsin roads and other infrastructure washed out in 2016 floods are still not rebuilt; one NW local official says he has seen a dozen 100-year-storms in the last 30 years, while a state official says road-building standards have not caught up with "evidence...pointing towards increasing frequency of large" storm events.

 * From May, 2017: 

Climate change threatens WI walleye, yet WI DNR denies climate change 

Probably no fish is more dear to the state's recreational economy and thousands  of anglers - -  "highly prized," says the Wisconsin DNR - - than walleye.

So maybe that same Wisconsin DNR will rethink its decision to scrub climate change from its websites now that climate scientists are saying measures should be taken because climate change will lessen the ability of some state lakes to support walleye.

* From December, 2016

Many ways WI ideologues killed climate science, data

I've noted several times on this blog - - here or here and most recently, here - - that Wisconsin GOP Gov. Scott Walker's "chamber of commerce mentality" Department of Natural Resources had deleted information and links to outside sources about climate change which had been posted on a DNR climate change website before Walker took office.

Walker also wiped out DNR science positions as part of his effort to weaken the agency and its research, inspection, enforcement and information-gathering roles.

Let me also excerpt additional information I'd posted in a comprehensive review of Walker's damage to the DNR which was supplied from current and former Wisconsin DNR staffers about internal methods other than outright website scrubbing that DNR decision-makers and Walker budgeting have used to downgrade, obstruct or otherwise minimize public, scientific information in the agency's possession:
-------------------------------------------------------------
 *  A third former staffer said: 

The most alarming issue to me is the great waste of decades of sound science, compiled overtime in on-going studies and data collection. WI had more information about our natural landscape than most states. Abolishing science services put an end to decades long studies vital to maintaining and recovering rare and endangered plants and animals as well as understanding natural communities as information on resilience for climate change. 

* A current employe on personal time echoed many of the lobbyists and former staffers' observations:

Under Walker and Stepp, science is not a priority. Scientific knowledge is ever-changing but in Wisconsin our staff are being left behind. We no longer have a statistician to help interpret data, a library to provide journals or books, or researchers that monitor fish counts, wildlife health, air quality, water quality and etc….employee scientific knowledge and data specific to WI is stagnant...we cannot do the best job possible for our state. 

The DNR is currently run by people who understand public relations spin but not the complexity of the natural resources they are responsible for...Communications staff, generally not trained specifically in resource communication, answer questions with talking points..usually developed by upper management - political appointees - and legal staff. The information provided is biased and superficial.

And here's a summary of the devastating impact that Walker is having on the Wisconsin environment through the DNR he has damaged with the cooperation of our corporate-obeisant State Legislature:
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It was just a few days before he took office in late December, 2010 when GOP Governor-elect Scott Walker suffered a rare outburst of transparency by saying he'd chosen Cathy Stepp - - Racine-area developer/ex-state senator/former McDonald's manager and openly sarcastic, partisan critic of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources - -  to head up that very agency because he wanted a "chamber of commerce mentality" in charge there.

 * Note the relevancy of the conclusion of this item and string that dates to 2003: 

The Bush EPA urged states, cities to prepare for climate change in 2003: 

Then-Milwaukee Mayor John Norquist and I attended a conference in Chicago in 2003, hosted by Mayor Richard Daley, where officials from the EPA told Midwestern elected leaders that climate change models predicted heavier rain events.

The EPA officials were urging the Midwestern leaders to adapt their planning and spending to more aggressively confront storm water and related services because heavier, intense rains were going to be come more frequent.

Part of the message was: forget the notion of the "100-year-storm." They'll come more often than that in the Midwest as the atmosphere warms.

Again - - this wasn't advocacy science or partisan scare tactics.

This was basic municipal planning/dollars-and-sense advice from people in the George W. Bush administration to Midwestern mayors offered as an inter-governmental service because climate change was going to hit cities' budgets and constituents in difficult new ways....

Seems pretty relevant this weekend, no?

And, finally, this from August, 2018:

A few comments on Dylan Brogan's must-read piece in the current Isthmus about flooding in Madison.... 

Brogan's reporting gets Walker on the record about climate change - - a rare feat in itself -- and exposes Walker's defensive, talking point superficiality on a matter he's dismissed that is contributing to tens of millions of dollars in repetitive events, and has again killed state residents.

Brogan wrote:

Marston Avenue resident Bob Spoerke spent the last week watching the Tenney Park lagoon creep up to the sidewalk in front of his house. He says he questioned the governor about the state Department of Natural Resources purging language on its website attributing climate change to human activities and rising levels of carbon dioxide. He also told the governor that climate change was real. 

“[Walker] looked at me and said ‘that’s your opinion.’ But climate change isn’t my opinion, it’s established fact,” says Spoerke. “I’ve been agitated ever since. There’s been two catastrophic floods in northern Wisconsin the past three years. These 100- and 500-year events are happening every few months.”

I was also happy to see Brogan bring the UW-Madison's Center for Limnology lab into the discussion, given its status in lake science and karmic proximity to the Madison area's flooding problems....

Like the DNR he has weakened, and the Wisconsin Initiative on Climate Change Impacts he disconnected from the DNR's climate change web page which Walker had censored, the Limnology resource is another state asset his corrosive lack of curiosity leaves unexamined to our collective harm.

I noted a bit of this a few months ago after Walker had posted what was essentially a tourist's photo of Lake Mendota on his twitter page: 

And it was on the Limnology school's blog just over a year ago that UW professors blasted Walker's DNR for having scrubbed ciimate change data and science - - facts impacting Lake Mendota and other bodies of water in Wisconsin which Walker does not see or appreciate from official state websites - - and I will italicize what is most relevant right now among eight connected scientific and economic findings the experts had listed:

* Increases in extreme rain events are increasing runoff from farm fields into downstream waterways and lakes, reducing water quality. 

But the real gem, the must-memoralize keeper in Brogan's report, is how Walker tried to sucker a citizen into cursing the governor that would have been immediately amplified by the right-wing noise machine to distort and deflect the story away from climate science and flooding to 'bad liberal insults hard-working governor.'

Tom Kasper, a resident of Elizabeth Street, held a sign behind Walker that accused the governor of staging a photo op while ignoring climate change.

Another man biked up to Walker to confront him: “Gov. Walker, I want to say that your time and energy would be much better spent enacting policies to counteract climate change rather than shoveling sand into bags. Would you agree?”

“Glad you’re here. Thanks for watching,” replied Walker. “You can say what you want. You can call me a F-word if you want.”

“I’m not doing that,” the man countered. “I’m just saying climate change policy would be more effective than shoveling sand. Otherwise, you’ll be out here next year, too.”

Props again to Dylan Brogan and Isthmus for the outstanding report.

Man on an island. Judith Davidoff photo also credited here.