In February, 2021, the Wisconsin DNR held a hastily-organized hunting season for Gray Wolves, after a Jefferson County judge ruling forced a hunt in February of 2022. Within three days of opening season, hunters had already killed 218 wolves. That number of deaths destabilized the Wisconsin wolf population said conservationists and Native American tribes. Hunt opponents slammed the DNR for relying on an outdated management plan. Then, in February of 2022, a federal judge ruled that the Gray Wolf remained endangered in the continental United States, banning further hunting. On November 10, the Wisconsin DNR released its new draft 2022 Wolf Management Plan for public comment. Adrian Wydeven is a retired DNR biologist who headed up the DNR’s wolf recovery program from 1990 to 2013. Adrian now serves as a science advisor to Wisconsin Green Fire.

Photo of wolf on glacial erratic: Jim Peaco for the National Park Service, public domain via Wikimedia Commons