Campaign visits, Preliminary report on DNR and deer

While Wisconsin finds itself in the middle of recall politics, presidential campaigns are here with a significant presence leading up to next Tuesday’s primary.

Republican candidates Ron Paul and Newt Gingrich have events scheduled on Thursday at the UW-Madison and Marquette campuses respectively. Rick Santorum was in western Wisconsin yesterday and will be back tomorrow. Mitt Romney makes his first campaign visit to the state on Saturday in Fitchburg.

On the Democratic side, Vice President Joe Biden is in Milwaukee today for two campaign events before heading to Chicago this afternoon for a fundraiser.

DEER HERD MANAGEMENT

Readers of this blog may remember our reporting from last year when Gov. Scott Walker hired a “Deer Czar” to look into hunters’ complaints regarding the Department of Natural Resources managing of the state’s herd.

The preliminary report from Dr. James Kroll shows the hunters’ gripes, particularly that the herd has been overestimated by the DNR, to be legitimate. As the Associated Press reports:

“The deer population estimates of Wisconsin’s wildlife officials are flawed, and they don’t know enough about how predators affect deer and have reduced deer in chronic wasting disease zones to pests, according to a report Gov. Scott Walker’s so-called “deer czar” released Wednesday.

James Kroll’s study concludes hunters and landowners feel an “intense dissatisfaction” with the Department of Natural Resources and the agency needs a more human touch to rebuild its credibility.

“The WDNR has placed an inordinate emphasis on estimating population goals and establishing population density goals (which commonly are not met), while giving much less emphasis to habitat and people,” the report said.”

Kroll’s final report is due in June. He’s expected to hold a series of town halls throughout the state next month to get feedback.