Wildlife Management Strategic Plan Updates
The DNR's Wildlife Management Program oversees the management of our wildlife game species (e.g., deer, bear, waterfowl, furbearers and more), as well as the habitat that these species call home. Managing species requires balancing a diversity of priorities, including enhancing the long-term viability of the species, addressing nuisance and agricultural impacts and supporting related recreational opportunities, amongst others.
Currently, the Wildlife Management Program is developing its next Strategic Plan. This plan will help direct the program in determining priorities to make the most efficient use of staff time, materials and limited financial resources.
The Wildlife Management Program has started developing our next strategic plan, kicking off a series of internal discussions about what direction the program will take in the coming years. One of the major themes that emerged from those discussions was a desire to gather input from our partners and the public. After all, Wisconsin's wildlife species are a resource we all use and care about. The program has built in several opportunities for staff, partners and the public to weigh in on the plan as we develop it.
We've already collected feedback from our staff and are currently collecting feedback from our partner groups. The next step is to collect feedback from the public.
The DNR is currently holding a public input process for all members of the public to share their thoughts on our objectives. In particular, we are looking for feedback on how the public wants us to rank our priorities. This feedback will be reviewed and discussed in detail in our remaining meetings before we finalize our strategic plan.
If you want to provide feedback, please go to the "Participate In The Public Input Process" tab on this page.
The Process So Far
The Wildlife Management Program has been working on our next strategic plan since January 2024. A small team of Wildlife Management leadership developed a first draft of the plan's core objectives. Then, the leadership team shared them with the rest of the program staff and sought input on refining them. This was the first of several input opportunities the team had built into the process. The team met and reviewed all of the staff feedback, considering and using this feedback to refine the objectives further.
Next, the team took the refined objectives back to the staff a second time and provided a second opportunity for the staff to voice their thoughts. The feedback from the second round highlighted that the team was aligned with the rest of the program, so the team moved on to developing metrics for each objective. These metrics help define each objective and will help ensure we can track our progress.
At this point, the discussions moved into different ways of prioritizing staff time and spending limited funds. The team poured over budgets, explored the trade-offs of investing more of our resources into one type of project (often at the expense of another), and took a hard look at what could be realistically accomplished. Those conversations are still ongoing.
Simultaneously, the team felt strongly that our partners and the public should have an opportunity to share their thoughts on what we should be focusing on as a program. That's where the public input form comes in. Seven of our core objectives are listed in the form, and participants will be asked to rank them in terms of importance and priority.
After the public input form is closed, the team will review all the responses and consider any needed changes. The team is listening and cares about what the public thinks, so every response is important.
The team will continue working on the strategic plan through Summer 2025. This webpage will be periodically updated, so feel free to check back. Interested people are also welcome to sign up for occasional email updates. Check out the "Want To Get Updates?" tab for more information.
Participate In The Public Input Process
The public input form will be open for feedback until Feb. 28. During this time, anyone is welcome to share their input on how the program should prioritize seven objectives related to managing wildlife in Wisconsin. This feedback is important to the program and will be carefully reviewed and considered as we develop the strategic plan. It should only take about 10 minutes to provide input.
In the public input form, participants will be asked to rank the seven objectives based on what they think the program should prioritize. They will also be asked to rank a set of services that the Wildlife Management Program provides and share with us what outdoor recreational activities they like.
All responses will be considered as we continue building out our strategic plan.
Want To Get Updates?
The Wildlife Management Program will be sending periodic updates on the plan and its development through GovDelivery. It is easy to sign up to receive these updates; a direct link is below. Anyone interested can click the link and enter their email to be automatically added to the list.