WI DNR Sec. Stepp Spends 'Much Of Her Time' Talking To WI Tribes

From the Beloit Daily News, last week:

With all that is on the DNR’s radar Stepp said she spends much of her time in discussions with Native American tribes, covering a variety of topics including mining as well as wolf hunting and walleye fishing.

With an increasing wolf numbers, the DNR has been working to manage the population while respecting the spiritual connections the tribes have to the animals, as well as other activists’ concerns, Stepp said.

She said the DNR is working to rebuild trust with the hunting community and to keep outdoors activities fun, whether for deer, fish or wolves.

And meeting with tribes or taking their spiritual considerations into consideration translates to a need for rebuilt trust with hunters. 

Wow: Can you get anymore two-faced than that (but document all those meetings, because someone might want to check the record) so the next day, so perhaps this is the reason that the DNR sent around this email - - the second of its kind in recent months - - which read, in part:

From: Lamers, Holly J - DNR On Behalf Of Shea, Allen K - DNR
Sent: Thursday, July 18, 2013 3:53 PM
Subject: New Tribal Tracking Process for All Staff

... •     All staff are required to document and track meetings with our tribal partners. 

•         In an effort to make tribal meeting reporting easier and more efficient, we have created a Tribal SharePoint site...

•         This new system is effective immediately. We request you use this instead of the reporting form (#1400-031), which will eventually be removed.

Thank you in advance for your support in helping the agency properly track our tribal interactions!

Al Shea

Office of Business Support and Sustainability Director
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources Madison, WI 53703
608-266-5896
allen.shea@wisconsin.gov

In December, DNR staff also got this message, which read, in part:

From: On Behalf Of Moroney, Matt S - DNR
Sent: Monday, December 17, 2012 11:12 AM
Subject: Tribal meetings -- reporting process and form

... In order to be more efficient in documenting our interactions we have developed a standard reporting form. Please complete this form...A “meeting” is a face-to-face interaction. It does not include a telephone conversation or interactions at public meetings. Thanks for your cooperation and  support!...

Matt Moroney
Deputy Secretary
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
(608) 264-6266
Matt.Moroney@wisconsin.gov