An open letter to all Wisconsin State Senators and Representatives
March 11, 2024
Dear State Senator or Representative,
The 2024 DNR “News Release” concerning the upcoming Ojibwe Spring Spearing season is not a news release. It is a threatening notice to every Wisconsin resident who is not a tribal member.
Since I have no interest (and never have had) in interfering with this annual event, I do not appreciate my government officials threatening me with consequences for activities I have no intention of performing.
To the best of my knowledge, there has been no more than one (1) such event, performed by one (1) drunken individual, in the past 10 or more years.
This is an inappropriate message, delivered annually by the DNR, and it should be stopped by you.
The DNR has destroyed walleye fishing and deer hunting in the northern half of our state with its inappropriate focus on the “woke” instead of an appropriate focus on the resources.
Isn’t it a lawmaker’s duty to ensure that agencies like the DNR do the job that was contemplated when the agency was formed?
This agency is failing spectacularly in the management of Walleye and deer populations, and this annual “News Release” is a perfect example of the failure.
An appropriate news release would contain no threats, and it would have no mention of what the DNR “fully supports” or doesn’t. The DNR has it backwards- the DNR doesn’t tell us what it supports- it asks us what WE support.
Please. No more threats from the DNR.
Thank you,
Steven Ellis
Junction City, Wisconsin