Wisconsin DNR plans to release wolf comments ‘eventually’

MADISON (AP) - Wisconsin wildlife officials aren’t saying when they’ll release hundreds of public comments on their new draft wolf management plan.

Department of Natural Resources officials released their first new wolf management plan in almost 25 years in November. The plan doesn’t include a statewide population goal, recommending instead that the DNR work with local advisory committees on whether local wolf populations should be reduced, kept stable or allowed to grow.

The public comment period was initially slated to end Jan. 10 but the DNR extended the deadline to midnight Tuesday. DNR Secretary Adam Payne told the agency’s policy board last week that the department has received about 3,000 comments.

Asked when the DNR would release the comments, agency spokesperson Katie Grant said in an email to The Associated Press that the department plans to release them “eventually” but likely not as soon as Wednesday. She said the department needs to “process everything we’ve received and will make them publicly available as soon as possible.”

Grant didn’t immediately respond to an email Tuesday morning asking why the delay in releasing the comments was necessary and what “process everything” means. An automatic reply said she was out of the office at conference. No one immediately responded to a message left in the DNR’s general inbox for media inquiries.

DNR officials have said they’ll consider all feedback as they revise the wolf plan before submitting a final version to the agency’s board for approval.