Committee to meet Tuesday in Madison

The Legislative Study Committee on Sandhill Cranes is scheduled to vote Tuesday on three draft bills, including two that would allow crane hunting in Wisconsin, as the body wraps up its work on management of the species.

The committee may also make a special appeal to federal wildlife officials to allow the utilization of cranes killed on depredation permits.

The action items are the result of four previous meetings. The committee is charged with examining sandhill population trends and to “determine whether any changes to state law would effectively address the incidence and consequences of crop damage caused by sandhill cranes in this state,” according to its description.

As part of its “comprehensive review of policy options, the committee may consider whether the Department of Natural Resources should seek federal approval to establish a hunting season for sandhill cranes.”

After being threatened through the mid-1900s, sandhills have recovered in Wisconsin and the Great Lakes region. Wisconsin hosted an average of 51,000 cranes from 2018-22, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The large, native birds are welcome sights to most but have a negative effect on many farms. Agricultural producers in Wisconsin sustained an estimated $1.97 million in crane-caused crop damage in 2023, according to the U.S Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services. Slightly more than half was to corn in spring, the balance to potatoes and other crops later in the year.

No program exists to compensate Wisconsin farmers for crane-caused crop losses.

One of the draft bills (LRB-0604/P3) would establish a cost-share program to provide funding for a seed treatment to corn farmers. The treatment, commonly known by the product name Avipel, has been shown to be effective at preventing cranes from eating corn seedlings in spring. The non-toxic chemical is distasteful to cranes, according to the manufacturer.

The bill draft appropriates $1.875 million of general purpose revenue in fiscal years 2025-26 and 2026-27. This amount, combined with a 50% cost share, would reimburse producers for seed treatment covering 300,000 acres of corn, according to a Wisconsin Legislative Council estimate.

The seed treatment bill, however, would only address crop damage to corn in spring. Nearly half of the crop losses occur to potatoes and other crops later in the year.

The two proposals that would allow crane hunting include a stand-alone draft bill (LRB-0815/P1) and one (LRB-0591/P4) that would bundle the seed treatment bill with a sandhill crane hunting bill.

The population of sandhill cranes is large enough in Wisconsin to sustain a limited crane hunting season, according to testimony at the committee’s Aug. 1 meeting by retired DNR waterfowl ecologist Kent Van Horn. It would also provide a new hunting opportunity for the state’s hunters, some of whom now travel to western or southern states to pursue the species.

However a potential crane hunt in Wisconsin would likely be structured to have minimal to no impact on the sandhill population, Van Horn said.

Furthermore no study exists that shows sandhill crane hunting has resulted in reduced crop damage anywhere in North America.

As such, crane hunting in Wisconsin would not likely achieve the committee’s objective of reducing the incidence of crane-caused crop damage.

A sandhill hunt in Wisconsin would produce one change, however: it would allow farmers to receive compensation for crane damage through the state’s wildlife damage abatement fund.

That has its own issues since the number of crane licenses would be too low to generate anywhere near the revenue needed to cover the estimated $1.9 million in annual agricultural damage claims from crane-caused crop damage, according to a DNR assessment.

In recognition of this, the two crane hunting bills (LRB-0815/P1 and LRB-0591/P4) would apply an increase of at least $1 in the wildlife damage surcharge on all hunting licenses sold in the state. Most of the licenses are resident deer hunting licenses; they would see the fee increased to $3 from $2.

The increase on all Wisconsin hunting licenses would raise about $1 million more per year for the wildlife damage abatement fund.

Even the infusion of new revenue from the fee increase is associated with risks if a sandhill hunt is approved, according to the Wisconsin Legislative Council.

In its assessment of the draft crane hunting bills, council staff said “if new spending on sandhill crane-related damage exceeds new revenue generated under the bill draft, the program balance may be depleted. This would impact (wildlife damage claim) assistance for other species.”

In other action, the committee will consider submitting a letter to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service seeking permission to allow the utilization of cranes killed on depredation permits in Wisconsin. Rules now require the bodies of cranes killed under the permits to be left in the field or buried. As such they can’t be used by the farmers or others as food.

The Legislature has twice failed to advance bills on sandhill crane hunting, in 2011 and 2021. The Legislative Study Committee on Sandhill Cranes is chaired by Rep. Paul Tittl (R-Manitowoc), author of the 2021 crane hunting bill.

The committee will meet at 10 a.m. Tuesday in Room 417 North (GAR Hall) at the State Capitol.