Outdoors

Groups challenge forest certification
Does the DNR have enough resources to prevent damage to state forest by OHV users? A group that certified the agency as a sustainable forest manager isn't sure. Two environmental groups say the certification shouldn't go through until the DNR shows it can do better.
Over the next few weeks, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will gather comments on its comprehensive conservation plan for the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge. The refuge cuts through four states and spans more than 300,000 acres. The proposed changes have some users groups bristling.
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources is draining Swan Lake in south central Minnesota. Carp have invaded the lake and the DNR says if they're not stopped they'll destroy the lake's duck habitat.
There's been a big jump in the number of Hmong hunters in Wisconsin's hunter education classes. This a year after a fatal confrontation between a Hmong hunter and a non-Hmong hunting party that left six people dead. Meanwhile, the Wisconsin DNR is looking to recruit Hmong help reach the state's 10,000 Hmong hunters.
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources is planning for a safe deer hunt, one year after the shooting incident in northwestern Wisconsin that left six hunters dead.
Wisconsin has declared war on wild pigs. Few believed pigs could survive in the wilds of northern Wisconsin. But a herd of pigs is thriving in the woods and wilds near Lake Superior, and that worries the people living in the area.
Mountain Lion season is scheduled to start October 1 in South Dakota. A group with a mission to protect the cat population is taking the issue to a judge.
A police official says it's "absolutely nuts" that a dispute over a hunting location apparently led to the shooting deaths of six people in Wisconsin. Tim Zeigle says a confrontation took place between the suspect and other deer hunters after a dispute about a tree stand. The suspect is a 36-year-old man from St. Paul.
The arrest of a Hmong-American in the shootings of eight hunters in northwest Wisconsin left some Hmong citizens in his hometown fearful of a backlash. "This is a very tragic event," Michael Yang, a Hmong activist, said. "This hurts all of us."
Tens of thousands of deer hunters hit the woods this past weekend for the opener of Minnesota's firearms deer season. Many of those hunters provided tissue samples from their deer, which will be tested for chronic wasting disease. The testing marks the third and final year of a statewide survey. DNR officials say this year, the testing has become much simpler.