By Bruce Ross, Executive Director

This article originally appeared in Wisconsin Waterfowl Association’s February 2020 Newsletter edition.

Readers of this newsletter enjoy an opportunity to hear directly from the DNR leaders who are in some way responsible for the DNR’s waterfowl programs, from regulations to habitat to research. That also includes the people responsible for enforcing those regulations, the conservation wardens of the DNR. We’ve been fortunate to have the very top of that enforcement leadership pyramid, the Chief Conservation Warden, share their thoughts, as well as those of their wardens in the field. Nowhere else will you find the DNR speaking so directly to WI Waterfowlers.

But sometime between our last eNews and this one, former Chief Warden Todd Schaller retired after ‘only’ 28 years in uniform (enforcement is a hard gig). WWA wishes Todd, a hardcore waterfowler, the very best in his new endeavors. We no longer need to wonder, when we see Todd approaching us in our blind, whether we left all our lead shells in the upland vest, or whether that hybrid duck will be counted as a mallard hen or a black duck – we just need to welcome him with a mug of coffee!

But if you see this guy, new Chief Warden Casey Krueger approaching, well, you’d better start reviewing your mental regulation checklist. WWA welcomes Chief Warden Krueger to his new position, and to the columns of this newsletter as he shares his background that brought him to this new duty. Good luck in this important responsibility, Chief Warden Kreuger, and welcome aboard!