MADISON — Wisconsin lawmakers, conservationists, farmers and hunters are exploring how state government should handle a growing sandhill crane population.
The legislative study committee is tasked with finding solutions to crop damage caused by cranes. Among the possibilities are a crane hunt, funds for farmers to treat seeds with chemical repellents and state aid to compensate for crop loss.
“They will walk into a field and either pick the seed right out of the ground just like corn, or they will pull the existing emerged plant out and eat the seed off the bottom,” said Rick Gehrke, a farmer from Omro who represents the Wisconsin Corn Growers Association on the committee.
According to the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau, wildlife officials estimate that sandhill cranes cause roughly $1.2 to 1.6 million in crop damage in Wisconsin each year. It’s a problem that’s relatively unique to the state.
Ultimately, the 12-member committee will use its findings to recommend legislation for consideration when the Legislature begins a new session next year.
Watch: Should there be a sandhill crane hunting season in Wisconsin?
Wisconsin is home to a majority of what’s known as the eastern population of sandhill cranes. That population covers several midwestern states, as well as parts of Canada. In 2022, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife survey reported more than 61,000 cranes in Wisconsin, or 57% of the eastern population.
“A lot of the other states don’t have the crane population we have. We are leading the way on crane damage and crane issues,” said Dan Hirchert, Wisconsin state director for the U.S. Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services. “Wisconsin by far doubles, triples most of the other states where this population exists.”
To conservationists like Richard Beilfuss, who leads the International Crane Foundation based in Baraboo, the growing sandhill crane population represents an incredible rebound for a once-threatened species. The International Crane Foundation is pushing for solutions that will protect cranes.
“It’s our view that a hunt will do nothing to solve crop damage, and so when you bring these issues together, that’s, to us, when it gets complicated. So, we hope to split them out to really talk about lasting solutions on farms here,” Beilfuss said.
A sandhill crane hunt has been proposed twice in the state Legislature in recent history. Both bills failed – one in 2021 and one in 2011.
A study conducted in 2023 by the University of Wisconsin Survey Center found that just 17% of Wisconsinites support a sandhill crane hunting season. Nearly half of the people surveyed said they opposed a sandhill crane hunt.
