 June 17, 2020 Governor Tony Evers P.O. Box 7863 Madison, WI 53707 Hand Delivered Dear Governor Evers, It has come to our attention that the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has temporarily suspended all in-person recreational safety classes, including Boating, Snowmobile, ATV, Hunting, Internet Field Days and Bowhunting courses. This is alarming news to the millions of sportsmen across our state and would be incredibly detrimental to participation in our outdoor recreational activities at a time when our citizens, visitors and tourism industry need it the most. In fact, the Department of Tourism says outdoor recreation was the top marketable driver of visits to Wisconsin in 2019. \When the DNR officials responded to a representative about this concern, they stated, “The Department of Natural Resources places a high priority on the safety education programs offered to Wisconsinites.” It is great to see this is something we can all agree on.
If your administration agrees that these programs are a high priority, why have you ordered these courses to be suspended for the foreseeable future? We are reaching out in an earnest attempt to see what your reasoning is for this decision. It would appear, by all measures of your Badger Bounce Back program, there should be no problem with these classes occurring. As part of your Badger Bounce Back program, the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) was asked to create guidelines for re-opening the state. According to the recommendations regarding “Outdoor Gatherings”, which includes outdoor educational programming, these instructional courses could resume with a maximum of 50 participants. Are your agencies following the same guidelines that you’ve asked Wisconsinites to follow, or do they have the privilege of playing by a different set of rules? No one is arguing that caution should be thrown to the wind as we all work together to responsibly re-open. We are simply pointing out it is becoming impossible to comprehend what rules everyone needs to play by. The DNR is following the lead of the Department of Health Services (DHS), who is waiting on the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) to come out with guidelines for in-person pupil instruction. Should the DNR not instead be working with local governments on outdoor recreation class guidelines? Unfortunately, your administration continues to operate under the Public Health Emergency you declared in Executive Order #72. As I’m sure you are aware, the Wisconsin Supreme Court struck down your Executive WISCONSIN LEGISLATURE P. O. Box 7882 Madison, WI 53707-7882 Order #28, which declared bureaucratic overreach by your administration. As supporters of local control, we would encourage you to follow the court’s ruling and continue to operate under the advisement of local officials, who we believe can make the best decisions for their region. We are asking that your administration allows for these in-person safety classes to resume immediately. Business owners around Wisconsin have made adjustments to safely re-open and operate their businesses; we have full confidence that our local instructors can institute the necessary safety precautions to allow for these courses to proceed. Last week, you encouraged Wisconsinites to “go outside and exercise your rights.” We agree with that message and look forward to working with your administration to resolve this situation. Thank you for taking the time to consider our request on behalf of sportsmen, the tourism industry and Wisconsinites across the state. Respectfully, Representative Rob Swearingen Senator Devin LeMahieu 34th Assembly District 9th Senate District Representative Mary Felzkowski Senator Chris Kapenga 35th Assembly District 33rd Senate District Representative Robin Vos Senator Daniel Feyen 63rd Assembly District 18th Senate District Representative Warren Petryk Senator Andre Jacque 93rd Assembly District 1st Senate District Representative Joel Kitchens Senator Howard Marklein 1st Assembly District 17th Senate District Representative Gae Magnafici Senator Wanggaard 28th Assembly District 21st Senate District Representative Rick Gundrum Senator Stephen Nass 58th Assembly District 11th Senate District Representative Treig Pronschinske Representative Mike Rohrkaste 92nd Assembly District 55th Assembly District Representative Janel Brandtjen Representative Bob Kulp 22nd Assembly District 69th Assembly District Representative Romaine Quinn Representative Rob Summerfield 75th Assembly District 67th Assembly District Representative Tyler August Representative Timothy Ramthun 32nd Assembly District 59th Assembly District Representative Jeremy Thiesfeldt Representative John Spiros 52nd Assembly District 86th Assembly District Representative Cindi Duchow Representative Rob Stafsholt 99th Assembly District 29th Assembly District Representative Chuck Wichgers Representative Tony Kurtz 83rd Assembly District 50th Assembly District Representative Jesse James Representative Cody Horlacher 68th Assembly District 33rd Assembly District Representative Mike Kuglitsch Representative Jon Plumer 84th Assembly District 42nd Assembly District Representative Adam Neylon Representative Paul Tittl 98th Assembly District 25th Assembly District Representative Barbara Dittrich Representative Joan Ballweg 38th Assembly District 41st Assembly District Representative Scott Allen Representative Joe Sanfelippo 97th Assembly District 15th Assembly District Representative Jeff Mursau Representative Dan Knodl 36th Assembly District 24th Assembly District cc: Preston D. Cole Secretary, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources Get in touch with us or check out our partner companies.
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