Walker targets natural resources magazine.

AuthorLueders, Bill
PositionGovernor Scott Walker of Wisconsin

They didn't even get the name right.

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Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker's 2017-2019 executive budget, unveiled in February, directs the state Department of Natural Resources to "Cease Publication of Wisconsin Natural Resource Magazine." The nearly 100-year-old bimonthly publication, actually called Wisconsin Natural Resources, is slated for elimination in February 2018. His office claims this will let the DNR focus more on its core mission.

Critics argue that educating the public on natural resources issues is central to that mission. They say it helps the agency raise money, recruit volunteers, provide an outlet for staff, and promote tourism. And they note that killing the magazine will save no tax dollars, as it is entirely supported by its nearly 90,000 subscribers, about half of whom support it through a small surcharge on conservation patron licenses.

But killing the magazine would advance the state's goal of suppressing science. Former editor Natasha Kassulke says agency staff began insisting on prepublication review of every article after it ran an insert on climate change funded by the Nelson Institute for...

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