Meyer Protected Wisconsin’s Natural Resources and Outdoor Heritage

   Wisconsin lost its most devoted and enduring conservation watchdog Dec. 10 when prostate cancer killed George Meyer at age 78.

   Meyer's list of job titles in five decades of public service grew so long he almost had to unfurl a scroll when introduced at podiums across the state. And man, did Meyer tour Wisconsin. In 1993 alone, he delivered 240 speeches; speaking to just about any group, anywhere.

   About that resumé: Meyer spent over 30 years with the DNR, serving as a staff attorney from 1972 to 1980, administrator of the DNR’s law-enforcement division from 1980 to 1993, and then DNR secretary until 2001.

   After retiring from the DNR in 2002, Meyer became the Wisconsin Wildlife Federation’s executive director in 2003, and held the job until retiring in July 2021. Besides running the WWF, testifying and listening at DNR and legislative hearings, and alerting the public to legislative shenanigans in Madison, Meyer built the federation’s membership of affiliated conservation clubs and organizations from 79 in 2003 to over 200 in recent years.

   Among many distinctions, Meyer was Wisconsin’s last DNR secretary to be appointed by the seven-citizen Natural Resources Board. And after Gov. Tommy Thompson and the Legislature gave that duty to the governor’s office in 1995, Meyer eventually became the first DNR secretary to be dismissed by a newly elected governor and replaced by one of the guv's cronies. That happened in 2001 when Tommy went to Washington to serve in President George W. Bush’s cabinet, allowing Scott McCallum to inherit the governor’s mansion and replace Meyer.

George Meyer enjoyed hunting with his family. This photo from the November 1999 deer season shows Meyer with his daughter, Jocelyn, left; son, Andrew; and wife, Jayne, after hunting near Portage. — Photo courtesy of Jayne Meyer

   But Meyer always persevered, whether working face to face, talking on his phone during meals, or juggling impromptu gaggles in the Capitol’s hallways. And whether he testified at hearings, spoke to civic groups, or endured protests at state parks and Northwoods boat landings, Meyer arrived early and stayed late, sometimes needing a janitor, sheriff’s deputy or his wife, Jayne, to ease him toward his car.

   So, yes, Wisconsin will miss this conservation diplomat and hunting-fishing advocate. Meyer was a tenacious pain in the butt for anyone trying to plunder Wisconsin’s natural resources. He learned those traits and his environmental values on his parents’ New Holstein dairy farm during the 1950s and early 1960s. And a half-century later, in April 2018, his lifetime achievements earned him a deserving pedestal in the Wisconsin Conservation Hall of Fame.

   Some of us were lucky to report on Meyer’s storied career. Here’s a few of his thoughts from long-ago articles and columns in my files:

   — In November 1994, animal-rights protesters hassled hunters at Blue Mounds State Park on opening day of deer season to test Wisconsin’s new hunter harassment law. To avoid making them martyrs by arresting them, Meyer told conservation wardens not to interfere except to prevent injury or property damage.

   “(Their protest) won’t have an impact on anything,” Meyer told me. “People in our society accept protest and understand its value, but they don’t like it when anyone interferes with the private life or pastime of other individuals. That feeling came through loud and clear. Most people in Wisconsin are hunters or have hunters in their families. Anti-hunters have a narrow support base. Their main interest was fund-raising publicity. I doubt their protest did much for their cause.”

George Meyer, DNR secretary from 1993-2001, and executive director of the Wisconsin Wildlife Federation from 2003-2021, worked relentlessly to protect the state’s natural resources. He traveled the state, testifying at public hearings and speaking to countless groups. — Patrick Durkin photos

    — In August 2004, Meyer recalled how he persuaded Gov. Thompson to support a hunting season on mourning doves. Thompson didn’t oppose the hunt, but hesitated to endorse it.

   “After a Cabinet meeting in 2000, the governor asked why I was pushing this dove hunt thing,” Meyer said. “I reminded Tommy that in 1970 when the Legislature named the mourning dove the state bird of peace, only seven assemblymen voted against it. One of them was Elroy’s Tommy Thompson. He laughed, realizing I had him. Soon after, more than 30,000 people at the spring hearings voted overwhelmingly for the hunt. When I asked Tommy about that vote, he said he was a politician and knew how to count.”

   Meyer enjoyed hunting doves, telling me in 2004: “Dove seasons start early, the weather’s nice, and you get lots of shooting. It’s a great, well-structured way to introduce kids to hunting.”  

   — For 10 straight Aprils during the 1980s and early 1990s, Meyer wore a bullet-proof vest and spent long, stressful days and nights patrolling Northwoods lakes with conservation wardens to enforce the Chippewa tribes’ federally granted spearfishing rights.

   During a 2018 interview, Meyer said he reminded himself of those dark months whenever navigating issues in Madison at DNR headquarters. “Nothing I worked on as DNR secretary was ever as difficult as that,” Meyer said.

   — Meyer disliked Wisconsin’s political landscape in summer 2018. “Our Legislature now answers to only one thing and that’s economic interests,” Meyer said when addressing the Wisconsin Outdoor Communicators Association in Eagle River. “It’s not even close. When a business association, or the Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, the Dairy Business Association, or lobbyists for the Koch brothers and Americans for Prosperity show up in the Capitol, they throw tremendous weight. Most of our legislators listen to those economic interests. They buy it.”

   — Meyer took special pride in the Wisconsin Conservation Leadership Corps, a WWF program that trains college students and high-school seniors in conservation advocacy, leadership, communication and policy development.

   “We need these bright, young people for our state’s conservation work,” Meyer told me. “When I attend most conservation meetings, I see an aging group. The Wisconsin Wildlife Federation is putting more young people into those rooms.”

   — In 2018, Meyer faulted GOP lawmakers and Gov. Scott Walker for helping private interests dominate natural-resource policies. But he also reminded everyone that former Gov. Jim Doyle, a Democrat, let issues slide that way during his 2002-2010 term.

   “Doyle ran for governor (in 2002) saying he would restore independence to the DNR secretary, but when that bill later came to his desk, he vetoed it,” Meyer said. “Gov. Doyle lied. He said one thing publicly and something else privately. Yes, Gov. Walker and the Republican Legislature probably would have changed everything back after the 2010 election, but the political stain would have been on them. That stain remains on Doyle. Let’s pin the tail on the right donkey.”

   — After retiring from the WWF four years ago, Meyer said he didn’t intend to disappear. “I’ll just volunteer more often,” he said. “This has never been about me. Whatever work I do, and whatever recognition I receive, it’s all about a joint effort of DNR staff, the Wildlife Federation and other volunteers.”