HISTORY OF WISCONSIN'S WOLF POLICY FILLED WITH COMPROMISE, MEDDLING To some, last month's federal decision that put the gray wolf back on the endangered species list in the Great Lakes region was an unmitigated triumph. Siding with the Humane Society of the United States and other groups, the court ruling placed the wolf once again under federal protection after it was removed from the list last March. But in doing so, the decision also took away critical tools from the states, such as the ability to kill wolves that have attacked livestock. And, in that sense, it's not a victory but a blow to Wisconsin's hard-won compromise on how best to manage the iconic animals, says University of Wisconsin-Madison environmental studies professor Adrian Treves. "The irony in the current situation is that the state has found a constructive middle ground ( on wolves )," says Treves, who has just published an analysis of 30 years of Wisconsin wolf policy. "But it's consistently having that middle ground undermined by the federal government and through lawsuits by outside groups, usually wolf preservationist groups." Writing in the current issue of the journal Human Dimension of Wildlife, Treves argues that the history of wolf recovery in Wisconsin is one of "interest groups vying for control" of wolf policy and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources ( DNR ) balancing those interests. Over the past 26 years, for example, the agency has promoted coexistence with wolves by compensating people for lost livestock and pets with funds paid for by wildlife enthusiasts. In recent years, the DNR also began exploring the idea of a hunt to control Wisconsin's wolf population, numbered now at more than 550 animals. Hunters have lobbied strongly for this management strategy, but Treves' public opinion research also shows that a hunt carefully designed to reduce attacks on domestic animals might also be broadly acceptable....