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Whitewater-area couple helps DNR track wolves

Photo

Above, Emily and Lawrence Schuenemann inspect and photograph a track on their Lima Township property as they would for potential tracks of timber wolves. The couple are volunteer carnivore trackers with the state Department of Natural Resources.

Volunteer DNR wolf tracker Emily Schuenemann holds a replica of a skull of an adult gray wolf. Terry Mayer/staff.

LIMA TOWNSHIP -- Behind the wheel of his Honda CR-V, with the heater on high, Lawrence Schuenemann of Lima Township is driving so slow you could probably outrun him -- even on this snow-covered logging road in central Wisconsin. He is following an equally slow-moving Toyota Tundra, driven by Diane Nelson of Fall Creek. Riding shotgun in the Tundra is Emily Schuenemann, Lawrence’s wife.

Out here in the middle of a state forest, with the wind chill below zero, this small caravan looks oddly out of place.

Have they taken a wrong turn perhaps?

Not at all.

If you’re a volunteer Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources carnivore tracker like the Schuenemanns and Nelson, this is exactly the place you want to be.

Of particular interest to the Schuenemanns -- and the DNR -- is the timber wolf, an endangered species that has been steadily increasing in numbers since its near-extinction in 1960.

“When we started doing this, there were no wolves,” says Lawrence, a retired gym teacher from Janesville’s Craig High School, “and now there could be as many as six packs in the area Emily and I are responsible for.”

More times than they could count on this tracking mission — one of three they do annually — the Schuenemanns and Nelson got out of their cars to investigate signs of possible wolf activity, while also noting activity of other species, like coyotes and bobcats.

A retired science teacher, Emily Schuenemann says a thematic lesson using the acclaimed film “Dances with Wolves” sparked her interest in the plight of the wolf.

“Wolves are very important in our ecosystem and a keystone species,” she says. “They affect everything in their environment, including their prey. That’s why we want them. They’re really important.”

Read the full story in the e-edition of Walworth County Sunday, HERE.