This year, the Minnesota department of Natural Resources (DNR) is preparing for the inaugural gray wolf hunting and trapping season. The gray wolf was recently removed from the endangered species list after exceeding recovery benchmarks. The Department of Natural Resources has outlined a plan to help manage the gray wolf population in Minnesota.

The proposal sets a quota of 6,000 licenses that will be allocated through a lottery system. Only one license will be allowed per hunter or trapper. Hunting would be allowed with firearms, archery equipment and muzzleloaders. Calls and bait would be allowed with restrictions.

The season is proposed for the end of November and would be closed once the quota is met. Hunters would be required to register animals on the same day they are harvested and data would be collected from carcasses. Other states with harvest seasons for wolves and other big game animals similarly monitor seasons and close them when quotas are met.

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Meanwhile, U.S. Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., pressed U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar Wednesday for federal funding to help manage the gray wolf population in Minnesota, according to a statement issued by the senator.

The state has developed a plan to manage the gray wolf population after it was taken off the endangered species list in December. However, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources needs the support of federal funds to effectively execute the plan, said Franken. the gray wolf removed from the endangered species list was a win for farmers across the state,” said Franken. “And Minnesota has a good plan in place to manage the population now that the wolf’s been delisted, but it can only execute this plan with adequate financial support. I relayed that information to Secretary Salazar this morning and urged him to provide Minnesota with the necessary funding as soon as possible.”

Montana and Idaho currently receive funding from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to manage their wolf populations.

In 2010, Franken wrote to the head of the FWS, urging removal of the gray wolf from the endangered species list because wolf population numbers in the Western Great Lakes area have exceeded recovery goals and continue to thrive. Last October, Franken successfully pressed the U.S. Department of Agriculture to fund federal management of the gray wolf population until the animal could be taken off the endangered species list.

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