Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Units Program: Wisconsin Wildlife
Education, Research and Technical Assistance for Managing Our Natural Resources

Chronic wasting disease (CWD) was discovered in Wisconsin white-tailed deer harvested in fall 2001 and CWD prevalence has increased in all sex and age classes and increased in spatial extent ever since. It is uncertain what impact CWD is currently having on deer populations and what impact it may have as prevalence increases. This project is a collaboration between the USGS Wisconsin Cooperative Wildlife Research Unit, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the USGS National Wildlife Health Center, and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. A robust modeling framework will be developed to understand spatiotemporal patterns in CWD prevalence and deer demographic rates to provide technical information to state natural resource managers regarding deer population dynamics in the CWD-endemic region of southwestern Wisconsin.