The Department of Natural Resources and the Legislature take plenty of critical hits from the public — some of them quite well deserved.

But when it comes to the wolf hunt season — they deserve praise — for different but equally important reasons.

The DNR has been managing the wolf hunting season very well. The third one was announced this week.

The wolf population has actually increased since the first season. And now, so, too, has the number of licenses made available for the hunt.

That’s called good management of a species that had once been endangered.

Minnesota’s wolf legacy is unique, according to the DNR. The northeastern corner of lakes and sub-boreal forest was once home to the last remaining wild wolves in the lower 48 states.

Management under the Endangered Species Act allowed those remaining wolves to flourish and repopulate northern Wisconsin and Michigan’s upper peninsula.

But wolves are not cuddly pets. They are wild predators for which a hunting season just makes sense after the species was nursed back and off of the Endangered Species list.

And so we applaud the Legislature for not giving in to anti-wolf hunting groups and individuals that want the hunting season suspended — which translates to ENDED. We especially congratulate DFL Rep. David Dill of Crane Lake for standing tall on this issue in the state House.

Bottom line: The wolf population is being managed well with a regular hunting season.

— Mesabi Daily News, July 26