"Chronic Wasting Disease in Wisconsin: Lessons Learned"; Dr. Mike D. Samuel, USGS, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI. Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is a progressively degenerative and ultimately fatal disease of North American deer (Odocoileus spp.), elk (Cervus elaphus), and moose (Alces alces) associated with transmissible protease resistant prion proteins. Although originally considered a disease of western cervids, CWD has recently been detected in wild deer and elk in Alberta, Illinois, Kansas, New Mexico, New York, Saskatchewan, South Dakota, Nebraska, Utah, West Virginia, and Wisconsin. Expansion in the known range of CWD has brought the disease to national attention in the US and Canada, threatens areas where hunting is an important cultural and economic institution, and raises concerns about impacts on human and ecosystem health. Limited scientific information on the routes and rates of CWD transmission and disease spread have hindered the development of effective management strategies and the ability to predict disease impacts. States and provinces with CWD in free-ranging cervids have instituted a range of management strategies from documentation of disease occurrence, containment of disease, and disease eradication. However, none of these management programs have been able to demonstrate success in controlling or eradicating the disease. In all cases CWD has continued to spread (be detected) or increased in prevalence. Since the discovery of CWD five years ago, Wisconsin has attempted to eradicate CWD using an aggressive culling strategy. Modeling and other research studies indicate that CWD will be a long-term disease problem in free-ranging cervids, that management to contain or eradicate the disease will be challenging, and that higher prevalence may affect recreational harvest and sustainable populations. This presentation will review the history of CWD in Wisconsin, advances in CWD epizootiology, and the success of management programs.