Citizens will have a chance Monday to hear information from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, as well as provide input on local issues.

The Western U.P. Citizen Advisory Council (CAC) for the DNR meets Monday at the Bay West campus on North U.S. 2, Iron Mountain.

DNR staff will present division reports and answer questions from council members and the public beginning at 5 p.m., followed immediately by the council meeting from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.

Agenda items include an ORV/snowmobile subcommittee report and a special presentation on the DNR/Department of Environmental Quality merger.

The CACs were formed to give U.P. citizens more input into DNR regional programs and activities.

The councils, in both the Eastern U.P. and Western U.P., represent a wide array of outdoor recreation interests and help the DNR identify ways to be more effective across the region.

CAC meetings are open to the public.

One CAC issue of local interest involves the stocking of walleye fingerlings.

A walleye sub-committee has been asked by the DNR to provide input into the creation of a new walleye management plan.

Members of the Western U.P.walleye sub-committee are disappointed with the current walleye management plan. Too much emphasis, they say, has been placed on stocking walleye in Little Bay de Noc and Big Bay de Noc, while inland lakes in Dickinson and Iron counties have been short-changed or shunned.

Anglers say they are now catching fewer walleye in those lakes. The DNR has maintained that, in at least some cases, natural reproduction is preferable.

Questions have been raised over whether the DNR is practicing good science to improve Dickinson and Iron fisheries, or whether the agency is simply under pressure to increase walleye stocking in the Bays de Noc.

The committee has recommended restoring the walleye fisheries in priority lakes for Iron and Dickinson counties.

Iron County priority lakes include Swan, Iron, Emily, Mary, Chicagoan, Hagerman and Ottawa. Dickinson County priority lakes include Antoine, Carney, Sawyer, Silver and the East, Island, South and West Groveland Mine Ponds.

While the DNR has provided an opportunity for these recommendations, they are only that - recommendations that the agency will consider.

The walleye sub-committee is chaired by CAC member Floyd Dropps of Wildlife Unlimited of Iron County. Also serving on the committee are CAC member Dave Johnson of Wildlife Unlimited of Dickinson County; Benjamin Wood of Boundary Waters Musky Club; Bill Leonoff of Iron County Chamber of Commerce; Danny Helms of Sagola Sportsman Club; Randy Gustafson, business owner and angler; Rick Commenator of Wildlife Unlimited of Iron County; and Steve Blackhall of the Eastern Dickinson County Sportsman Club.

The committee is encouraging interested anglers to attend Monday's CAC meeting at Bay West.