The magazine covers hunting, fishing and the science behind the DNR’s work and the efforts of volunteer conservation groups. When the state began publishing it in 1919, it was called The Wisconsin Conservationist.

After Walker took office in 2011, his appointees and other top managers at the DNR insisted on seeing every article before publication, said Natasha Kassulke, who left the DNR last summer after 15 years, including five editing the magazine.

The scrutiny grew tighter after the magazine carried a special section on climate change produced by the UW-Madison Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies, Kassulke said.

DNR managers spiked an article on how climate change affects Wisconsin mammals, as well as a piece on an endangered species whose primary habitat was around the proposed site for a controversial iron mine that was being promoted by Walker and GOP lawmakers, she said.

“I sort of got the message to stop even trying,” said Kassulke, a former Wisconsin State Journal reporter who now works for UW-Madison.