The collection contains records mostly from the last few years of DuWayne Johnsrud's career in the Wisconsin State Assembly and are arranged as a single alphabetical series of subject files. Although he was first elected in 1984, most of the documents are from 1995-2003 with the earliest dating from 1988. The documents within these files can be classified in four broad areas:
- Legislative paper such as bills and amendments, many of which have his handwritten notes on them.
- Background information for bills such as articles and reports supplied by government agencies like the Department of Natural Resources, lobbyists, and correspondents as well as transcripts of testimony by witnesses at committee hearings.
- Press releases and newspaper clippings. Sometimes these are printed off the Internet or photocopied by a clipping service.
- Communications from the public and other legislators.
The great majority of the documents in this collection come out of Johnsrud's tenure as chair of the Natural Resources Committee. One of the functions of this committee is to oversee the work of the Department of Natural Resources (DNR). This work is reflected in papers concerning the potential reorganization of the DNR into two departments (natural resources and forestry management), boat registration and licensing, funding more positions for game wardens, and the DNR Disabled Advisory Council.
Johnsrud's great interest in hunting issues is obvious from the number of documents in the collection regarding this issue. His most widely publicized legislation was a bill to allow the hunting of mourning doves. This generated hundreds of letters and numerous editorials and articles in the press, most of which passionately opposed it. He was also involved in efforts to control the size of the deer herd in the state. Several papers relate to the Deer 2000 management program. He introduced legislation to prohibit the practice of putting out piles of corn and apples and then shooting the deer as they came to eat this bait. Other hunting related issues covered in this collection are laws regarding trespassing by hunters on private land, clamming on the Mississippi river, and keeping captured wild animals.
Many papers in this collection reflect his great interest in other environmental issues. He sponsored legislation to protect the state's rivers and groundwater by restricting non-point source pollution, mandating double hulls for barges on the Mississippi river, the Petroleum Environmental Cleanup Fund Act (PECFA) for cleaning up underground gasoline tanks, and the Department of Commerce Rule 83 (DCOMM-83) regulating septic systems.
His work on other issues is evident in papers regarding wetlands conservation, comprehensive planning model ordinances, the classification of state forest lands for different uses, the incidental taking of endangered species in state-sponsored construction projects, and mandating stricter speed and blood alcohol limits for people using snowmobiles. The collection also includes records of his work as a member of the Governor's Blue Ribbon Task Force on Stewardship. Another issue that generated a large amount of material was his proposal to prohibit nude bathing at the Mazomanie Beach.
Several bills aimed at reducing the cost of health care come out of his work on the health committee. One of these measures was a bill to declare a moratorium on the construction of all hospitals in the state as a way of reducing unnecessary expenditures on empty hospital space. Other citizen advocacy measures evident in these papers concern making the Wisconsin constitution gender neutral, opposing public funding for the convention center in Madison (although he did support public funding for the new Brewers' baseball stadium in Milwaukee), prohibiting the State Highway Patrol from having monthly quotas for traffic citations, and allowing citizens to carry concealed weapons.
Johnsrud's active role in promoting the interests of his home district can be seen in documents concerning the status of the juvenile detention facility in Prairie du Chien, mediating a dispute concerning the construction of a barge terminal at Prairie du Chien to preserve an endangered species of clams, the development of the Kickapoo River Valley project after the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had abandoned plans to construct a dam on that river, helping the small town of Sextonville, Wisconsin finance a major sewer project, and the construction of a severe weather emergency warning system for southwest Wisconsin.
