MADISON, Wis. (AP) – The state Building Commission's vice chairman Wednesday backed off on his threat to strip a Wisconsin Chippewa tribe of a $250,000 grant as payback for raising walleye spearing limits.

Rep. Dean Kaufert, a Neenah Republican, told the commission during a brief meeting he wouldn't pursue rescinding the Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa's grant. Kaufert said he made the decision after Gov. Scott Walker announced a major walleye stocking effort and state wildlife officials told him the cold spring hampered tribal spearing success and they plan to increase bag limits for nontribal anglers accordingly.

“We're heading in the right direction,” Kaufert said.

The commission approved the grant in 2011 to help the Lac du Flambeau build a cultural center. But Kaufert proposed pulling it back in March after the state's six Chippewa tribes set their off-reservation walleye spearfishing goal at 59,399, an increase of about 5,300 fish over 2012.

The tribes' goal forced the Department of Natural Resources to reduce bag limits for nontribal anglers to one fish on nearly 200 northern lakes. That incensed Kaufert, who also leads the Assembly tourism committee. He complained the bag limits would devastate northern Wisconsin fishing and decided to take back the Lac Du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa's grant as retribution.

The commission was slated to consider Kaufert's proposal in April but postponed the vote to Wednesday to give Walker's administration time to come up with a compromise. Hours before the commission was set to convene Walker's office announced a $13 million initiative to boost walleye stocking. The money includes $8.2 million in new borrowing authority to expand state fish hatcheries and $2 million in grants for private organizations to expand their walleye production.

The governor promised the initiative would boost fingerling production from 60,000 to 120,000 annually to more than 500,000 annually by 2016. The Legislature's budget committee is expected to vote on the plan as it wraps up deliberations on Walker's executive budget in the coming days.

Kaufert told his fellow commissioners at the brief meeting he wouldn't pursue rescinding the grant given the stocking initiative. He also said DNR Secretary Cathy Stepp told him the cold spring has led to reduced tribal spearing totals. The tribes have speared only 28,350 walleye, according to the DNR, and spawning has nearly ended, which means the height of the spearing season has passed. The DNR plans to increase nontribal bag limits to reflect that, Kaufert said.

The agency plans to release the new bag limits Thursday. Stepp said in a telephone interview some lakes will still have one-fish limits, the same as any other year, she said, but it won't be close to 200.

The governor called the developments “a positive outcome all around.” Tom Maulson, the Lac du Flambeau's chairman, didn't immediately return telephone messages.

Stepp said Kaufert's position on the grant didn't spur the stocking initiative. She said DNR fishery experts have been looking to ramp up walleye stocking for years. The timing is finally right because the state has a $500 million surplus, DNR Deputy Secretary Matt Moroney said.

“This is an opportunity to increase the numbers,” Moroney said. “There will be more fish for everybody. Tribal interests, everyone.”

The state's relationship with the Chippewa has been strained over the past two years. The tribes fiercely opposed a bill Republican lawmakers passed in March to clear the regulatory path for a giant iron mine just south of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa's reservation in Ashland County. They also opposed GOP legislation last year creating the state's first organized wolf hunt; the Chippewa consider the wolf a spiritual brother.

Last fall the Chippewa authorized tribal hunters to kill an elk, a species the DNR has been struggling to re-establish in Wisconsin for nearly two decades. The tribes also authorized their hunters to kill deer at night despite the DNR's long-standing ban on the practice. The Chippewa argued that because state hunters can kill wolves at night they should be allowed to hunt deer in the dark. The tribes filed a lawsuit demanding a federal judge allow the night deer hunt; the judge refused, but the case is still pending.