Are WDNR wardens bonafide law enforcement officers with all the benefits and trappings as, for example, a State Police Officer?
Yes they are.
The problem is that this article has unspoken assumptions in it.
Anyone in Wisconsin who's ever left the urban areas long enough, and spent time fishing, on a boat, owns a lake home with a dock, or hunting
knows that the WI DNR has a reputation for being er... "difficult" in the field, as Monkeyleg alludes to in his post. The article is written in this broader context, but can't come out and cite such a fuzzy notion easily.
They're fishing for a violation whenever you're in contact with them. Sportsmen approaching DNR agents in the field to ask how to go about some procedure properly, or be sure they follow the law get ticketed with nit-picky infractions. Children There was a recent case of a deer hunter, walking out of the woods, approached a DNR officer with the deer he had just shot not minutes before, and asked him where to get it tagged.
And the the DNR officer charged him with having an untagged deer.
I've experienced it first hand myself several times as a child while fishing completely legally, and having the DNR approach me in a purposely intimidating manner, and accuse me of being over the limit, old enough to need a license (I was eight, the age in WI for a license is sixteen) having too many lines in the water, all the while I had one pole and was fishing catch and release bluegills.