David Nomsen, Pheasant?s Forever?s current South Dakota regional office Director, was awarded the Wildlife Management Institute?s (WMI) 2016 George Bird Grinnell Memorial Award for Distinguished Service to Natural Resource Conservation. The award was conferred last month during the annual Conservation Administrators Luncheon at the 81^st North American Wildlife and Natural Resources Conference in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

On April 4, 2016 U. S. District Court Judge Dana Christiansen vacated the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) withdrawal of the proposed listing of wolverine as a threatened species, reports the Wildlife Management Institute. The ruling has a number of significant implications to broader application of the Endangered Species Act (ESA).

The Southeastern Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (SEAFWA) recently announced the projects that would be funded through the first year of funding for the Southeast At-Risk Species (SEARS) Program. SEAFWA states are working together through the SEARS program because the issues facing many at-risk species cannot be meaningfully addressed by individual states. Initial projects will focus on targeting information gaps and developing information synthesis/analyses.

David Nomsen, Pheasant's Forever's current South Dakota regional office Director, was awarded the Wildlife Management Institute's (WMI) 2016 George Bird Grinnell Memorial Award for Distinguished Service to Natural Resource Conservation. The award was conferred last month during the annual Conservation Administrators Luncheon at the 81^st North American Wildlife and Natural Resources Conference in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

The 82^nd North American Wildlife and Natural Resources Conference will be held at the Davenport Grand Hotel in Spokane, Washington, on March 4-11, 2017. The Conference Steering Committee is seeking ideas and participation from professional conservation interests to help develop the conference agenda. In particular, recommendations for topics, potential co-chairs and presenters for four Special Sessions are invited. Ideas for prospective plenary keynote speakers are also welcome.