U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns announced in June the creation of a new Agricultural Wildlife Conservation Center (AWCC) in Madison, Mississippi, reports the Wildlife Management Institute (WMI). The AWCC will be an arm of Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). It anticipates an initial budget of approximately $3 million, to develop and transfer wildlife habitat management technologies applicable to working lands. L.

The soon-to-be-released Woodcock Conservation Plan calls for active management on public and private forestlands to return woodcock populations to 1980 levels. The Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) has stepped to the plate by joining the coalition that is advancing woodcock recovery in the Northeast, reports the Wildlife Management Institute (WMI).

Cochairs have been enlisted for three of the four Special Sessions at the 72nd North American Wildlife and Natural Resources Conference, which will be held next March in Portland, Oregon.

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According to a recent study published in the journal Sciencexpress, global warming and not mismanagement of forests is responsible for the accelerating incidence of catastrophic forest fires in the West, reports the Wildlife Management Institute.