On May 31, the Committee on Appropriations in the U.S. House of Representatives passed the fiscal year 2012 (FY12) agriculture spending bill, which included more than $1 billion in cuts for farm conservation programs with "mandatory" funding levels, reports the Wildlife Management Institute. The cuts in the 2012 Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and Related Agencies Appropriations Act come on top of a $500-million cut to these programs that was included in the final fiscal year 2011 continuing resolution last month. Overall, the bill proposes to cut U.S.

The National Wildlife Federation (NWF) recently announced the launch of the next phase of its campaign to restore a wild, free-ranging bison herd in, and around, the Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge (CMR) in northcentral Montana, reports the Wildlife Management Institute. Historically, bison were a dominant element in the plains grassland ecosystem, but have been absent from the CMR for over 100 years. The NWF has been working quietly and cooperatively with local ranchers and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for several years to prepare the CMR for the return of bison.

Wildlife management agencies and hunter organizations now have an additional resource to aid their efforts to recruit and retain hunters, reports the Wildlife Management Institute. Supported by a grant from the Council to Advance Hunting and the Shooting Sports, the North American Hunting Heritage Action Plan (HHAP) website is now hosting a unique searchable database of hunter recruitment and retention research.

Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar wrote on June 1 that the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) would not designate any lands as "wild lands," reports the Wildlife Management Institute.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced that it will accept 2.8 million acres into the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) as a result of the 41^st general sign-up that was held this past spring. With the addition of these lands, total enrollment in CRP will be just under 30 million acres, reports the Wildlife Management Institute.