Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland signed Secretary’s Order 3410 on March 3, 2023 directing all Department of the Interior (DOI) bureaus to enhance efforts to restore wild and healthy populations of American bison and prairie grasslands, with an emphasis on engaging Native American Tribes. S.O. 3410 establishes an Interagency Bison Conservation Working Group (Working Group) to accelerate implementation of the Department’s Bison Conservation Initiative (BCI). The DOI has allocated $25 million in Inflation Reduction Act funding to support this initiative. Success of the BCI will depend on collaboration among the DOI bureaus, state wildlife agencies and tribal governments. As previously reported by WMI, some states may balk at federal efforts to increase the number and distribution of bison herds.

In 2020, the Boone & Crockett Club, in partnership with the Wildlife Management Institute, initiated a comprehensive study of the illegal take of big game in the United States. The goals of this effort are to better understand the difference between poaching and hunting, recognize the true costs of wildlife poaching, increase the level of detection and reporting, ensure that the punishment fits the crime, and ultimately to reduce poaching and other wildlife crimes. In 2021, the first phase of the research began and in January 2023, the ONB included a story that shared the survey findings on reporting rates and perceptions on the “dark figure” of unreported wildlife crime. This second story in the series provides insight into the perception of impacts caused by poaching.

The Northeast Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (NEAFWA) is partnering with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and the Wildlife Management Institute (WMI) to hire a Northeast Regional Fish and Wildlife Health Coordinator. The Coordinator will encourage and support the network of fish and wildlife health practitioners in their work to address zoonotic and other wildlife diseases and other fish and wildlife health issues across the Northeast. After an extensive search and interview process, the cooperators are pleased to announce that Dr. Melanie Kunkel has accepted the position.

During the 10 years of the first phase of the Regional Conservation Needs (RCN) program, which started in 2007, over $3 million of conservation funds were awarded. Each federal dollar spent was matched by non-federal funding to leverage the conservation spending most effectively. The projects identified shared priority species, habitats, and threats and actions of the northeastern states.

A research team consisting of scientists and managers from the USGS Mississippi Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit (MS Unit), Mississippi State University, USGS Columbia Environmental Research Center (CERC), U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), and University of Wisconsin-La Crosse are developing a tool to help USFWS biologists assess imperilment of freshwater fishes in the Southeastern U.S. that have been petitioned for review under the Endangered Species Act.