On May 5, Senators Jon Tester (MT) and James Risch (ID) introduced legislation intended to increase hunter/angler access to federal public lands.The Making Public Lands Public Act, S. 901, would designate at least 1.5 percent of Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) dollars towards acquisitions or easements that would increase recreational access to existing federal public lands, reports the Wildlife Management Institute.

The USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) has committed $4 million to increase capacity to implement the highly successful Sage-grouse Initiative (SGI) launched last year, reports the Wildlife Management Institute. These federal funds will be leveraged with $2.25 million from state fish and wildlife agencies, non-novernmental organizations (NGOs), corporations, Conservation Districts, and the U.S.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) announced on May 10 that it has created a six-year work plan to review and address systematically the needs of the 251 species on the 2010 candidate list for endangered species status, reports the Wildlife Management Institute.The plan is part of an agreement with one of the agency's most frequent plaintiffs in endangered species cases, the WildEarth Guardians, within a consolidated case before the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

In an unprecedented and increasingly controversial move, the United States judicial branch has begun a new chapter in the on-going saga of species protection, reports the Wildlife Management Institute. Late last month, Congress passed a rider attached to the hotly debated 2011 fiscal appropriations bill that effectively reinstated the 2009 wolf delisting rule for the Northern Rocky Mountain Gray Wolf Distinct Population Segment (NR DPS). That marked the first time any species, plant or animal, has been removed from the endangered species list by legislative action.

A new report by the partners within the U.S. North American Bird Conservation Initiative (NABCI) documents how important public lands are to the conservation of bird species within the United States, reports the Wildlife Management Institute. "The State of the Birds 2011" report is the nation's first assessment of the distribution of birds on public lands. It is intended to help public agencies identify which species have significant potential for conservation in each habitat.