Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle is handing over administration of the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to the state's former Department of Corrections Secretary, Matt Frank, reports the Wildlife Management Institute.

Frank, a veteran of the Wisconsin Department of Justice, was appointed following Scott Hassett's July 16 announcement of the termination of his four-year tenure as DNR Secretary. The change will take effect on September 1.

Research points a finger towards a bacterium that may be the primary challenge to rebuilding bighorn populations in the West, reports the Wildlife Management Institute. According to a report released in July, Washington State University (WSU) biologists isolated Mycoplasma ovipneumoniae in tissue taken from dying lambs in Hells Canyon, which borders Oregon, Washington and Idaho. It is believed the bacterium increases a sheep's chances of dying from pneumonia?the leading cause of bighorn mortality?by reducing the lung's capacity to fight off the disease.

A full-day workshop on climate change impacts on fish and wildlife is scheduled for Monday, March 24, 2008, leading off the 73rd North American Wildlife and Natural Resources Conference, in Phoenix, Arizona.

A possible solution to an annual, winter problem around Yellowstone National Park may have been resolved through a tentative agreement to allow up to 100 bison to migrate along a private corridor between the northern boundary of the park and the Gallatin National Forest, reports the Wildlife Management Institute.

Bills intended to improve management on national wildlife refuges have been introduced in Congress, the most promising of which was passed by voice vote in the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Fisheries, Wildlife and Oceans in late July, reports the Wildlife Management Institute.