In late July, the Trump Administration made changes to the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s (FWS) compensatory mitigation policies. In addition, the FWS and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Marine Fisheries Service (NOAA Fisheries) have proposed regulatory revisions to the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The changes are intended to streamline the regulatory and permitting process, however some conservation groups are concerned that the policies will have long term impacts on wildlife and habitat.

The Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (AFWA) and the Wildlife Management Institute (WMI) recently co-hosted a workshop to identify opportunities to increase fish and wildlife agency relevancy. The workshop, held in Denver, Colorado from July 30 to August 1, was in response to the recommendation made by the Blue Ribbon Panel (BRP) on Sustaining America’s Diverse Fish and Wildlife Resources that agencies should “engage and serve broader constituencies.” In addition to AFWA and WMI staff, the workshop brought together representatives from six state fish and wildlife agencies, two federal agencies, and two private sector companies.

As a part of the Wildlife Management Institute’s ongoing Multi-State Conservation Grant supporting the improvement of relationships between the state fish and wildlife agencies and the industries who contribute to the excise tax program, we are keeping a very close eye on excise tax collections that make up the biggest part of the American System of Conservation Funding. The numbers for first, second and third quarters of the federal Fiscal Year 2018 (October 1, 2017 thru June 30, 2018) are in and the Wildlife Restoration account continues to lag behind fiscal year 2017 revenues, though there has been an improvement from the previous quarters’ reports.

A statewide effort in Iowa to identify and map six types of conservation practices (terraces, ponds, grassed waterways, water and sediment control basins, contour strip cropping and contour buffer strips/prairie strips) has been completed. The effort will inform the Iowa Nutrient Reduction Strategy to help reduce sediment, nitrate, and phosphorus loads to Iowa streams. Iowa is the first state to analyze every watershed within its borders to create a detailed assessment of conservation practice implementation.

Researchers at the USGS Maine Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit (Maine Unit) developed a model to explore alewife population and nutrient dynamics. Anadromous fish play an important role in coastal ecosystems. This model estimates population abundance as well as nutrient import and export, and can be used to test sensitivities to varying passage rates at dams within a river system.