Conservation Briefs is a compilation of short news stories of interest to Outdoor News Bulletin readers. The stories cover a number of issues that have developed in the past month or provide updates on issues that were featured in previous ONB editions. Each story includes links to online resources for more details on each topic.

This Month:

• Commentary on Public Trust Doctrine in Stakeholder Engagement Published in Journal of Wildlife Management
• USDA Seeking Comment on Environmental Quality Incentives Program Rule
• USGS Research Shows Steep Drop in Southern Beaufort Sea Polar Bear Population
• NRCS and DU Announce Carbon Credit Sale to Chevrolet

Commentary on Public Trust Doctrine in Stakeholder Engagement Published in Journal of Wildlife Management

A new article that evaluates stakeholder engagement in wildlife management is available online as an Early View article in the Journal of Wildlife Management (abstract only). Stakeholder engagement in wildlife management: Does the public trust doctrine imply limits? assesses the potential conflicts between practicing good governance through citizens' engagement in wildlife decision-making processes, limiting beneficiaries' direct influence on decisions of trust administrators, and citizens' responsibility for holding trust administrators accountable. The authors evaluate these conflicting mandates and provide five recommendations on how state wildlife agencies can successfully coordinate public trust administration and citizen engagement. In addition, the article outlines two primary messages for administrators of public trust wildlife resources:

1. State wildlife agencies will benefit from effective public participation processes that engage stakeholders in decision-making, coupled with human dimensions research that improves understanding of their stakeholders.
2. Good governance principles can be applied without limiting the ability of state wildlife agencies to fulfill expectations of sound public trust resource management; indeed, the former is essential to the latter.

USDA Seeking Comment on Environmental Quality Incentives Program Rule

On December 11, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced that it had published a new rule outlining modifications to the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP). The interim final rule will be open for public comment through February 10, 2015. The new rule specifically outlines that at least 5 percent of available EQIP funds will be targeted for conservation practices that improve wildlife habitat and consolidates the elements of the Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program into EQIP as required in the 2014 Farm Bill. The rule also establishes EQIP as a contributing program within the Regional Conservation Partnership Program; allows practices to be scheduled through the ten years of EQIP contracts; increases payment limitation from $300,000 to $450,000 but removes the option for a waiver to increase payment limitations; and others. The proposed rule and details on how to comment on the rule are available online.

USGS Research Shows Steep Drop in Southern Beaufort Sea Polar Bear Population

New research from the U.S. Geological Survey reports a 40 percent drop in the number of polar bears in the southern Beaufort Sea from 2001-2010. The study, published in late November in the journal Ecological Applications, found that most of the decline occurred between 2004 and 2006 when survival of adult bears and cubs was particularly low. Survival began to improve in 2007 and had stabilized at approximately 900 bears when the study ended in 2010. However juvenile bears continued to struggle throughout the ten-year study suggesting that conditions were unfavorable for young bears newly separated from their mothers.

"Of the 80 cubs observed in Alaska from 2004 to 2007, only 2 are known to have survived," said Jeff Bromaghin, USGS research statistician and lead author of the study. "The low survival may have been caused by a combination of factors that could be difficult to unravel, and why survival improved at the end of the study is unknown. Research and monitoring to better understand the factors influencing this population continue."

NRCS and DU Announce Carbon Credit Sale to Chevrolet

The U.S. Department of Agriculture, Ducks Unlimited and Senate Agriculture Committee Chair Debbie Stabenow announced in November that Chevrolet has purchased almost 40,000 carbon dioxide reduction tons generated on conserved working ranch grasslands in North Dakota. The purchase of the carbon credits was facilitated through a Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) Conservation Innovation Grant (CIG) awarded to Ducks Unlimited in 2011 to develop the necessary methodology to quantify the carbon stored in the soil by avoiding grassland conversions, resulting in the generation of carbon credits.

"This announcement is the first-of-its-kind. The amount of carbon dioxide removed from our atmosphere by Chevrolet's purchase of carbon credits equals the amount that would be reduced by taking more than 5,000 cars off the road," Secretary Vilsack said. "This public-private partnership demonstrates how much can be achieved with a modest federal investment and a strong commitment to cut carbon pollution."

An infographic outlining the carbon credit process is available on the NRCS website.