February 2010

Climate change, conversion of native prairie to cropland and reduction of acreage enrolled in the USDA's Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) appear to be converging and impact substantially the numbers of wetland- and grassland-dependent wildlife in the country's prairie pothole region, according to the Wildlife Management Institute.

Scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey, St. Olaf College and the Universities of South Dakota State, Montana, Nevada and Idaho conducted an analysis of impacts of climate change on hydrology and vegetation in the prairie potholes. Results of their...

Four bighorn herds in western Montana have been plagued by a deadly pneumonia outbreak this winter, with impact of the latest herd being discovered earlier this month, reports the Wildlife Management Institute. There is no vaccine or effective treatment for pneumonia in wild sheep and Montana's Fish, Wildlife and Parks (FWP) Department has culled almost 200 animals in an effort to limit spread of the disease. Pneumonia is fatal to 70 to 90 percent of wild sheep that get contract it.

"We're wondering if there's some perfect storm?some ideal set of environmental circumstances...

The Program Committee for the North American Wildlife and Natural Resources Conference invites and encourages interested persons and parties to submit ideas for the 76th Conference, to be held March 14-19, 2011, at the Westin Crown Center Hotel, in Kansas City, Missouri.

The Program Committee welcomes recommendations for workshops and Special Session topics, cochairs and presenters, and plenary session keynote speakers.

"Input from the professional conservation community has always driven the agenda of this conference," said Dick McCabe, Wildlife Management Institute (...

The Atlantic Coast region stretches from southwestern Maine to the mouth of Chesapeake Bay. Although urbanization has chewed up many thousands of acres, this great expanse of land remains critically important to a range of resident and migratory wildlife, including many species that need young-forest habitat. Recently, conservationists in the region have joined forces and funding to launch the Atlantic Coast Regional Woodcock Initiative, reports the Wildlife Management Institute (WMI).

Aimed primarily at creating habitat for timberdoodles, the effort also will...

Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar testified before the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee on his department's efforts to fast track solar energy development on federal public lands. The hearing in late January was part of the Green Jobs and the New Economy Subcommittee's examination of efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and create jobs by expanding the use of solar energy, reports the Wildlife Management Institute. Representatives from the solar industry and the senior scholar at the Institute for Energy Research also testified.

"The great promise of...

Late last month, a white-tailed deer harvested in Frederick County, Virginia, tested positive for chronic wasting disease (CWD), reports the Wildlife Management Institute. Taken by a hunter less than a mile from the border of West Virginia's CWD-positive Hampshire County, the two-year-old doe is Virginia's first documented case of CWD.

Although potentially deleterious to the state's deer management efforts, the discovery of the disease was not a surprise to officials at the Virginia Departments of Game and Inland Fisheries (VDGIF). Given that the infected deer was harvested...

In partial response to Congress's unprecedented $400 million appropriation to the Department of the Interior, Environmental Protection Agency, USDA Forest Service and the Smithsonian Institution, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) convened the second Conservation Leadership Forum, a two-day workshop on climate change adaptation. Held at the National Conservation Training Center in late January, the workshop brought together representatives from federal and state natural resource agencies and nongovernmental conservation and environmental organizations to discuss the FWS's strategy...

On February 4, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack announced formation of a new Wildlife and Hunting Heritage Conservation Council (WHHCC) to help promote and preserve America's hunting heritage for future generations. The new federal advisory group will replace the Sporting Conservation Council (SCC) and will add representatives from the archery, hunting and shooting sport industries as well as broader representation from the nation's major hunting organizations, reports the Wildlife Management Institute. The WHHCC's charter also more clearly...