The 86^th North American Wildlife and Natural Resource Conference is moving forward in its virtual platform, and registration and the full conference schedule are now available. Staff and partners have worked hard to offer the same informative and timely content from presenters and the space to connect with attendees and partners from across the continent. The virtual conference will include the regular schedule and opportunities for engagement, including the WMI plenary session, four special sessions, workshop offerings, and networking opportunities.

The Wildlife Management Institute (WMI) is working with states, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), and automated licensing system providers to develop methods of improving Harvest Information Program (HIP) data quality, which in turn will improve the precision and utility of the estimates. Improvements to the sampling frame will allow for more precise estimates at lower costs. Better quality data will help improve harvest management and may also be helpful in understanding hunter activity for assessing efforts at recruitment, retention, and reactivation of hunters. So far through the pilot program Louisiana, Arkansas, and Connecticut have implemented new procedures that will improve the quality of data received from migratory bird hunters.

The Wildlife Management Institute (supported by a Multi-State Conservation Grant) provides you with this quarterly snapshot of the excise tax collections to help you understand the health of the American System of Conservation Funding. This system of funding was established in the 1930s and expanded and perfected over the next 40+ years. This reliable source of annual funding for state fish and wildlife agencies represents a unique partnership between the agencies and the hunting, shooting sports, angling, and boating industries. In rough national numbers, these excise tax deposits made by the partner industries represent about half of the state fish and wildlife agencies’ annual budget. That said, there are a number of state fish and wildlife agencies that enjoy other sources of funding (i.e., state level appropriations, specific sales tax additions, lottery funds, etc.). Regardless of other funding sources, the funding generated and made available to state wildlife agencies is substantial. Therefore, it is imperative to conservation that agencies (from the commissioners down to the field biologists) understand the industry trends and work with these industries to ensure a strong income flow going forward.

Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer and Illinois governor JB Pritzker announced on January 7 that the states would work together to protect the Great Lakes from invasive Asian carp species. The intergovernmental agreement between the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) and the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (MDNR) allows Illinois to use up to $8 million in funds appropriated in 2018 by the Michigan Legislature to support the preconstruction engineering and design (PED) phase of the Brandon Road Ecosystem Project.

Relationships between human well-being (HWB) and ecosystem health (EH) are best understood via approaches coupling natural and social sciences. The Virginia Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, a program in the Ecosystems Mission Area at the U.S. Geological Survey, is leading an interdisciplinary team of scientists from Virginia Tech to explore HWB-EH relationships and design follow-up studies to identify mechanisms driving those relationships.