Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) was discovered as a clinical disease in 1967 and subsequently spread over the following decades. However, despite significant and widespread efforts by many state fish and wildlife agencies to test for the disease, CWD had not been detected in the southeastern states east of the Mississippi River before 2018. The prolonged absence of CWD in southeastern states that are the most heavily populated with white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) could be attributed to several factors including the slow rate of spread of the disease in the wild, the enactment of importation bans of both live animals and whole carcasses, and significant geographical barriers (Mississippi and Ohio Rivers), among others.

The Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (WAFWA) adopted a Western Monarch Conservation Plan at their recent meeting in Tucson, AZ. The plan establishes population size and habitat conservation goals, objectives, and strategies for the butterflies that overwinter along the California coast and range primarily across California, Arizona, Nevada, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Utah. Combined with the Mid-America Monarch Conservation Strategy adopted by the Midwestern Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies last June, the Western Monarch Conservation Plan is designed to secure the future of the species, range wide. Implementation of the plan will be overseen by the Western Monarch Population Initiative Council that includes the directors of the seven states named above, a member of the WAFWA Executive Committee, and up to seven ex-officio members representing key sectors and agency partners.

More than 40 organizations and agencies have come together to restore Arctic Grayling in Michigan coldwater streams. Managers are preparing to acquire eggs in 2019 from Alaska to eventually become brood stock for Michigan’s effort. Eggs and fry from future brood stock will be experimentally stocked four years from now using in-stream Remote Site Incubators (RSIs), a methodology borrowed from Montana.