The Program Committee for next year's North American Wildlife and Natural Resources Conference just announced the event's Special Sessions, described below.

The 76th North American will be held March 14-19, 2011, at the Westin Crown Center in Kansas City, Missouri. The four concurrent Special Sessions will follow the plenary session on Wednesday, March 16.

A series of unrelated incidents that left grizzly bears, mountain goats and a Wyoming man dead?has caused a review of some wildlife research projects, reports the Wildlife Management Institute. The U.S. Geological Survey's Northern Rocky Mountain Science Office has temporarily suspended trapping operations for its grizzly study after a man was mauled to death by a mature male bear that had been tranquilized earlier in the day.

In an ironic twist of fate, the federally endangered southwestern willow flycatcher has likely secured the survival of one of the most hated invasive plant species in the western United States, reports the Wildlife Management Institute.

An effort initiated several years ago to increase hunting opportunities significantly has finally come to fruition. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is requesting comments on an interim rule and has provided application procedures for the Voluntary Public Access and Habitat Incentive Program (VPA-HIP), according to the Wildlife Management Institute.

A new U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) draft resource management plan for northwestern Colorado would protect the 77,000-acre Vermillion Basin from energy development. The new plan is a sharp turn away from a 2007 draft plan that would have allowed energy development on 93 percent of the 1.9 million acres of mineral rights that are managed by the BLM's Little Snake field office, reports the Wildlife Management Institute. If finalized the new plan will make a total of 242,000 acres off limits to drilling.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is preparing to launch a year-long celebration of a milestone in conservation history ? the 50th anniversary of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

State fish and wildlife agencies (SFWAs) are struggling to address new and emerging conservation challenges while retaining core traditional programs. Many are finding they are unable to do so adequately and fear loss of relevancy to society unless they are able to transform into organizations that meet changing public needs and interests, while continuing commitments to core programs. Organizational transformation is a challenging endeavor; many SFWAs have tried to achieve this, yet few have succeeded.

Individuals wishing to stay abreast of up-to-date news and information regarding chronic wasting disease (CWD) now have a resource that will provide timely updates to email accounts, cell phones and personal web pages, reports the Wildlife Management Institute. The Chronic Wasting Disease Alliance has recently created accounts with the social networking sites Facebook and Twitter in order to allow anyone concerned about CWD to receive breaking news, new research and CWD management updates to an electronic platform of their choosing.