June 2010

Nearly two months after the explosion that sank the Deepwater Horizon oil platform, starting a massive oil spume into the Gulf of Mexico, the "leak" still has not been stopped. Current estimates of the amount of oil spewing daily into the Gulf are far worse than earlier projections. With oil now reaching the fragile marshes and beaches along the coast, impacts to wildlife also are worsening. In addition, reports of dispersed oil plumes stretching deep into the water column are increasing fears about how widespread the spill will ultimately be, reports the Wildlife Management Institute....

On June 3, the U.S. Department of Agriculture issued the Final Rule for administration of the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) and extended the deadline for enrollment in the second ranking period of the program from June 11 until June 25, 2010, reports the Wildlife Management Institute.

The basic program was authorized as the Conservation Security Program in the 2002 Farm Bill and was modified somewhat, along with a name change to the Conservation Stewardship Program, in the 2008 Farm Bill. The recently issued Final Rule adjusts regulations contained in an interim rule...

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) recently announced commencement of the Transition Incentives Program (TIP), reports the Wildlife Management Institute. TIP was authorized under the 2008 Farm Bill "to encourage retired or retiring owners or operators to transition their land to beginning or socially disadvantaged farmers or ranchers," according to USDA.

To be eligible, TIP requires that the retired or retiring farmer/operator have land enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) in the last year of the contract. In addition, the owner or operator must make...

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) recently released the final draft of a new crop insurance agreement that will generate $6 billion in savings over the next 10 years, reports the Wildlife Management Institute. Of the savings, $4 billion will be applied to reducing the federal deficit. The good news for the conservation community is that the remaining $2 billion will be used in part to "increase Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) acreage to the maximum authorized level; invest in new and amended Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program initiatives; and invest in CRP monitoring,"...

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game (Department) has sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) to allow the Department to kill wolves on Unimak Island in order to protect a declining caribou herd, reports the Wildlife Management Institute. The FWS, however, counters that the island, the easternmost in the Aleutian chain, is part of the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge and, therefore, an environmental assessment under the National Environmental Policy Act must be completed before any action can take place. On June 7, a federal judge denied the Department an injunction to...

The two U.S. Senators from New Mexico, Jeff Bingaman and Tom Udall, introduced legislation (S. 3452, Valles Caldera National Preserve Management Act) in late May that would turn over the management of the Valles Caldera National Preserve to the National Park Service. Similar legislation is expected to be introduced in the House by New Mexico Representative Ben Lujan. ?The move comes five years before the preserve was to become financially self-sufficient as mandated by the Valles Caldera Preservation Act of 2000, which authorized its purchase. However, a Government Accountability Office...

The last of the great Victorian explorers was Percy Harrison Fawcett, renowned globally as "the David Livingston of the Amazon." In his repeated efforts to find the fabled, glittering kingdom of El Dorado?what Fawcett himself called "Z"?the explorer mapped a significant portion of Brazil. In his quest to find evidence of the lost civilization, he became certain it was somewhere in the primeval wilderness along a tributary of the Amazon River, an area larger than the continental United States. Quest isn't quite the correct term. Obsession fits better. Mania is most apropos. Somewhere, under...