June 2014

State apportionments of federal aid through the Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration (WSFR) program have increased monumentally over the last several years, largely due to the increased collection of excise taxes under the Pittman Robertson (PR) Act. This year, state apportionments for the WSFR Program exceeded $1.3 billion. As a result, states now have access to more PR funds than ever before. Conversely with this increase in funding, many states have experienced budget reductions, coupled with reductions in staffing, hiring freezes and/or logistical constraints that hamper their ability...

Sea level has risen at an average rate of 4.6 mm/year since 1948 at Rockport, Texas. The rate is increasing and models predict sea level will be from .46 to .87 meters higher along the Texas coast by the end of the century. That may not sound like much, but given the nature of the landscape, that rise will shift the coastline inland by an average of 1 to 2 kilometers and significantly affect bays, estuaries, marshes and current upland habitats. Conservation of species, like the endangered whooping crane and Aplomado falcon and several species of conservation concern such as reddish egrets...

The Rio Grande cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarkii virginalis) is the southern-most subspecies of cutthroat trout in the Western United States. Historically, the subspecies occupied over 10,000 km of streams in the Rio Grande, Pecos, and Canadian River basins of Colorado and New Mexico. Introductions of non-native fishes and habitat loss have reduced this subspecies to 120 conservation populations occupying less than 12 percent of its historical range (1,500 km). In 2008, the subspecies was added to the Endangered Species Act Candidate List. One of the major threats to the...