June 2016

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) recently awarded a Competitive State Wildlife Grant (C-SWG) to the Southeastern Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (SEAFWA) to conduct research on the eastern hellbender (Cryptobranchus a. alleganiensis). This grant supports a critical need to identify and resolve conservation threats for this and many other species dwelling in high-quality watersheds throughout the Southeast.

Over the past three decades, amphibians have experienced the largest population declines of all vertebrate species, with nearly 30...

White-nose syndrome (WNS) is a disease affecting hibernating bats in at least 29 states and 5 Canadian provinces. Despite extensive press coverage of the disease and devastation to bats caused by WNS, bats are still widely perceived by the public to be dangerous. To help change the negative perceptions and shed light on the benefits bats provide to ecosystem health, the Save Lucy Campaign was developed to provide information and educational resources targeted at youth.

First documented in New York in the winter of 2006-2007, WNS has spread rapidly across the...

The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) that oversees the United States Department of Agriculture's activities recently issued a report that found the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and the Farm Service Agency (FSA) were not adequately monitoring conservation compliance as required in all farm bills since 1985, according to the Wildlife Management Institute.

Conservation compliance is a mechanism that requires agricultural producers to meet a minimum threshold of conservation actions on land they farm in exchange for receiving farm support payments through many...