As if to reinforce its status as an unrelenting threat to North America's cervid populations, chronic wasting disease (CWD) has expanded its range for the second time in 2010. In late February, the Missouri Departments of Agriculture, Conservation and Health and Senior Services confirmed the presence of CWD in a white-tailed deer taken from a Linn County captive cervid facility, reports the Wildlife Management Institute.

Governor Dave Freudenthal signed a bill on March 5 that will make Wyoming the first state to tax wind production, reports the Wildlife Management Institute. The governor has been vocal about ensuring parity among the various energy producers in the state citing the potential habitat and community impacts of wind farms. Also signed into law were two other bills that would extend the state's permitting authority over wind farms and collector transmission lines as well as set a moratorium until June 30, 2011, on the use of eminent domain to take private land for collector lines.

U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary, Tom Vilsack, recently announced that USDA will offer an opportunity for general enrollment of lands in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) later this year. This is the first general sign-up for CRP offered since 2006, according to the Wildlife Management Institute. The announcement and sign up are very timely from conservation standpoints, inasmuch as contracts on 4.4 million acres of CRP are due to expire on September 30, 2010.

The 22-member Wind Turbine Guidelines Federal Advisory Committee announced on March 5 that it had reached consensus on a set of recommendations (Guidelines) for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) to utilize to avoid or minimize the impacts of land-based wind development on wildlife and habitat, reports the Wildlife Management Institute.

On March 5, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar announced that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) had decided that the greater sage-grouse was warranted for listing under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), but that the listing is precluded at this time due to higher priority listing actions, according to the Wildlife Management Institute. The decision establishes sage-grouse as a candidate species and allows states to continue to manage the species, including managed hunting where appropriate.

The Program Committee for the 76th North American Wildlife and Natural Resources Conference has issued a final call for ideas and recommendations for workshops and Special Session topics, chairs, cochairs and presenters and plenary keynoters. The 76th North American will be held March 14-19, 2011, at the Westin Crown Center Hotel in Kansas City, Missouri.