The 78th North American Wildlife and Natural Resources Conference is right around the corner with preliminary meetings set to start on Sunday March 24. Attendees are encouraged to visit the conference website to view newly updated information about Special Sessions, Workshops, and plenary speakers.

Researchers at the Geographic Information Science Center for Excellence at South Dakota State University have documented disturbingly high rates of conversion of grasslands to croplands in the western portion of the country's Corn Belt, according to the Wildlife Management Institute.

Surveys by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife confirm that a new pack of at least 2 wolves is roaming the "wedge" between the Columbia and Kettle Rivers in the northeast corner of the state, reports the Wildlife Management Institute. These wolves are living in the territory of the original Wedge Pack, the first whole wolf pack lethally removed by the department. The decision to remove the entire Wedge Pack in September 2012 after repeated non-lethal methods failed to alter the pack's depredation on livestock was highly controversial.

At the highest levels, the Department of the Interior and the Obama administration have expressed interest in developing a strategy to improve mitigating the impacts of all forms of development on public lands. This directive and momentum has presented the conservation community with unique opportunities as well as significant challenges.

On March 11, ten sportsmen's groups sent a letter to President Barack Obama urging him to stand firm on the commitment to develop and implement climate change adaptation strategies that was made in his inaugural and State of the Union addresses.

The prairies and marshes of southwestern Louisiana once supported both migrant and resident populations of Whooping Cranes and, as a result, supported more Whooping Cranes than any region in North America. Draining of wetlands on the breeding grounds as well as shooting eliminated the migrant population by around 1918. The last bird from the resident flock was captured in 1950 at what is now the White Lake Wetlands Conservation Area (WLWCA) near Gueydan, Louisiana. Since that time, the wild flock of Whooping Cranes has been placed on the Endangered Species list.