Conservation Briefs is a compilation of short news stories of interest to Outdoor News Bulletin readers. The stories cover a number of issues that have developed in the past month or provide updates on issues that were featured in previous ONB editions. Each story includes links to online resources for more details on each topic.

This Month:

• NABCI Private Lands Subcommittee Releases 2014 Farm Bill Field Guide
• Forest Service Study Identifies Fire Suppression Efforts as Major Factor in Increased Fire Intensity and Damage
• FWS Keeps Bi-State Sage-Grouse Off Endangered Species List
• USDA Directs $6.5 million to Water Quantity, Quality in Ogallala Aquifer

NABCI Private Lands Subcommittee Releases 2014 Farm Bill Field Guide

The North American Bird Conservation Initiative's Private Lands Subcommittee recently released the 2014 Farm Bill Field Guide to Fish and Wildlife Conservation as a tool for private lands conservation efforts. The publication is targeted at the staff of federal and state fish and wildlife agencies, non-profit organizations, joint ventures, and other conservation partners that work with private landowners to implement Farm Bill conservation programs. The guide provides a history of the Farm Bill and an overview of the agencies and local entities that implement Farm Bill programs. It then provides detailed overviews on the core programs within the conservation title and documents examples of how the programs are being used successfully to benefit fish and wildlife populations and their habitats. The guide is intended to help the on-the-ground private land conservationists who engage with landowners to conserve fish and wildlife habitat.

"The wildlife habitat practices created in the Farm Bill have become the nation's best tools for landscape-scale natural resources conservation on private lands. A guide like this is an exceptional resource for those partner positions across the country, like the Pheasant Forever and Quail Forever Farm Bill Biologists," said Jim Inglis, Government Affairs Representative for Pheasants Forever.

Forest Service Study Identifies Fire Suppression Efforts as Major Factor in Increased Fire Intensity and Damage

Scientists in the Forest Service's Rocky Mountain Research Station recently published a new study identifying how a "positive feedback loop" between increased fire suppression responses simultaneously increases wildfire risk in the future. The study, Negative Consequences of Positive Feedbacks in US Wildfire Management, was published in the most recent edition of the Forest Ecosystems journal. The authors outline how wildfire activity, damage, and management costs have increased substantially in part due to fuel accumulation, climate change, and active fire suppression. These factors have occurred while there has been increased development within the wildland-urban interface putting significant pressure on agencies to continue the century old policy of aggressive wildfire suppression. At the same time, this suppression often drives the increased extent, intensity, and damage associated with the wildfires that are unable to be suppressed.

"Interestingly, US federal wildland fire policy provides considerable discretion for managers to pursue a range of management objectives; however, societal expectations and existing management incentive structures result in policy implementation that is straining the resilience of fire adapted ecosystems and the communities that reside in and adjacent to them," the authors write. "Increasing wildfire hazard due to fuel accumulation and climate related stressors and increasing vulnerability of developed residential communities and natural resource values suggest a future of increasing risk and management cost unless the current management paradigm is transformed."

FWS Keeps Bi-State Sage-Grouse Off Endangered Species List

In late April, Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell announced that the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) would not list the Bi-State population of greater sage-grouse in Nevada and California under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The Secretary specifically cited the conservation partnerships coordinated through the Bi-State Action Plan as playing a key role in the decision. Sage-grouse populations that live along the California-Nevada border were designated as a Distinct Population Segment (DPS) in 2010 due to the significant genetic differences between the population and other greater sage-grouse populations. The Bi-State DPS was proposed for listing as threatened under the ESA in October 2013 due to habitat loss and fragmentation from development, juniper encroachment, and invasive vegetation.

"Thanks in large part to the extraordinary efforts of all the partners in the working group to address threats to greater sage-grouse and its habitat in the Bi-State area, our biologists have determined that this population no longer needs ESA protection," said Jewell. "What's more, the collaborative, science-based efforts in Nevada and California are proof that we can conserve sagebrush habitat across the West while we encourage sustainable economic development."

USDA Directs $6.5 Million to Water Quantity, Quality in Ogallala Aquifer

On May 14, US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack announced the investment of $6.5 million for fiscal year 2015 to conserve water and improve water quality in the Ogallala Aquifer. The aquifer is located under eight states in the Great Plains region and is an essential water source for the region's agricultural industry as well as providing drinking water for residents in the high plains; however, the aquifer is being depleted at an unsustainable rate. The Ogallala Aquifer Initiative (OAI) is intended to reduce the quantity of water removed from the aquifer, improve water quality using conservation practices, and enhance the economic viability of croplands and rangelands that use the aquifer. The initiative will target funding primarily through the Environmental Quality Incentives Program for seven priority areas in five states and builds on the $66 million that has been invested through the OAI since 2011.

"Water is a precious resource, and the Ogallala Aquifer Initiative helps our farmers and ranchers use it wisely," said Natural Resource Conservation Service Chief Jason Weller. "This is especially important in a place like the Ogallala, where drought conditions have prevailed in recent years. We know we can't change the weather, but we can help producers be ready for it."