On Tuesday, March 17, 2009, as part of the 74th North American Wildlife and Natural Resources Conference, a workshop will be held to examine opportunities to minimize impacts to fish and wildlife resulting from climate change. A workshop at the 73rd North American Conference, in Phoenix, Arizona, in March 2008, identified the potential consequences to fish and wildlife habitats of climate change in the decades ahead.

The Interior Board of Land Appeals (IBLA) supported new temporary guidelines to protect sage grouse from oil and gas development, reports the Wildlife Management Institute. The guidelines were created by the Buffalo, Wyoming, field office of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management's (BLM).

Despite the difficult prevailing economic conditions, Minnesota voters approved an increase in the state's sales tax to underwrite projects that will improve wildlife habitat, water quality, parks and trails, and the arts, reports the Wildlife Management Institute.

The changes provide an overall objective of maintaining or restoring lynx habitat connectivity. They also provide standards and guidelines for all management projects in lynx habitat, reports the Wildlife Management Institute. The management direction applies to land use in lynx habitat on the Arapaho-Roosevelt, Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre, Gunnison, Pike-San Isabel, Rio Grande, Routt, San Juan, and White River national forests in Colorado and the Medicine Bow National Forest in Wyoming.

"Measuring State Wildlife Action Plan Implementation" is the topic of Special Session 1 at the 74th North American Wildlife and Natural Resources Conference. Concurrent with three other special sessions, it will be held from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon, Wednesday, March 18, 2009, at the Crystal Gateway Marriott in Arlington, Virginia. Five presentations will focus on the need and opportunities for sustainable funding to implement State Wildlife Action Plans.

On October 27, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) released the draft environmental assessment of their proposed changes to the Endangered Species Act (ESA) consultation process. The report finds that there would be no significant impacts to listed species or designated critical habitat if the changes were implemented. However, critics of the changes claim that the assessment was rushed in order to finalize it before President Bush leaves office, reports the Wildlife Management Institute.

The North Dakota Department of Health (NDDH) and the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (MN DNR) have recently released independent studies that provide recommendations for minimizing lead exposure to hunters and other individuals who consume game meat harvested with lead-based bullets, reports the Wildlife Management Institute. Both studies began following the discovery of lead fragments in venison donated to North Dakota and Minnesota venison donation programs in March 2008.