Given that they have spread to at least 39 states, there appears to be only two places left in the lower 48--where they are now and where they are going to be. The impact they will have (or are having) on the native avifauna has yet to be determined, but one thing is certain, the Eurasian collared-dove has staked a claim in North America. And it likes the neighborhood.

President Obama signed the $32.2 billion Interior, Environment and Related Agencies fiscal year 2010 (FY10) appropriations bill into law on October 30. ?The bill provides a 17 percent increase in spending from last year's appropriation for most of the natural resources and environmental agencies in the federal government, reports the Wildlife Management Institute. Overall, the U.S. Department of the Interior was allocated nearly $11 billion, the Environmental Protection Agency $10.3 billion and USDA Forest Service $5.3 billion. Interior Department agencies saw a boost in funding.

Despite the loss of hundreds of thousands of acres from the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) in recent years, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is under continuing pressure to reduce penalties to agricultural producers who withdraw their lands from the program before their CRP contracts expire, according to the Wildlife Management Institute.

Washington journalist Paul Mallon had it right ? there is no such thing as a free lunch. Goods and services ? food, timber, clean air, clean water, climate regulation, nutrient cycling, and more?produced by North America's healthy landscapes have long been viewed as infinite resources. Many of these ecosystem services, with the notable exception of commodities like food and timber, have largely existed outside the market-driven system on which society depends to value and pay for its raw materials and products.

Research conducted by biologists with The Nature Conservancy (TNC), National Audubon Society (NAS) and the University of Montana suggests that sage-grouse populations could decline drastically due to future oil and gas development in sagebrush and grassland ecosystems. ?Given the current distribution of oil and gas leases, population declines between 7 and 19 percent would be above the current estimated population declines of 45 to 80 percent that already have occurred, notes the Wildlife Management Institute.

North America's conservation community readily acknowledges that climate change poses the greatest threat ever to fish and wildlife numbers and diversity and the ability to manage all natural resources effectively.

The first regulated wolf hunting seasons in Montana and Idaho have proceeded, with successful harvest specific quotas being reached in both states, reports the Wildlife Management Institute.