Changes Ahead for 112th Congress The mid-term elections of November 2 coupled with retirements of long-term U.S. House of Representatives and Senate members will bring a very different look to the next Congress, reports the Wildlife Management Institute. According to so-called "casualty lists" assessing the members who lost reelection bids, moved on to different office or retired, more than 20 percent of House members and 17 percent of Senate members will be new faces. This high turnover rate will have implications on natural resource related policy issues for the 112th Congress. Even prior to Election Day, it... Read The Article
Halloween Sees Revisit of Prairie Ghost Just days before Hallow Eve last month, the University Press of Colorado released a new and improved version of the Wildlife Management Institute's award-winning book Prairie Ghost: Pronghorn and Human Interaction in Early America. ?First released in 2004 and recipient of The Wildlife Society's Outstanding Book Award for 2005, Prairie Ghost is new because it now is in soft cover;? it is improved because it costs much less than it did originally. "Despite the thoroughness of their research, which is based on a bibliography of over seven hundred sources, and the... Read The Article
Voters Support Conservation Despite the political sea change that occurred during this month's mid-term elections, voters supported ballot initiatives impacting conservation and hunting and fishing, reports the Wildlife Management Institute. Nationwide, conservation initiatives passed, which will generate more than $2 billion dollars for land conservation and parks. Major statewide initiatives in Oregon, Iowa (see "Iowa Voters Go Proactive for Funding Conservation" in this ONB issue) and Maine won by margins of 20 points or greater. In addition, three states passed a constitutional amendment guaranteeing the right to... Read The Article
75th N.A. Conference Transactions Available The Transactions of the 75th North American Wildlife and Natural Resources Conference is now available in electronic .pdf format from the WMI Store. The volume includes plenary keynote addresses by Steven Williams, Daniel Ashe and Curt Meine. Also included are papers from presentations at the event's four Special Sessions:? Ecosystem Service Markets: Funding Tools for Conservation; Active or Passive Management of Public Lands: Implications to Fish and Wildlife Conservation and Recreation; The Power of... Read The Article
Iowa Voters Go Proactive for Funding Conservation On November 2, Iowa voters easily passed the Water and Land Legacy Amendment, to fund future conservation efforts in the state, according to the Wildlife Management Institute. Sixty-two percent of the voters supported the proposal. By state constitutional amendment, the measure creates the Natural Resources and Outdoor Recreation Trust Fund. Unlike in Minnesota, which passed similar legislation in 2008, funds to implement the Iowa amendment will not be generated immediately. The measure designated that three-eighths of 1 percent of the next increase in Iowa's sales tax must go to... Read The Article
Hunting and Shooting Sports Council Seeks CEO The Board of Directors of the Council to Advance Hunting and the Shooting Sports is actively searching for a Chief Executive Officer (CEO) to coordinate and conduct the select advisory group's business,? reports the Wildlife Management Institute. The Council was established recently to improve funding for state fish and wildlife agencies' efforts to recruit and retain hunters and recreational shooters . It will be comprised of 28 leaders from non-governmental organizations, state agencies, and the hunting and shooting sports industry. The Council's mission is to establish... Read The Article
