November 2016

The Wildlife Management Institute (WMI) recently organized two stakeholder meetings designed to help the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) make a fully-informed decision on the status of the Northern Rocky Mountains (NRM) distinct population segment of fisher. The new approach allowed the Service to supplement their normal process for gathering information to use in making a decision on whether or not a species is warranted for listing under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). During the meetings, participants with different sources of data and different views about data had the opportunity to discuss their information and perspectives. WMI Western Field Representative Chris Smith reported that the discussions were constructive with a great deal of information exchanged. What the long-term outcome will be remains to be seen.

Swimming up the sweeping, curved path of the Yukon River, salmon undertake a 2,000-mile journey home to spawning streams across Alaska and Canada and ultimately passing through the Yukon capital of Whitehorse. Here, in a place joined by the river but separated by political boundaries, a group of monitoring experts met last month to better integrate our understanding of the region, but only after passing the invisible, plumb-straight line separating Alaska from Canada. More than 30 experts in areas of wildfire, vegetation, permafrost, contaminants, and invasive species are trying to figure out how to collect research and monitoring data that can be used across the vast forests, mountains, and glaciers of the boreal forest in Alaska and Canada, regardless of the jurisdictional boundaries.

In an effort to incorporate working lands into the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) recently established a new CRP Grasslands Practice aimed at small-scale livestock grazing operations, according to the Wildlife Management Institute. To qualify, operators with 100 or fewer head of grazing dairy cattle (or the equivalent) can enroll up to 200 acres of grassland per farm.

Colorado State University?s (CSU) Department of Fish, Wildlife and Conservation Biology will hold its annual Wildlife Management Short Course on the campus in Fort Collins, Colorado during the week of March 27 ? 31, 2017. This popular course was developed for laypersons and agency personnel with non-wildlife training. A number of agencies have sent administrators, commissioners, planners, information and environmental education personnel, legislators, and other staff to this course to obtain a broad exposure to wildlife conservation and management issues. Non-profit conservation organizations have also sent staff members.

The Wyoming Migration Initiative is a model for catalyzing science-based conservation and management of wildlife corridors. Founded in 2012 as a project of the Wyoming Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, the initiative collects data needed to effectively conserve migratory wildlife. The Wyoming Migration Initiative also produces risk assessments for managers and stakeholders, and uses multimedia storytelling to promote public understanding of large mammal migrations.