In an effort to reach its congressionally mandated self-sufficiency of the Valles Caldera Preserve in New Mexico by 2015, managers of the preserve are considering a substantial increase in access fees for about 25 percent of elk tags, according to the Wildlife Management Institute. Currently, bull elk permits are $25 and cow tags are $15. Under the proposal being discussed with the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish, access fees could jump to $5,000 to $7,000.

Two late September actions put gray wolves in the continental United States back on the Endangered Species List, reports the Wildlife Management Institute. On September 23, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) reinstated protections for wolves in the Northern Rockies following the July decision by a federal court to place an injunction on the delisting.

In response to two laws passed by the Colorado state legislature in 2007, the Colorado Oil & Gas Conservation Commission (COGCC) tentatively approved rules aimed at reducing the impacts of energy development on fish and wildlife. House Bills 1298 and 1341 charged the Commission with balancing drilling with wildlife and public health and safety and to include the state Division of Wildlife and Department of Public Health and Environment in its planning.

The October 2-3 White House Conference on North American Wildlife Policy, held in Reno, Nevada, brought about 500 participants to discuss some of the most important issues confronting wildlife conservation and the continent's hunting heritage.

The Northern Bobwhite Conservation Initiative (NBCI) was founded by the Southeastern Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (SEAFWA) and its technical arm, the Southeast Quail Study Group Technical Committee, to restore declining quail populations to 1980 levels. After six successful years as an upstart regional movement, the NBCI is laying a permanent foundation for growth and going rangewide, according to the Wildlife Management Institute.

A recently completed study of the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) and the Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP) has quantified and documented a number of environmental benefits of these two programs in the Prairie Pothole Region of the United States, according to the Wildlife Management Institute.

National Wildlife Refuges along the Gulf of Mexico were hit hard by hurricanes this September, according to the Wildlife Management Institute. The 20-foot storm surge that hit the Texas Coast in front of Hurricane Ike inundated wetlands in the Texas Chenier Plain National Wildlife Refuge Complex with saltwater that killed vegetation and littered the ground with debris.

If David McCullough wrote it, it's worth reading. His books read like front-page news, but with detail, trustworthy accuracy and interior-page sidebars that add scope and clarity to the setting, circumstance and players. It isn't possible not to be drawn into the time and place of his historical investigations. Just try to remain detached from the shock, awe and carnage of The Johnstown Flood (Simon and Schuster 1987).