Conservation Funding Ducks Administrative Axe Both chambers of Congress passed conference agreement legislation on Fiscal Year 2010 appropriations for the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) that include substantial funding boosts for conservation programs, according to the Wildlife Management Institute. Congress rejected proposals from the Obama administration that would have slashed millions of dollars in funding for USDA conservation programs. Most conservation programs were allocated FY 2010 funds at levels specified in the 2008 Farm Bill. The Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) was one of the exceptions... Read The Article
Grizzly Return to the Endangered Species Act A late September decision in the U.S. District Court in Montana has landed the grizzly bear back on the list of threatened species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), reports the Wildlife Management Institute. Judge Donald Molloy ruled in favor of two claims of the Greater Yellowstone Coalition's lawsuit on September 21, citing the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service's (FWS) failure to consider the impacts of climate change on the bear's food supply and lack of enforcement in the approved conservation strategy. However the judge denied other claims in the suit regarding genetic diversity... Read The Article
Hunting and Fishing Heritage Bills Introduced in Congress Companion bills introduced into the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate in early October are intended to maintain recreational fishing, hunting and shooting on federal public lands and ensure continued opportunities for these activities, reports the Wildlife Management Institute. The Recreational Fishing and Hunting Heritage and Opportunities Act is intended to prevent arbitrary closures of public lands administered by the Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). The bill also formally establishes the Sporting Conservation Council and the Sportfishing and Boating... Read The Article
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Releases National Climate Change Strategy In an effort to address proactively the impacts of climate change on fish, wildlife and plants, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) released a climate change strategic plan on September 23, positioning the issue as the agency's top priority. The plan is intended to allow the FWS to respond more capably to the impacts of climate change on natural resources and to frame how FWS employees will engage within the conservation community on the issue, reports the Wildlife Management Institute. A central premise of the strategy is positioning the agency to work collaboratively through... Read The Article
Worth Reading Raise your hand if you know where the Northeast Kingdom is. I didn't know until a few years ago. Actually, I know where northeastern Vermont is; I just had no idea that it carried that enigmatic title. And I still am not entirely certain why it does. Nor, apparently, is there consensus among Vermonters, including David Mamet, whose book South of the Northeast Kingdom is a series of musings that help define the intellectual and endearingly parochial culture of that portion of the Green Mountain State that doesn't have monarchial aspirations or pretense. Collectively, the... Read The Article
