October 2020

On October 1, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the America’s Conservation Enhancement (ACE) Act (S. 3051) by voice vote under suspension of the rules. The bill, which passed the Senate on September 16, brings together eight bills introduced in either the House or the Senate or both that reauthorize a number of key conservation programs as well as create new authorization for a chronic wasting disease task force and for national fish habitat partnerships. The bill, led by Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman Senator John Barrasso (R-WY) and Ranking Member Senator Tom Carper (D-DE), had strong support across the conservation community and marks one more success for conservation legislation enacted during the 116th Congress.

The USGS Utah Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit at Utah State University (USU) is partnering with the Ecology Center (USU), the Bureau of Land Management, the Bureau of Reclamation, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, and U.S. Department of Agriculture-National Wildlife Research Center to evaluate the efficacy of beaver translocation for desert river restoration by comparing the fates, space use, and dam building activity of naturally occurring and translocated beavers in the Price and San Rafael Rivers in eastern Utah.