September 2008

On August 25, Michigan became the 15th state to discover the presence of chronic wasting disease (CWD) within its borders. The Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) identified the disease in a female three-year-old white-tailed deer born and raised on a privately owned cervid (POV) facility in Kent County.



As part of the DNR's rapid implementation of the 2002 Michigan Surveillance and Response Plan for CWD, an immediate and complete quarantine was placed on the nearly 600 POV facilities in Michigan. The quarantine bans the movement or transportation of all privately...

In response to the recent movement documenting the growing disconnect of children and nature, the U.S. House of Representatives is expected to vote on the No Child Left Inside Act of 2008 (H. R. 3036) this month. The bill, introduced by Representative John Sarbanes, extends the National Environmental Education Act through fiscal year 2009 and funds it at $14 million. In addition, the bill authorizes the creation of a national capacity competitive grants program to be administered by the Secretary of Education, for innovative environmental education programs in state and local education...

In late August, U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) Secretary, Dirk Kempthorne, announced changes to the consultation process under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The announcement was made in conjunction with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) that has responsibility over marine resource consultations. The proposed rule seeks to clarify when formal consultation is applicable and to improve the informal consultation process. The DOI claims that the proposed changes are designed to reflect current practices. However, the changes have caused an uproar by groups...

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) recently awarded a grant to implement the Upper Great Lakes Woodcock and Young Forest Initiative. The grant, awarded to the Wildlife Management Institute (WMI), will be administered through the FWS's Webless Migratory Game Bird Program. It provides start-up funding to get the initiative infrastructure assembled and habitat work underway. The initiative itself is aimed at restoring populations of woodcock and other species that depend on early successional forest habitat in the Upper Great Lakes region.



To get the initiative underway,...

Human-made reservoirs typically are managed for a multitude of uses, many of which conflict with fish production. However, they are important to society, especially where natural lakes are few and far between. Next March, during the 74th North American Wildlife and Natural Resources Conference, reservoirs will be the focus of a half-day workshop for registered attendees.

Reservoirs not only support a majority of the nation's freshwater fishing, they also provide water supplies and flood control, and they help confine nonnative fish that block the movement of native species. They...