New Studies Assess Eagle Populations and Impacts from Wind Development Two new studies released this month spotlight potential challenges with managing eagle populations in the west, reports the Wildlife Management Institute. The one study focuses on the mortality of bald and golden eagles at wind energy facilities while the other focuses on the overall population of golden eagles in the west. The findings come at a time when the federal government is considering extending eagle take permits from five to 30 years. With the current and anticipated growth of wind farms, coupled with other causes of mortality, the findings of both surveys suggest the need for... Read The Article
New Developments in Efforts to Conserve the Lesser Prairie Chicken The Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies' (WAFWA) has released the 4th Version of its Lesser Prairie-Chicken (LPC) Range-wide Conservation Plan (RWP). The RWP represents a broad stakeholder influenced effort by the state fish and wildlife agencies of Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico Oklahoma and Texas to conserve the LPC with the intent to preclude the need to list the species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). In the event the LPC is listed as "threatened" or "endangered," the WAFWA plan... Read The Article
USDA Releases Review of Impacts from Conservation Efforts in Mississippi River Basin The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) recently released a summary of findings from an evaluation of the effects of conservation practices on cultivated croplands in the Lower Mississippi River basin. The study was conducted through the Conservation Effects Assessment Project (CEAP). The researchers concluded that while voluntary, incentives-based conservation practices do, in fact, reduce sediment, nutrient and pesticide losses from farm fields,... Read The Article
USGS Cooperative Research Unit Corner Alligator Research Efforts Assisting States in Harvest Management The American alligator (Alligator mississippiensis) is found in rivers, lakes, and wetlands of the Gulf and Atlantic coastal plains, from Texas to North Carolina. There is a long history of alligator hunting in this region; however, by 1969 legal harvesting was discontinued in all states after local populations across the species' range dramatically declined and in some cases disappeared. Since then, alligator populations have rebounded due to this restrictive management policy and efforts to conserve wetland habitats in the southeastern U.S. Starting with Louisiana in the 1970s,... Read The Article
