The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s (USFWS) Wildlife and Sportfish Restoration Program, working closely with the shooting sports and archery industry, released a new video in August that spotlights how excise taxes on the equipment they produce has helped restore wildlife across the country. The Enduring Partnerships video is intended to show how the critical relationship forged between industry and fish and wildlife management agencies is the foundation for these conservation successes.

It is estimated that 73 percent of our nation’s land is privately owned and that the majority of our fish and wildlife resources occur on those lands. Approximately 73 million people live, work, and recreate in the Midwest Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (MAFWA) region (U.S. states only), and roughly 93 percent of land area (total land and water area is 506 million acres) is in private ownership. Both agricultural and industrial development have altered most of the land found in the region. The Midwest contains some of the richest farmland in the world and is a national leader in corn and soybean production. It is also a leader in the production of grain-based ethanol and pork. Understanding the dynamics of private landownership, and the uses for these private lands, is essential for planning the region’s conservation future.

The Wildlife Management Institute (WMI) is working with a number of states, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), and automated licensing system providers to improve the Harvest Information Program (HIP). Data gathered from migratory bird hunters through the HIP is used to refine estimates of hunter effort and harvest of ducks, geese, doves, and other migratory birds. These estimates are crucial to setting hunting regulations. State wildlife agencies and the FWS recommended eliminating third-party data entry, typically done by license vendors, to improve the quality of HIP data. With support from a Multi-State Conservation Grant, WMI launched a pilot project in 2019 to modify HIP data entry in several states. WMI project leader, Brad Bortner, recently reported that Louisiana implemented changes to require each migratory bird hunter to enter their own harvest data for the 2020 hunting season. Bortner added that five other states will make similar changes in 2021 and three more are considering joining the effort in 2022. The long-term goal is to have hunters in all 49 states that participate in the HIP enter their own data.

Kansas is the home to a diverse aquatic community. However, many fish have been designated as species in need of conservation because of land use change, water alterations, and other human impacts. The Kansas Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit (Kansas Unit) at Kansas State University is leading research on "big hairy audacious goals" (BHAGs) – tools that create visions of realistic future success that can be incorporated into resource management.