June 2008

After months of negotiations and several extensions of the 2002 legislation, Congress was finally able to craft a 2008 Farm Bill that garnered enough support on Capitol Hill to override the veto issued by the White House. As with most legislation similarly comprehensive, there are good points, and others not so good from a wildlife conservation perspective, according to the Wildlife Management Institute.

Among the more disappointing provisions, and despite intense efforts to include it in a manner that would have effectively protected the nation's remaining prairie land, a...

A new report outlining the potential impacts of climate change on North America's fish and game species has been released by a joint cooperation of nine leading conservation organizations, reports the Wildlife Management Institute.



Funded by the Bipartisan Policy Center in an effort to engage sportsmen and sportswomen in the global warming debate, Seasons' End: Global Warming's Threat to Hunting and Fishing summarizes the predicted impacts of climate change to North America's fresh- and salt-water fish, waterfowl, upland birds, and big game. The report incorporates...

During a June 5 hearing, the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee reviewed the implications of increasing numbers of off-highway vehicle (OHV) users on public land, reports the Wildlife Management Institute. The panel listened to representatives from the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and U.S. Forest Service (USFS) discuss their plans to manage public land use to reduce the impacts of OHVs.

The agencies are in the process of completing travel-management plans to direct OHV use on public land, but the BLM needs another 10 years to complete its plans. In...

Montana was set to offer more than 800 acres of state land along the Rocky Mountain Front for oil and gas leases before pulling the offer at the last minute. The parcels, which included a 520-acre tract on the Blackleaf Wildlife Management Area, were expected to be offered during a June 10 lease sale before being granted a six-month deferral to look for alternatives, according to the Wildlife Management Institute.



The area of northcentral Montana, where the Rocky Mountains meet the Great Plains, is known for its unique landscape and diverse array of wildlife and plants that...

Back in the Early Miocene, when I was pitted against higher education, literature research data were recorded on 3- by 5-inch notecards. The data could be organized topically or chronologically. Rarely was a student in that bleak Manual Typewriter Era able to accomplish arrangement both ways. I wasn't one of those savants. As evidenced by Manly Hardy (1832-1910): The Life and Writing of a Maine Fur-buyer, Hunter and Naturalist, neither was author William B. Krohn.



Manly Hardy (1832-1910) is a strange biography, in part because the man himself was more than...

Progress for implementing the Northern Bobwhite Conservation Initiative (NBCI) continues to build as more states put major quail-restoration campaigns in gear, reports the Wildlife Management Institute.

In May, the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries (VDGIF) launched a rejuvenated bobwhite initiative for the state, with the creation and inauguration of the interagency Virginia Quail Council, paired with a draft "Northern Bobwhite Quail Action Plan for Virginia." This effort is the second-generation quail initiative in Virginia. The trendsetting "Virginia...