August 2007

Research points a finger towards a bacterium that may be the primary challenge to rebuilding bighorn populations in the West, reports the Wildlife Management Institute. According to a report released in July, Washington State University (WSU) biologists isolated Mycoplasma ovipneumoniae in tissue taken from dying lambs in Hells Canyon, which borders Oregon, Washington and Idaho. It is believed the bacterium increases a sheep's chances of dying from pneumonia?the leading cause of bighorn mortality?by reducing the lung's capacity to fight off the disease.

"This is the first problem...

A full-day workshop on climate change impacts on fish and wildlife is scheduled for Monday, March 24, 2008, leading off the 73rd North American Wildlife and Natural Resources Conference, in Phoenix, Arizona.

Growing concerns about climate change have prompted this gathering of natural resource scientists, managers, researchers and others. The workshop is being designed to address the current state of knowledge of climate-change impacts on fish and wildlife and of projected needs and opportunities to prevent or minimize adverse consequences. All Conference attendees are invited...

A possible solution to an annual, winter problem around Yellowstone National Park may have been resolved through a tentative agreement to allow up to 100 bison to migrate along a private corridor between the northern boundary of the park and the Gallatin National Forest, reports the Wildlife Management Institute.

Yellowstone bison are known to carry brucellosis, a bacterium that can cause abortion of fetuses in livestock populations. Park officials estimate that nearly half of the 3,500 bison that live in the park have tested positive for exposure to the bacteria. In recent years...

Bills intended to improve management on national wildlife refuges have been introduced in Congress, the most promising of which was passed by voice vote in the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Fisheries, Wildlife and Oceans in late July, reports the Wildlife Management Institute.

Introduced in January as the banner issue for the Congressional Wildlife Refuge Caucus, H.R. 767?the Refuge Ecology Protection, Assistance and Immediate Response (REPAIR) Act?would provide grants for state and private efforts to combat invasive species on refuges. Nonnative invasive species, both...