House Proposes Deep Cuts to Conservation Funding In an effort to meet their goal to cut discretionary spending, the subcommittee in the U.S. House of Representatives that is focused on natural resource spending moved legislation that would completely eliminate or significantly reduce funding for several critical conservation programs, reports the Wildlife Management Institute. The Senate released a draft of their bill in early August that would maintain far better funding levels. However, based on recent history, the subcommittees' efforts are largely political maneuvering since the natural resource funding bill has not been enacted... Read The Article
Progress Stalls Again on Farm Bill Congress is currently in the midst of a five-week recess, leaving many pieces of legislation unfinished including a new Farm Bill, according to the Wildlife Management Institute. In July, the House passed their version of a Farm Bill but could only do so after removing the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) from the bill. Their version of the legislation deals only with farm-related programs. The Senate... Read The Article
CRP Sign-up Enrolls 1.7 Million Acres The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) recently conducted another general sign-up for the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP). Producers applied to enroll 1.9 million acres into the program with 1.7 million of those acres being accepted, according to the Wildlife Management Institute. USDA also announced that so far they have received applications for enrollment of over 370,000 acres in Continuous CRP, which targets priority areas to conserve wetland and grassland habitats. Interest and enrollment in CRP has declined in recent years due to high commodity prices. With this most... Read The Article
USGS Cooperative Research Unit Corner Collaborations to Prevent the Spread of Aquatic Invasive Species Natural resource managers are growing increasingly concerned about the risks of aquatic invasive species affecting native habitat and species communities. Two U.S. Geological Service scientists and several generations of graduate and undergraduate students have been working to provide solutions that help managers reduce the likely transport of aquatic invasive species. Dr. Barnaby Watten of the USGS Leetown Science Center and Dr. Christine Moffitt of the Idaho Cooperative Fish... Read The Article
