News Center
News From Headquarters
Renew by April 30 and Win a Kindle
Renew your TWS membership by April 30th and you will be entered to win one of three Kindle Fire HD Tablets. Even if you just renewed, you can renew for next year, lock in the current membership rates, and be eligible to win the Kindle. You can renew online at http://wildlife.org/R34KE. Winners will be announced in the May issue of The Wildlifer.
Amazon and The Wildlife Society
Now when you shop on Amazon, click on http://amzn.to/13hWq4C and The Wildlife Society will earn a commission for everything you buy on Amazon at no extra charge to you. This is a great way to help your Society.
Ducks Unlimited Honors TWS Members with Wetland Conservation Achievement Awards
TWS was well represented at the Ducks Unlimited (DU) March 29 award breakfast at the 78th Annual North American Wildlife and Natural Resources Conference in Arlington, Virginia. Two long-time TWS members received one of Ducks Unlimited’s highest honor, the 2013 Wetland Conservation Achievement Award, which recognizes individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the restoration and conservation of North America’s wetlands and waterfowl habitat. New executive director, Byron “Ken” Williams (22-year TWS member), received the award in the Federal Employee category and Dr. James D. Nichols. (42-year TWS member) received the award in the Research/Technical category. Congratulations to both!
Minorities in Agriculture, Natural Resources and Related Sciences Conference (MANRRS)
TWS Diversity Coordinator Courtney Stackhouse attended the MANRRS meeting in Sacramento, CA, on March 21-23, 2013. She participated in the career fair, manning a booth and speaking to students. MANRRS is an opportunity for people of color interested in and studying science (mostly animal-science and various biologies) to get together, share ideas and network. MANRRS is intensely student-oriented, with not only undergraduate and graduate poster sessions and presentations but also a sharp focus on professional development and life skills. This year there were workshops on appropriate workplace behavior, dressing for success, financial management, resume writing, behavioral interview skills, undergraduate to graduate school transition workshops and a career fair.
MANRRS has a commitment to creating a pipeline of qualified people of color interested in working in natural resources. In line with this commitment is the ongoing Jr. MANRRS program which is focused on STEM-oriented high school students. These students have some of their own conference programming but also have access to the life skills and professional development workshops mentioned above as well as the career fair, allowing high school students to comingle among the undergraduate and graduate students. This creates an informal space for students to ask questions of one another and to feel a sense of community, as well as a casual expectation of attending college and clear indication of the potential for success there.
In Memoriam
Ron Sieg, 62, died April 1st, 2013 at Flagstaff Medical Center in Flagstaff, Ariz., following a long battle with cancer. Ron had recently retired after 12 years as Arizona Game and Fish Department Regional Supervisor in Flagstaff.
Old TWS-L Listserv to Close End of April
TWS will shut down the old TWS-L listserv at the end of April. All current listserv subscribers are encouraged to join the new TWS Google Group. The old platform is no longer allowing new subscribers to sign up, nor is it successfully sending messages to all recipients. Google Groups, however, will allow us to better manage communication and membership. Unfortunately, due to platform restrictions, TWS will not be transferring subscribers over to the Google Group; individuals must sign up on their own. If you need help, contact Jeremiah Patterson, TWS Web Producer, at jpatterson@wildlife.org.
Policy News
Federal Employees Can Once More Serve on Society Boards
On March 6th, the Office of Government Ethics (OGE) published a notice regarding a federal criminal statute (18 USC 208(a)) that was interpreted in 1996 as prohibiting federal employees from serving on the boards of outside organizations, even in absence of a conflict of interest.
The 1996 interpretation often prevented federally employed scientists from serving in a leadership role with their scientific or professional societies, reducing opportunities for professional development and potentially making federal service less attractive to highly qualified scientists.
Thanks to a 15-year effort by The Wildlife Society and many other scientific societies, the final rule from OGE will once again allow federal employees to serve as officers, directors, or trustees of nonprofit organizations without fear of violating a federal criminal statute. The Wildlife Society joined the Ornithological Council and other organizations in thanking the Office of Government Ethics, the Office of Personnel Management, and the Office of Science and technology Policy for their roles in seeing this change come to fruition.
Letter Supporting the Public Lands Renewable Energy Development Act
The Wildlife Society, along with several other organizations representing sportsmen and outdoor enthusiasts, sent a letter to Senators Tester (D-MT) and Heller (R-NV), and Representatives Gosar (R-AZ), Heck (R-NV), Polis (D-CO) and Thompson (D-CA) thanking them for introducing the Public Lands Renewable Energy Development Act (S. 279 and H.R. 596).
In particular, the letter praised provisions of the bill that establish a pilot leasing program for wind and solar energy development on public lands and apply a substantial portion of royalty revenue to offsetting impacts to fish and wildlife habitat as essential to balancing development and hunting and fishing opportunities.
Also eligible for use of the funds is securing recreational access to Federal land for the purpose of providing enhanced public access to existing land that is inaccessible or restricted. The Public Lands Renewable Energy Development Act would help wind and solar development move forward on appropriate public lands in a way that sustains the West’s unparalleled wildlife resources and sporting heritage
The Wildlife Society Opposes Amendment Restricting Federal Travel
The Wildlife Society, as well as many other professional associations, successfully urged Senators to oppose a Continuing Resolution (H.R. 933) amendment proposed by Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) that would limit attendance of federal employees at meetings and conferences.
If passed, the amendment would have prohibited the attendance of more than 25 employees from a federal department or agency at any single conference occurring within the U.S. This would have had a hugely detrimental effect on the professional development of federal personnel, on the flow of scientific information to and from federal departments and agencies, and on the viability of meetings held by professional societies, such as TWS’s annual conference.
Sign-on Supporting NAWCA and the Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Act Reathorizations
Each spring, more than four billion birds of over 500 different species make their spectacular migration from their winter habitats in Mexico, Central and South America, and the Caribbean to their breeding grounds throughout North America. These birds face multiple threats, including the continuing loss of habitat on their wintering grounds.
As a result, many of these bird species are experiencing significant population declines making it more important than ever now to support funding and legislation reauthorizing the North American Wetlands Conservation Act (NAWCA) and the Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Act (NMBCA).
The Wildlife Society, together with several sportsmen and conservation organizations, sent a sign-on letter to Chairman Ben Cardin (D-MD) and Ranking Member John Boozman (R-AR) of the Water and Wildlife Subcommittee for the Committee on Environment and Public Works requesting an expeditious reauthorization of the NAWCA and the NMBCA.
The NAWCA grant program awards anywhere from several thousand to one million dollars for wetland restoration projects. These funds are then matched by various partners, including landowners, non-profits, and businesses of all sizes, with an impact on over 26.5 million acres across the continent. This program is particularly important to hunters and anglers because it helps to maintain healthy fish and wildlife populations. Low NAWCA funding levels equates to reduced funding for critical restoration work.
NMBCA is a matching grant program to fund projects that conserve neotropical migratory birds. Funding for NMBCA includes partnership programs to conserve birds in Latin America and the Caribbean, where over 4 billion birds representing over 380 species spend their winters, including some of the most endangered birds in North America. Since fiscal year 2010, this program has already been cut by nearly 25 percent.
Letter to Congress Expressing Concern Regarding Conservation Funding
While recognizing the challenge of reducing the federal deficit in order to protect the long-term fiscal well-being of the nation, The Wildlife Society joined with other sportsman and conservation organizations in expressing concern over further cuts to federal conservation funds. The letter, sent to Speaker Boehner (R-OH), Majority Leader Reid (D-NV), Majority Leader Cantor (R-VA), Minority Leader McConnell (R-KY), and Minority Leader Pelosi (D-CA), pointed to the economic stimulus provided by investments in conservation. The outdoor recreation sector grew by 5% annually between 2005 and 2011, with consumers spending $646 billion on outdoor recreation annually, supporting 6.1 million jobs, and generating more than $80 billion in state and federal taxes.
Additionally, investments in America’s public lands and waters has led to significant progress in improving the quality of our environment, much of which was achieved by leveraging non-federal dollars, making these programs some of the most efficient administered by the federal government.
The letter also drew attention to the decline in federal spending on environment and natural resources programs over the last 20 years. While federal spending on the whole increased by 130% between 1980 and 2009, funding for environment and natural resources programs increased by just 2% during that same time period. Environment and natural resources programs are not major contributors to the federal deficit, yet they have been disproportionately targeted for cuts in the past.
Sign-on Requesting Funds from Energy Development for Conservation
In a letter to Chairman Wyden and Ranking Member Murkowski, The Wildlife Society, together with several sportsmen and conservation organizations, urged the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural resources to design legislation to permanently dedicate funding from energy-derived sources to natural resources conservation.
Using energy-derived funding to sustain renewable natural resources makes sense because all forms of energy development, from traditional to renewable, have unavoidable impacts on fish, wildlife, their habitats, and lands and waters. Investments in natural resources science and management are vitally necessary to avoid, minimize or mitigate those energy development and transmission impacts. The letter suggest that funds from energy development could be directed to existing federal conservation grant programs such as the Land and Water Conservation Fund, the North American Wetlands Conservation Act, and the State and Tribal Wildlife Grants.
New Captive Deer Breeding Resources Available
A growth in for-profit captive breeding and hunting facilities has accompanied the increased commercial demand for deer and their products. To shed light on the associated risks of this trend, such as spread of wildlife disease, domestication of public wildlife resources, and the misconception of fair chase, The Wildlife Society has made new resources available concerning captive deer breeding. Access the material.
News From Student Chapters
University of Alberta Hosts Canadian Student Wildlife Conclave
The second Canadian student conclave of The Wildlife Society was held in Canmore, AB on March 8 and 9, 2013. The University of Alberta Student Chapter of The Wildlife Society was proud to host the conclave which had 52 student attendees from UNBC, Lakeland College, UofA Augustana Campus, UofA North Edmonton Campus, Université Laval, and the University of Manitoba.
On Friday, March 8, the students participated in four field activities in the Canmore area including winter wildlife tracking, a camera trapping demonstration, a nature walk, and a tour of the TransCanada wildlife overpasses. The students thoroughly enjoyed exploring Canmore and participating in the outdoor activities.
On Friday evening, the student quiz bowl was held at the Radisson. Congratulations to Lakeland College for winning the quiz bowl! It was a fantastic evening of wildlife trivia fun.
On Saturday and Sunday, the students attended the AGM. Saturday afternoon the group took a short break for lunch and participated in a wildlife identification activity at the Drake Inn.
The conclave was a great success and the feedback from students was very positive. The UofA student chapter of The Wildlife Society strongly supports the continuation of student conclaves in Canada. These conclaves are held in multiple locations annually in the U.S. but it is often difficult for Canadian chapters to obtain the money to attend. It is also very important to showcase Canada to U.S. student chapters and to encourage their attendance to future Canadian student conclaves. We hope to attend a third Canadian student conclave next year!
NCSU Hosts the Southeastern Wildlife Conclave
The Southeastern Wildlife Conclave, hosted by the North Carolina State University Student Chapter of The Wildlife Society, was held March 7 -10, 2013 at the Hampton Inn Hotel and Conference Center in Southern Pines, NC.
Each year, TWS student chapters host regional conclaves to provide college students with valuable hands-on training in wildlife management and conservation and promote networking opportunities with among students, faculty, and wildlife professionals. This year, NCSU was slated to host the event — the first time since 1995!
Field events occurred at the Camp Millstone 4-H Center. A total of 22 institutions comprised of 350 students from the Southeast competed in a variety of challenging and creative activities. These activities included a 22 team double-elimination quiz bowl and a 23-station team field competition to test physical, intellectual, and artistic skills and talents.
Events included game calling, archery, shotgun, rifle, canoeing, fly-casting, obstacle course, dendrology, orienteering, radio-telemetry, essay, lab practicum, field photography, trail cam photography, digitally enhanced photography, unmanipulated photography, painting, free-form art, and drawing.
Overall winners of the competition were student chapters from the University of Georgia (First Place), the University of Tennessee-Knoxville (Second Place), and Haywood Community College (Third Place). Western Carolina University won the Quiz Bowl and Team Field competition. The NCSU Student Chapter extends its sincere gratitude to all FWCB faculty, external collaborators, and students that helped make this event a great success!
University of Wyoming Hosts the Western Region Wildlife Conclave
The 49th annual Western Region Student Conclave of the Wildlife Society was held in Laramie, Wyoming, on March 15 – 18, 2013. The event was hosted by the University of Wyoming Student Chapter of The Wildlife Society.
Ninety seven wildlife students (and three advisors) from 12 universities and colleges across the western U.S. attended the conference. In addition, 11 University of Wyoming graduate students, seven faculty, four staff, two biologists of the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, and a member of the Wyoming Audubon Society participated in the various activities. Most professional activities (presentations, wild-cache, quizbowl) and several socials were held at the Berry Biodiversity Conservation Center. In addition to the auditorium, teaching lab, and conference room, both the teaching collection and vertebrate museum collection were used.
Conclave activities included field trips, a Wild-cache competition, oral and poster presentations, Animal Behavior Night, Quizbowl, art competitions, student-professional mixers, and awards banquet. Field trips and clinics offered included wildlife necropsy, captive coyote handling, photography, snow tracking, wildlife trapping, and extinct and extant mammals.
The Wild-cache competition consisted of team activities (four to six people) that could be completed within the last two days of conclave. Assignments included estimating infestation and mortality rate of lodgepole pines, identifying the species and sex of harvested ducks from wings, radio-tracking a “missing” animal, aging jawbones of “wolf-killed” ungulate carcasses, determining the number of extinct pronghorn based on fossils and exhibits at the University of Wyoming Geology Museum, connecting the trap with the target species of capture, and documenting wildlife and their signs (tracks, scats, feathers and hair).
The highest score (by one of the teams from Humboldt State University) exceeded 100 species! The winning team of the Wild-cache competition was from New Mexico State University, with a team from Humboldt State University in second place and in third a team from Colorado State University.
Following a welcome address by Tony Mong, the President of the Wyoming State Chapter of the Wildlife Society, four oral and four poster student papers were presented. In addition, Dr. Liz Flaherty presented a talk on “Why undergraduate students should engage in research?” and Dr. Merav Ben-David presented “Outdoor research activities enhance student learning — the case of the least chipmunk.” Ryan Vazquez from Humboldt State University won the best presentation award for his talk “Can exotic mud snails invade low conductivity water?” Daniel Macias from New Mexico State University won the best poster award for “Site occupancy rates for two sympatric snakes.” The animal behavior night provided great entertainment with University of Idaho winning the best skit and the associated traveling award (a boot on fish).
The quiz bowl competition, in the form of a double elimination tournament, followed the National rules and regulations. The Humboldt State University won first place, New Mexico State University came in second and Utah State University third. New Mexico State University received the “Top Performance” award of the conclave.
The University of Wyoming would like to thank its numerous participants and sponsors for making the event a great success!
Trent University Student Chapter Awarded the Club Leadership Award
The Trent University Student Chapter of The Wildlife Society has had a very busy but very successful year. In March, they were selected from over 70 other groups at the university to receive the Trent University Club Leadership Award. Some of the events the Chapter has hosted include a day trip to Presqu’ile Provincial Park for the 37th Annual Waterfowl Viewing Weekend, Trent Student Social Night with the Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR), Species At Risk Act Online Webinar and a TWS Movie Night featuring the Planet Earth series.
They will also be setting up a book shelf in one of the university buildings that will contain research papers from various graduate students studying at Trent. As a new student chapter of The Wildlife Society the members are very excited to grow their membership and activities.
Dallas Safari Club Supports TWS’s Leadership Institute
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Participants in the 2012 Leadership Institute program at TWS’s 2012 Annual Conference in Portland, Oregon. (Credit: Ben Wasserman/TWS)
The Dallas Safari Club (DSC)
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— a nonprofit organization that supports wildlife and habitat conservation, education, and hunter advocacy worldwide — has generously agreed to provide funding to help sustain the Leadership Institute of The Wildlife Society (TWS) through 2013.
Established in 2006, the Leadership Institute provides training for promising young professionals to develop their skills as leaders in wildlife science, policy, and management. Because of its focus on the future, it is a flagship program of TWS which is dedicated to excellence in wildlife stewardship through science and education.
Both TWS and the Dallas Safari Club recognize the need to nurture the next generation of wildlife professionals to ensure that wildlife management and conservation continue to provide the abundant wildlife and healthy habitats that all Americans
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— hunters and non-hunters alike
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— enjoy. “We want to support the next generation of outdoor leaders in a positive way,” said Ben Carter, DSC’s executive director, “just as we want to promote a sustainable-use model of wildlife conservation.”
“We are extremely grateful to the Dallas Safari Club for its generous support of TWS’s Leadership Institute,” said TWS President Winifred Kessler. “This investment is a vivid example of DSC’s commitment to the future of wildlife conservation.”
The DSC funds will help 10 to 15 young professionals from across North America enter TWS’s Leadership Institute and participate in a variety of distance-learning and hands-on projects designed to develop their leadership skills and introduce them to the inner workings of the Society. Their six-month training will culminate in presentations with leaders in wildlife research, management, and education at TWS’s Annual Conference, to be held this year in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in October.
“Given the challenges that wildlife managers face, especially in an era of contracting budgets and managing in the face of climate change, leadership training is more important than ever,” said Laura Bies, TWS’s director of Government Affairs, which manages the Leadership Institute. “This training will help ensure that wildlife professionals have the skills they need to do their jobs in a changing landscape.”
Wildlife News Roundup (April 6-12, 2013)
Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell (Credit: DOI)
Sally Jewell Wins Confirmation as Interior Secretary
(The Washington Post)
By a vote of 87 to 11, the Senate approved Recreational Equipment Inc. cief executive Sally Jewell as the next Interior secretary. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., who chairs the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, told his colleagues that Jewell had demonstrated “the kind of leadership” that could reconcile the competing environmental and energy interests any Interior secretary must manage. More
NEWS FROM NORTH AMERICA
Florida Commission Targets Illegal Dolphin Feeding
(The News Herald)
The dolphin etiquette class held in Panama City Beach, Fla., did not involve porpoises perfecting their table manners. Instead, it addressed a serious issue plaguing the species in the Bay County area. The Panama City area has been branded a “hot spot” for illegal dolphin interaction, and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, in partnership with local businesses, is working to change that. More
President Requests $1.6 Billion in 2014 for U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
(The Chattanoogan)
The president’s fiscal year 2014 discretionary budget request provides $1.6 billion for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, an increase of $76.4 million over the 2012 enacted level, to fund the agency’s high priority needs. The budget also includes approximately $1.2 billion available under permanent appropriations, most of which will be provided directly to states to support fish and wildlife conservation and outdoor recreation. More
Grand Teton Wildlife on the Move During Annual Spring Migration
(Yellowstone Gate)
With the arrival of spring weather, warmer temperatures and the first shoots of green grass, animals are on the move from their winter ranges to their summer haunts in Grand Teton National Park. Herds of elk recently moved off the National Elk Refuge and fanned out across the sagebrush flats, according to a statement released by the Grand Teton public affairs office. More
Washington, D.C., Area Braces for Cicadas’ Return
(The Washington Post)
They’re back. Seventeen years after a major swarm of bug-eyed cicadas staged one of nature’s weirdest — and loudest — mating rituals, their offspring are preparing to rise in Washington’s suburbs and the Mid-Atlantic. Once the ground temperature hits 64 degrees, it’s on. A swarm of cicadas known as Brood II will climb from buried lairs from North Carolina to Connecticut with a very short to-do list: find a mate, make babies and die. More
Merlot vs. Moose: Global Warming Pits Wine Against Wildlife
(MSN)
Merlot or moose? Wine aficionados and wildlife lovers could soon butt heads as global warming forces vineyard owners to look for new, ecologically sensitive areas to grow their succulent grapes. “Climate change is going to move potential wine-producing regions all over the map. These global changes put the squeeze on wildlife and nature’s capacity to sustain human life in some surprising places,” said Lee Hannah, an ecologist with Conservation International. More
How Open-Source Software Could Help Save Endangered Animals from Poachers
(Slate)
No one is going to tell you we’ve been winning the battle against the illegal wildlife trade. In most cases, we’re outmanned, outgunned and, probably most of all, out-spent. That’s why an alliance of six conservation organizations have come together to build an anti-poaching tool designed to bridge the technological gap between poachers and wildlife rangers. “Poaching is becoming a lot more organized and technologically advanced,” said Barney Long, Asian species expert for the World Wildlife Fund. More
WILDLIFE HEALTH AND DISEASE NEWS
Scientists to Investigate Coral Crisis on Kauai’s North Shore
(Hawaii News Now)
Look beneath the surface of Kauai’s north shore and you’ll see what marine biologists are calling an epidemic. Video taken from Anini on Kauai’s northeast coast shows coral covered with white bacteria, which is deteriorating much of the reef. “The disease is a tissue-loss disease,” said USGS Wildlife Disease Specialist Thierry Work. “If you look at these corals, they are losing tissues and we think it’s associated with a cyanobacteria, which is a type of algae that is eating the coral basically.” More
Deadly Bat Fungus will be Tracked Across Canada
(CBC)
Canadian scientists have planned a national response to combat white-nose syndrome, a disease that’s wiped out entire bat colonies across the Maritimes. Environment Canada has offered $300,000 in funding and that will allow the Canadian Cooperative Wildlife Health Centre to hire a central planner, who will coordinate the work of universities, provincial and federal scientists studying the white-nose syndrome. More
Report on 3 in China Who Died from Bird Flu Points to Severity of Strain
(The New York Times)
A report on three of the first patients in China to contract a new strain of bird flu paints a grim portrait of severe pneumonia, septic shock and other complications that damaged the brain, kidney and other organs. All three died. So far, the disease has killed 10 people in China and has sickened more than 20 others in the last two months, and new cases are reported every day. The illness is caused by a virus that patients contract from birds but that does not seem to spread from person to person. More
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
Australia to Face Japan Over Whaling in UN Court
(BBC)
The UN’s International Court of Justice has set dates for public hearings on Australia’s challenge against Japan’s whaling program in Antarctica. The hearings will start in June in The Hague, in the Netherlands, the court said in a statement. Australia took legal action against Japan over whaling in 2010. There has been a ban on commercial whaling for 25 years, but Japan catches about 1,000 whales each year for what it calls research. More
New Bat Genus Earns its Stripes in South Sudan
(New Scientist)
This beautifully patterned bat, with pale yellow spots and stripes on dark black fur, took researchers in the grasslands of South Sudan by surprise. DeeAnn Reeder from Bucknell University was working in Bangangai Game Reserve with the South Sudanese Ministry of Wildlife Conservation and Tourism. One evening, observing bats on rocky grassland next to a stagnant pool, she spotted the unique beauty. “I knew the second I saw it that it was the find of a lifetime,” she says. More
Kaziranga Remains a Success Story, Despite Rising Poaching
(The New York Times)
One challenge facing any visitor to one of India’s tiger parks is actually seeing a tiger. Often, people leave without ever catching a glimpse. For many years, the same problem existed for visitors who came to see the rhinoceroses at the Kaziranga National Park in the northeastern state of Assam. At the low point a century ago, there were only a dozen rhinos in the entire park. But now, when visitors roam the park by jeep or by elephant safari, they can see rhinos almost everywhere. More
Record of Decision for Oil Shale and Tar Sands
(Credit: Bureau of Land Management)
On April 1, 2013 the Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) and Record of Decision (ROD) for the allocation of Oil Shale and Tar Sands resources on Bureau of Land Management (BLM) administered lands in Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming was published in the Federal Register. The decision in the Final ROD amended “10 land use plans making 679,000 acres of lands containing oil shale resources open for application for future leasing and development, and approximately 132,000 acres open for application for future leasing and development of tar sands.” This was an increase from the preferred alternative of 461,965 acres and 91,045 acres, respectively.
The protest period ended December 10, 2012. The BLM stated that it resolved all previous valid protest issues, corrected acreage with “wildlife characteristics” identified in the draft PEIS in Wyoming, re-evaluated some lands designated as Areas of Critical Environmental Concern, and refined management guidelines for greater sage-grouse habitat to reflect additional information provided by state fish and wildlife agencies. In a December 2012 letter, TWS and several sportsman, fishing, and wildlife groups supported the “balanced” decision announced November 9, 2012, but urged Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar to be cautious “in the opening of federal public lands for commercial oil shale and tar sands development.” The letter went on to urge the Department of the Interior to base its commercial leasing decisions on sound science to “protect clean air and water, conserve fish and wildlife, and sustain the economies that depend on those resources.”
Sources: Federal Register (April 1, 2013); BLM (Nov. 9, 2012); BLM (Feb. 3, 2012); 2012 Oil Shale & Tar Sands Programmatic EIS, FAQs; The Wildlife Society Letter to Secretary Salazar (Dec. 10, 2012).
For more information, visit: Bush Administration BLM Draft Plan for Oil Shale Development, Hearing Incites Heated Debate over Pace of Oil Shale Development.
Wildlife News Roundup (March 30-April 5, 2013)
A California sea lion (Zalophus californianus) (Credit: Aaron Logan/LIGHTmatter Photography)
‘Unusual Mortality Event’ is Declared for the California Sea Lion
(Los Angeles Times)
For months, the sea lion pups — not even a year old — have been washing up on Southern California beaches at an alarming rate. They were stranded, severely underweight, bones poking through their slick dark fur. They were clinging to life, many of them with ailments far beyond malnutrition. The strandings, which began spiking in January, have intensified in recent weeks, packing marine mammal centers, perplexing researchers and prompting federal wildlife officials to act. More
NEWS FROM NORTH AMERICA
Salazar to Leave Interior with no Regrets
(The Washington Post)
The walls of Interior Secretary Ken Salazar’s office are nearly bare now: He has packed up his photos and most of his books, so only a few paintings remain. But tucked inside a desk drawer is an artifact from his more than four years in office: a small vial of oil recovered on July 14, 2010, from the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. “I’m not sure if I’ll take it,” Salazar confessed, though he said the federal reforms and restoration funding stemming from the disaster have left the country better off. More
Bill to Restrict Federal Ownership of Wildlife Habitat Advances
(Omaha World-Herald)
The Nebraska Legislature advanced a bill that could make it harder for wildlife groups to give habitat land to the federal government. Lawmakers voted 27-17 to send Legislative Bill 57 to second-round consideration. State Sen. Tyson Larson, sponsor of the bill, first had to rally 34 votes to cut off debate. The bill would require conservation groups that buy land with grants from the Nebraska Environmental Trust to get trust approval before transferring the land to the federal government. More
Coyote Control Program Proves Popular in North Dakota
(The Associated Press via WDAY-TV)
A new state-sponsored program in North Dakota that helps connect landowners plagued by coyotes with hunters and trappers who can eliminate the pesky predators has proven popular, but some conservation groups say it is misguided. The Coyote Catalog online database is a collaborative effort between the state Game and Fish Department and state Agriculture Department, and allows landowners to apply online to receive contact information for hunters and trappers, who also have registered. More
Poaching More Likely in Wake of Cuts, Say Wildlife Advocates
(CBC)
Newfoundland and Labrador’s latest budget will mean fewer conservation officers patrolling woods and streams, advocates warn, noting that poachers will have an easier time after the jobs are cut. NAPE president Carol Furlong said she feared that cuts to wildlife staff will also mean the elimination of a program brought in to protect salmon stocks. “A lot of these people were brought in as part of a program when the former Premier Danny Williams was in office,” Furlong told CBC News. More
Blanding’s Turtles Threatened with Extinction in Ottawa
(Kanata EMC)
A study on the endangered Blanding’s turtles in Ottawa’s South March Highlands has found the species is at risk of local extinction. Current and past developments pose an “immediate threat on the already at-risk animal,” said the report, completed by Dillon Consulting Limited, contracted by the City of Ottawa. The South March Highlands Blanding’s Turtle Conservation Needs Assessment looked at the current population and stressors and concluded the South March Highlands population is “at high risk of decline and eventual extirpation.” More
Nature’s Drone, Pretty and Deadly
(The New York Times)
African lions roar and strut and act the apex carnivore, but they’re lucky to catch 25 percent of the prey they pursue. Great white sharks have 300 slashing teeth and that ominous soundtrack, and still nearly half their hunts fail. Dragonflies, by contrast, look dainty, glittery and fun, like a bubble bath or costume jewelry, and they’re often grouped with butterflies and ladybugs on the very short list of Insects People Like. Yet they are also voracious aerial predators, and new research suggests they may well be the most brutally effective hunters in the animal kingdom. More
WILDLIFE HEALTH AND DISEASE NEWS
Bird Flu Death Toll Rises to Six in China
(The Washington Post)
The death toll from a new strain of bird flu rose to six in China as scientists at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and around the world stepped up efforts to determine its pandemic risk. This is the first time the H7N9 virus has been detected in humans, but there is no evidence that the strain is transmitted from human to human, officials said. At least 14 people in China have been confirmed to have H7N9, all in the eastern part of the country. More
Manatee Death Toll Rises in Florida Even as Toxic Algae Ebbs
(Reuters via Hartford Courant)
A deadly algae bloom that killed a record number of manatees has dissipated, though the death toll for the endangered sea mammals continues to rise, Florida wildlife officials said. Red Tide has killed 241 manatees this year, said Kevin Baxter, spokesman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Research Institute in St. Petersburg, Fla. The figure already surpasses the highest number of Red Tide manatee deaths on record in Florida — 151 in 1996. More
Swan Deaths in Great Lakes Linked to Lower Water Levels
(Waterloo Record)
The deaths of two trumpeter swans of lead poisoning in Canada’s Georgian Bay area this year is raising questions about the environmental impact of decreasing water levels in the Great Lakes. The swans, once feared extinct in Ontario, eat aquatic vegetation in the wild or are fed corn by humans. To help them digest their food, the birds swallow stones and pebbles. But the swans may also swallow fishing weights or lead shotgun pellets, thinking they are stones and pebbles. The ingested lead slowly poisons them until they die. More
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
Study: Big Cats Living in Urbanized Areas in India
(Science World Report)
A recent finding from the Wildlife Conservation Society claims that five large carnivores, including leopards and striped hyenas, are living in a human-dominated landscape, according to a news release. This study was led by WCS-India scientist Vidya Athreaya. It was conducted in Western Maharashtra, India. By using camera traps, researchers noticed that the big cats roamed to human populated-areas and have managed to stay unnoticeable by the public. More
UK Government ‘Acting Too Slowly’ on Marine Conservation
(The Telegraph)
Environmentalists have accused the United Kingdom’s government of being too slow to protect marine wildlife and waterways. They are worried about the rate of progress on the development of a network of marine conservation zones which would safeguard wildlife in waters around the country, the BBC said. A total of 127 areas were nominated for protection following a deal with others who use the sea, such as the fishing and sailing industries. More
Agencies Join Forces to Manage Hellbender Salamanders
Employees with the New York State Department of Transportation place large flat rocks (see close up, below) to enhance hellbender habitat as part of the Eastern Hellbender Habitat restoration project in the Allegheny River Watershed in New York. (Credit: Ken Roblee)
In these fiscally changeling times, funding for species-specific conservation efforts is in short supply. Creative collaborations with transportation departments can be a way to do more with less. For example, the New York State Department of Conservation (NYSDEC) requested the involvement of the New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) and the Buffalo Zoo in a grant to hatch the eggs of hellbenders (Cryptobranchus alleganiensis) — giant salamanders endemic to eastern North America — and rear them to eight-to-nine-inch juveniles for release back into the wild. Hellbenders are listed as a special concern species in New York State; endangered in Maryland, Ohio, and Illinois; and threatened in Alabama. Surveys reveal a decline in hellbender numbers, possibly the result of pollution of their aquatic habitat, damming of rivers and streams, and falling victim to bycatch (New York State Department of Environmental Conservation).
A key component of this hellbender project was to improve habitat for hellbenders by restoring large flat rocks — lost to shoreline stabilization and sedimentation — back into the watershed before hellbenders were released. Hellbenders rely on these flat “cover rocks” for nesting, hunting, and shelter. NYSDOT was responsible for the purchase, delivery, and placement of the rocks. As a result of the team’s efforts, approximately 400 juvenile hellbenders were successfully raised in an aquaculture setting at the Buffalo Zoo. To date, 146 of them have been released into the Allegheny River Watershed, with the rest to be tagged and released this summer. This type of forward thinking and collaborative effort between NYSDEC and NYSDOT should bring back the hellbender population and create breeding sites for the rare salamander for years to come.
Author Bio: Sarah Piecuch, CWB, is an Environmental Specialist with the New York State Department of Transportation.
Watch a video of a hellbender swimming in the Allegheny River Watershed.
How a Transportation Biologist Protects Wildlife
Paul Wagner, a transportation biologist with the Washington State Department of Transportation, has been with the department for more than 20 years. He manages the biology branch, which involves assessing natural resources in an area that’s about to undergo a transportation project, determining how a project might impact protected species in an area, and designing projects to minimize some of those impacts.
For instance, one of the department’s major initiatives is the rebuilding of Interstate 90 as it goes through the Cascade Mountains in a place called Snoqualmie Pass. “I’ve been involved in thinking about how do we do that project in ways that help to maintain ecological connectivity,” Wagner says. The department has also incorporated wildlife-crossing structures into the design of the project, working extensively with natural resource agencies, the forest service, and non-profit environmental organizations interested in promoting habitat protection.
For Wagner, there’s no such thing as a typical day. His tasks range from addressing questions related to individual projects to coordinating with outside agencies to identify and plan upcoming endeavors. “In my office, we also work with a lot of developments of guidance and policy for the department,” Wagner says. His team is currently reviewing various bills within the state legislature to see how they might affect the department. “[We’re] weighing in on some of those as they might relate to environmental issues for the department,” Wagner says.
Wagner also participates in the International Conference of Ecology and Transportation — a biennial conference that began roughly 15 years ago. According to Wagner, the conference offers a platform for people, mostly from North America, to discuss and understand the ecological effects of transportation projects on natural resources and determine ways to plan for and mitigate some of these effects in an environmentally responsible way. The next conference will be in June in Scottsdale, Arizona.
Developments Along the Way
Over the years, Wagner has found that the field of transportation biology has grown. “It’s something that’s really … become a discipline of applied ecology and come into being just in the last few years,” Wagner says. A number of factors account for that growth. “In part, the regulatory context to do transportation planning has become more complex,” Wagner says. “Our whole approach to habitat management has become more sophisticated in understanding our cultural impacts in ways we haven’t really articulated before.” Today, there are programs of study on road ecology that never existed before, making this a good time for aspiring wildlifers to consider transportation biology as a career. As Wagner says, “If people are looking for places where there might be opportunities in the field — especially for applied things — this is probably an area where there’s going to be continued growth.”
Author Bio: Divya Abhat is Managing Editor of The Wildlife Professional.
Invasive Species Control Programs Underway on South Georgia Island
Reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) (Credit: NPS)
South Georgia Island is a British Territory in the southern Atlantic Ocean near Antarctica. The island has no permanent inhabitants and is currently occupied only by researchers and government officials. Similar to many island ecosystems, introduced species have led to a decline in the native bird populations of South Georgia Island, such as the South Georgia pipet and pintail. Invasive species control programs are currently underway to eradicate both reindeer and rats from the island in an effort to help bird populations rebound.
A small herd of 10 reindeer were introduced to the island in 1911 by Norwegian whalers as a source of fresh meat. The population has since burgeoned to an estimated 5,000. Reindeer threaten native bird populations through overgrazing, trampling nests, and increasing the rate of soil erosion. Last month, in an effort overseen by the Norwegian Nature Inspectorate and carried out by Sami herdsmen of Norway, 3,500 reindeer were successfully culled. Meat from the culled reindeer will be sold on the Falkland Islands to help offset the cost ($756,600) to carry out the cull. The remaining 1,500 reindeer are scheduled to be culled in 2014.
Rats were introduced to South Georgia Island during the 18th and 19th centuries by sealing and whaling vessels. In the absence of natural predators, the rat population quickly grew and threatens bird populations by consuming both the eggs and chicks of nesting seabirds. Due to the success of a 2011 pilot program, a 4-month long eradication program began in February targeting a 220-square-mile area by air-dropping poison pellets. The effort is being led by Professor Tony Martin of the University of Dundee in Scotland and includes a team of 25 scientists. It is hoped that both of these eradication programs can serve as models for other islands faced with controlling invasive species.
Sources: BBC News (November 29, 2012), BBC News (January 9, 2013), Reuters (March 18, 2013), Greenwire (March 19, 2013).
Two Agencies Unite in Efforts to Save Sea Turtles
U.S. Fish and Wildlife staff and interns check sea turtle nests as part of a relocation project on Alabama’s Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge. (Credit: Bonnie Strawser/USFWS)
When it comes to protecting species listed under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), the responsibility is fairly clear-cut: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) primarily manages species found on land while the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS, or NOAA Fisheries) manages marine species. However, the line blurs when it comes to protecting species that split their time between land and sea.
Consider the sea turtle: Six of the seven sea turtle species worldwide are listed under the ESA as threatened or endangered, with all of those species found in U.S. waters. Because sea turtles live in the marine environment but nest on shore, FWS and NOAA Fisheries jointly manage and protect them, using both internal and external research to develop conservation and recovery actions for each species. Further, the two agencies work together to designate critical habitat areas and develop ESA Recovery Plans to guide conservation and recovery. Each agency also has a designated sea turtle coordinator to help implement recovery and conservation efforts both nationally and internationally.
“One of the key areas of work [within the] National Marine Fisheries Service focuses on understanding and reducing the bycatch of turtles in commercial fishing activities,” says Barbara Schroeder, National Sea Turtle Coordinator for NOAA Fisheries. Biologists working in NOAA Fisheries Science Centers and Regions in both the Atlantic and Pacific focus on gathering information on sea turtle populations, their life history and ecology, the threats they face in the marine environment, and solutions for reducing those threats. Chief among these efforts has been the development and implementation of turtle excluder devices (TEDs) — special devices that allow a sea turtle to escape from a fishing net. (Read about the success of TED devices in “A Sea Change for Survival” by William Robert Irvin, The Wildlife Professional, Spring 2013.)
International Management Efforts
FWS and NOAA Fisheries collaborate closely to implement conservation actions and recovery activities to protect and recover these vulnerable species, both in the United States and internationally. For example, the two agencies recently worked with the Mexican government to develop the 2011 Bi-National Recovery Plan for Kemp’s ridley sea turtles. Today, both NOAA Fisheries and FWS monitor the threats facing the species and implement management measures, such as providing assistance on nesting beaches in Rancho Nuevo, Mexico (where the majority of Kemp’s ridley nesting occurs) and monitoring threats from fisheries near nesting beaches. “We are all working toward the same recovery goals for these imperiled species,” Schroeder says. “We work very closely together to try to maximize the potential for recovery.”
On an even broader international scale, there are several different treaties and agreements between the United States and other countries to conserve and protect sea turtles. For example, the Inter-American Convention for the Protection and Conservation of Sea Turtles—an intergovernmental treaty that helps inform turtle conservation—provides protection for six species of sea turtle in the Americas and the Caribbean. To date, 15 nations have signed on to the Convention. “One of the things about turtles is that they do not recognize international boundaries, they migrate long-distances, and may spend different parts of their life in habitats under the jurisdiction of many countries over their lifetimes,” Schroeder says. “It takes a collaborative and concerted effort to recover and conserve these species, both here in the United States and beyond our borders as well.”
Author Bio: Kristen Kortick is the Editorial Intern for The Wildlife Professional.
Capitol Hill Briefing on Neonicotinoids, Birds, and Bees
Imidacloprid structure overlaying honeycomb of the Western honey bees (Credit: Williamseanohlinger/Wikimedia, and Waugsberg/Wikimedia)
On Tuesday, March 19, Congressional staff, members of the press, and the public attended a briefing about the toxic effects of neonicotinoid pesticides (NNI) and their impact on birds, bees, and other wildlife. The briefing occurred just days after the European Commission opted not to ban three of the NNIs (clothianidin, imidacloprid, and thiametoxam). NNIs are a class of systemic neuronal insecticides, related to nicotine, which were initially introduced to replace highly toxic organophosphates.
Toxicologist Pierre Mineau, an emeritus scientist with Environment Canada, presented the results from his meta-analysis on the toxicity of NNIs (acetamiprid, imidacloprid, thiacloprid, clothianidin, and thiamethoxam) to birds. His results served as the basis of the American Bird Conservancy’s report on Neonicotinoid Insecticides and Birds. The largest concern in the report was the acute, chronic, and reproductive toxicity of treated seed ingested by birds.
Following Mineau’s presentation, Scott Hoffman Black of the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation and member of the IUCN Butterfly Specialist Group, and Steve Ellis, commercial beekeeper with Old Mill Honey Company, further discussed the devastating impact of these insecticides on non-target invertebrate populations. Ellis described how the complex issue of colony collapse disorder (CCD) has impacted his business, and the broader agriculture industry in California. He stated that this year there has been over 30 percent bee mortality, and while Old Mill has 2,300 hives, the current collapse precluded them from being able to fully pollinate the California almond crop (which requires 1.5 million bee hives for just over 800,000 acres of almond trees, or 2 hives/acre). It is estimated that there are more than 200 million acres of treated NNI land in the U.S. In 2009, California began a reevaluation of 50 registrants containing imidacloprid, clothianidin, dinotefuran, and thiamethoxam within 282 pesticide products.
Peter Jenkins, a consulting attorney for the Center for Food Safety (CFS), followed up by giving an overview of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) and conditional registration of NNIs. The EPA may conditionally register a pesticide containing an active ingredient not in any currently registered product for a period deemed reasonably sufficient for the generation and submission of data necessary for registration under FIFRA, as was the case with NNIs. NNI insecticides were given conditional registration between the late 1990s and early 2000s. According to Jenkins, the EPA plans to complete their review of these pesticides by 2018. CFS and commercial bee keepers feel that this will be too late to recover from the adverse effects they are currently documenting. CFS suggests that Congress act now to suspend the registration of NNIs until all data can be thoroughly analyzed.
In addition to the CFS recommendation, the panel further recommended a ban on the practice of treating corn seed with NNIs and an amendment to the “conditional approval process” so that safety reviews must be conducted within one year. The panel also noted the need to develop methodologies to diagnose die-offs of birds, bees, and other genera from these NNIs, (as some can have delayed effects) and the need for improved or mandated communications between the EPA and USDA concerning approval of insecticides on pollinators, so that the best science is utilized during the approval process.
Sources: California Department of Pesticide Regulation: Neonicotinoids, California Department of Pesticide Regulation Notice of initiation of Neonicotinoid reevaluation, Colony Collapse Disorder: European Bans on Neonicotinoid Pesticides, IUCN taskforce on Systemic Pesticides, Neonicotinoid Insecticides and Birds, The Guardian (March 15, 2013).
For more information, visit:
Wildlife News Roundup (March 23-29, 2013)
President Barack Obama. (Credit: Pete Souza/The White House)
Obama Administration Releases Plan to Protect Wildlife from Climate Change
(Science Recorder)
The Obama administration has released a seven-step plan designed to protect wildlife from climate change. The initiative, called the National Fish, Wildlife and Plants Climate Adaptation Strategy, issues recommendations to all agencies of government at every level to take specific steps within the next five years. More
NEWS FROM NORTH AMERICA
Panel Considers Indiana Fenced Deer Hunting Sites
(The Associated Press via San Francisco Chronicle)
Several private game preserves where hunters pay for a chance to shoot deer kept inside high fences would be legalized under a proposal being considered by state legislators. Owners of the preserves and some outdoorsmen organizations disagree on whether hunting the farm-raised deer should be allowed. More
Asian Carp May be Back in Lake Erie, Scientists Fear
(Toronto Star)
Is the dreaded Asian carp swimming in Lake Erie again? It’s a mystery as big as the lake. The question terrifies several agencies in the U.S. and Canada, but one scientist says there is a strong likelihood it is back. “We have evidence that suggests the most likely explanation [about] how its environmental DNA got there [in Lake Erie] is because of the presence of live Asian carp,” said David Lodge, director of Notre Dame University’s Environmental Change Initiative. More
New Report Identifies Conservation Hotspots for Greater Sage-grouse
(The Chattanoogan)
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has released a new report detailing what it will take to conserve the imperiled Greater Sage-Grouse. The report maps out the most important areas for the conservation of the declining species, which in 2015 may be added to the list of threatened species under the Endangered Species Act. More
Another Round of Cuts Planned for Fisheries and Oceans Canada
(Victoria Times Colonist)
Canada’s Harper government took another axe to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans in its new budget, chopping roughly $100 million over three years starting in 2015-16. DFO was one of the main targets of the latest cuts, even though the fisheries department has already faced several previous rounds, including a one-third reduction in habitat-management staff in British Columbia and across Canada in 2012. More
Wolf Hybridization Concerns Federal Wildlife Managers
(Santa Fe New Mexican)
Federal wildlife managers have been working to return the endangered Mexican gray wolf to the American Southwest for the past 15 years. Every now and then, there’s a genetic hiccup. It happens when a wolf breeds with a domestic dog and produces a litter of hybridized pups. Just last month, an animal that looked like a wolf was spotted near the Arizona-New Mexico border, so experts with the wolf management team had to investigate. More
Canadian Raptors Push South in Search of Food
(River Towns)
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources reports three species of owls have been pushed south from Canada into this state this winter. A crash in rodent populations may be the cause. The northern hawk, the great gray and the boreal owls are normally rare sights in Wisconsin. The drop in rodent numbers in Canadian forests has forced them to move. More
NYC Aquarium Rebounds, Rebuilds After Sandy
(The Associated Press via Fresno Bee)
The New York Aquarium has cherished its big-city setting by the sea for half a century. But the ocean that is the aquarium’s lifeblood dealt it a shattering blow last fall. Superstorm Sandy’s surge overran carefully calibrated tanks with oily, debris-filled water, knocked out even backup power to all the exhibits and made it impossible to check on some of them for days. More
Why Illinois is Roaring Mad about Lion Meat
(NPR)
When we heard a few weeks ago that Illinois was considering banning lion meat, our first thought was, who’s eating lion meat? And why Illinois? Turns out, lion meat has been gaining traction among adventurous foodies who argue that the meat can be an ethical alternative to factory-farmed animals — if the meat comes from American-raised circus and zoo animals that were sent to the slaughterhouse in their old age. More
WILDLIFE HEALTH AND DISEASE NEWS
Mystery Malady Kills More Bees, Heightening Worry on Farms
(The New York Times)
A mysterious malady that has been killing honeybees en masse for several years appears to have expanded drastically in the last year, commercial beekeepers say, wiping out 40 percent or even 50 percent of the hives needed to pollinate many of the nation’s fruits and vegetables. A conclusive explanation so far has escaped scientists studying the ailment, colony collapse disorder, since it first surfaced around 2005. More
Manatee, Pelican Deaths in Florida County Still a Mystery
(Florida Today)
The manatees are full of macroalgae; the pelicans packed with parasites. Both continue to die in growing numbers in Florida’s Brevard County, with potential answers still weeks away. “We’re at 80 right now,” Kevin Baxter, a spokesman with the Fish and Wildlife Research Institute, said of the manatees that have mysteriously died in Brevard since July. That includes 25 carcasses found between March 10 and March 21 alone, Baxter said. More
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
Will Madagascar’s Wildlife Survive the Locust Plague?
(Wildlife News)
Madagascar is in the midst of the worst locust infestation for 60 years. Over half the island is affected and farmers who remember the last plague have given up farming as they know what is about to come. The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization estimate that 60 percent of the country’s residents will be hit with food shortages and hunger as the infestation takes hold. More
Conservation Efforts Pay Off, Rhinos Thrive in West Bengal, India
(The Hindu)
The rhinoceros population in the Jaldapara National Park in West Bengal, India’s Jalpaiguri district has increased to 186 — a rise of about 25 percent — since 2011, when census was last conducted, senior forest officials said. Chief Wildlife Warden of the State S.B. Mondal told The Hindu that a census by the Forest Department over the past two months revealed that the number of rhinoceros in the national park had increased by 37. More
The Wildlife Society’s Executive Director Wins Conservation Award
TWS Executive Director Byron “Ken” Williams. (Credit: Courtesy of Ken Williams)
The Wildlife Society’s new executive director, Byron “Ken” Williams, received one of Ducks Unlimited’s (DU) highest honors Friday, March 29, at the 78th annual North American Wildlife and Natural Resources Conference in Arlington, Virginia. Williams was honored with the 2013 Wetland Conservation Achievement Award, which recognizes individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the restoration and conservation of North America’s wetlands and waterfowl habitat. “Dr. Williams has had a positive and long-lasting impact on the waterfowl management community,” DU reports, “and has always been a staunch advocate for our continent’s valuable wetlands.”
Williams, who began his career with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and then served at the U.S. Geological Survey before retiring from federal service in February 2013, won the prestigious award in the “senior federal official” category. It recognizes Williams for his more than 30-year career advocating for science-based decision making in natural resources management — both in the field and in policy development. This focus on science is a fundamental goal of both DU and The Wildlife Society.
Each year since 1992, DU has granted its top honor to individuals in six categories: a senior federal official, a federal employee, a state or provincial agency employee, a conservation group employee or private citizen, a research or technical expert, and a person from the communications field. In addition to Williams, this year’s winners include Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), chair of the Senate Agricultural Committee, for her pivotal role in promoting the 2012 Farm Bill, which called for long-term conservation of wetlands and waterfowl habitat. “DU is honored to recognize their work and hopes their achievements inspire others to follow suit,” said Paul Schmidt, DU’s chief conservation officer.
Release of the National Fish, Wildlife, and Plants Climate Adaptation Strategy
On Tuesday, March 26, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and The New York Division of Fish, Wildlife, and Marine Resources, along with a diverse team of state agencies and tribal technical experts (through an MOU with the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies), released a report describing the federal government’s strategy and implementation plans for proactively dealing with the impacts to species and habitats by climate change. This report provides for habitat conservation and management planning and activities undertaken by government agencies and private landowners to have unified guidance to protect ecosystem function and to reduce climate change stressors. The report also describes five other strategic goals to help communities become more resilient in the face of impacts from a changing climate.
The team executed the report under the direction of legislation and conference recommendations set forth in 2009 and 2010. The work represents a compilation of the best science surrounding impacts, current resiliency, and conservation efforts; it also outlines successful inter-agency and partnership cooperation, which will be imperative in implementing these strategies.
The goal of the strategy is to aid natural resource professionals and decision makers to take “sensible actions…now, as well as [provide] guidance on climate adaptation measures to safeguard natural resources against future climate change impacts.”
Ken Williams, executive director of The Wildlife Society, had this to say about the strategy: “With the release of the U.S. National Fish, Wildlife, and Plants Climate Adaptation Strategy, wildlife professionals have a framework and collection of useful approaches as they adapt their wildlife management and conservation strategies to a changing climate. The ability to proactively plan for climate change in managing our nation’s fish, wildlife, and habitat is crucial; this strategy makes that more possible than ever before.”
More Information may be found at: www.wildlifeadaptationstrategy.gov, Legislative Language for Adaptation Strategy, New Strategy Factsheet.
Wildlife News Roundup (March 16-22, 2013)
(Credit: Joadl/Wikimedia Commons)
Sequestration Slashes Money from Wildlife Funds
(Billings Gazette)
About $44 million in federal grant money will be cut to states for fish and wildlife programs because of sequestration-related reductions, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced. It is unclear what will happen to the sequestered money, the Congressional Research Service said. It may become available in later years. More
NEWS FROM NORTH AMERICA
Manatee Deaths Confuse Scientists
(The Independent Florida Alligator)
A rash of mysterious manatee deaths in Florida’s Brevard County and surrounding areas have baffled scientists. More than 50 manatees have been found dead, showing signs of shock and drowning, said Kevin Baxter, spokesman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. At least 25 of those deaths have occurred since early February. The commission has done a number of tests on the affected manatees for known marine toxins, but the results have come back negative. More
Northern Gateway Pipeline Federal Review Hearings to Resume
(Global News via The Canadian Press)
Canadian federal review hearings into the proposed Northern Gateway pipeline are set to resume this week in Prince Rupert, to hear more on the company’s efforts to engage Aboriginals and consult the public. Aboriginal engagement has been one of the greatest hurdles for the $6 billion dollar project. Northern Gateway project leader Janet Holder testified that it’s been a challenge to incorporate the many interests at stake — and it may be impossible to address them all. More
Marine Mammal Center Cares for Increasing Number of Elephant Seal Pups Stranded on Local Beaches
(San Jose Mercury News)
The number of sick elephant seal pups coming to the Marine Mammal Center in California’s Marin Headlands is picking up as the youngsters are turning up malnourished on beaches. On Wednesday, eight of the pups were being treated at the center. As of Monday, the number had jumped to 16 — including two found at Stinson Beach — and more are expected in the coming weeks. More
Toronto Councillor Wants Ban on Feeding Coyotes
(CBC)
A Toronto city councillor says the city needs a new policy on how to deal with coyotes. Coun. Glenn De Baeremaeker says that policy should be not to shoot, trap or poison coyotes. “Coyotes are not going to steal your baby. They’re not going to assault you. They’re not going to chase you down the street,” he said. Last month, Toronto police shot and killed a coyote and De Baeremaeker says he’s heard from residents who want to do the same. More
License Plate Fees Cause Change in Wildlife Money
(The Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
Money gleaned from auto tag fees to fund Georgia wildlife conservation programs are drying up. When the special tag program started, almost all the extra fees motorists pay for wildlife tags and other special license plates went to the programs the tags supported. But three years ago, lawmakers hiked the fees and began diverting most of the money into the general fund. More
Why We’re Giving Bald Eagles Onboard GPS
(LiveScience)
Beginning in the summer of 2007, the Center for Conservation Biology began deploying satellite transmitters with onboard GPS receivers on bald eagles within the Chesapeake Bay region. Most of those transmitters were deployed as part of a large Department of Defense study. The DOD is interested in the birds because military bases often provide great cover for eagles. More
WILDLIFE HEALTH AND DISEASE NEWS
Chronic Infections of West Nile Virus Detected in California Dead Birds
(Vector-Borne and Zoonotic Diseases)
During 2010 and 2011, 933 recently deceased birds, submitted as part of the dead bird surveillance program, tested positive for West Nile virus RNA at necropsy. The relative amount of RNA measured by qRT-PCR cycles ranged from 8.2 to 37.0 cycle threshold (Ct) and formed a bimodal frequency distribution, with maxima at 20 and 36 Ct and minima at 28–30 Ct. More
DNA Tools Help Scientists Trace Salmon Disease Back to the Source
(Vancouver Sun)
British Columbia fishery scientists are developing a new generation of genetic tools to find diseases that are undermining the health of wild Pacific salmon and track them back to their source. More than 90 percent of juvenile salmon that migrate from fresh water to live as adults in the ocean die before they return to spawn, according to the researchers. More
Skunk Bites Man; First Cases of Animal Rabies in Bismarck, ND, in 30 Years
(KFYR-TV)
You don`t expect to start your work day getting attacked by a skunk, but that’s what happened to a construction crew. They ran afoul of a skunk, and it wasn’t just the smell that was offensive. It’s the latest in a recent string of rabies found in Bismarck, N.D. “We started going in there, and my boss came running out and I poke my head in, and the skunk started running towards him. And then another guy came in and had a hammer and threw it at the skunk,” says Michael Bruning. More
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
Scientists Discover New Crocodile Newt in Vietnam
(Mongabay)
Researchers have discovered a new species of Vietnamese salamander that looks like it was birthed from an abyssal volcano. Found tucked away in Tokyo’s National Museum of Nature and Science, the scientists described the species in the new edition of Current Herpetology. Coal-black with orange-tinted toes, the new crocodile newt was determined to be a new species when it showed morphological and genetic differences from near relatives. More
Zimbabwe Ivory Ban Maintained
(allAfrica)
A bid by the Zimbabwe National Parks and Wildlife Management Authority to raise $8 million from ivory sales has hit a brick wall after the just-ended Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species conference maintained a ban in the trade on ivory. The authority lobbied parliament toward the end of last year for government to pressure CITES to lift the ban on the trade of ivory. More
Opinion: Saving Lions by Killing Them
(The New York Times)
Odd as it may sound, American trophy hunters play a critical role in protecting wildlife in Tanzania. The millions of dollars that hunters spend to go on safari there each year help finance the game reserves, wildlife management areas and conservation efforts in our rapidly growing country. This is why we are alarmed that the United States Fish and Wildlife Service is considering listing the African lion as endangered. More
Policy News Update – Sally Jewell passes first hurdle
Official White House Photo by Pete Souza
Sally Jewell has passed the first hurdle to becoming the next Secretary of the Interior. She was approved by the Senate Energy and Natural Resource Committee last week (in a vote 19-3). She still has to be approved by the full Senate.
Senior Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski had been in opposition to Jewell’s confirmation, but now supports it, following a decision by Secretary Salazar to postpone a final decision and pursue additional consultation and public meetings concerning the construction of a road through Izembek National Wildlife Refuge. Mrs. Jewell’s confirmation may still face obstacles concerning other issues such as the listing of the sage grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus).
Sources:
DOI Press Release (March 21, 2013), New York Times (March 21, 2013), San Francisco Gate (March 21, 2013), Secretary Salazar Memo (March 21, 2013), U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources (March 21, 2013).
Other links
Sally Jewell, CEO of outdoor Retailer REI nomiated for Interior Secretary
Policy News Update – Sally Jewell Confirmation Hearing
Natural Resources Bills in the 113th Congress
“Just a Bill” Schoolhouse rock educational film (screenshot by NPR.org)
While the focus on Capitol Hill has been budget woes and sequestration worries, there have still been well over a hundred bills introduced in the 113th Congress pertaining to public lands, natural resources, conservation and wildlife. Some of these include:
H.R. 996 Invasive Fish and Wildlife Prevention Act of 2013. Similar to H.R. 5864 and S. 3606 (both introduced in the 112th Congress), this bill updates the Lacey Act to strengthen the US Fish and Wildlife Service ‘s (FWS) ability to assess and designate a species as ‘injurious’, as well as their ability to limit the importation or transport of these species.
S. 338 Land and Water Conservation Authorization and Funding Act of 2013. This bill would make the financial authorization of this fund permanent and dedicate at least 1.5 percent of the fund for recreational (hunting, fishing and other recreational activities) access to existing federal lands.
H.R. 657 / S. 258 Grazing Improvement Act of 2013. This bill would amend the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 to: (1) double grazing permit and lease lengths from 10 to 20 years, (2) allows shorter leases where the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) has not been completed, (3) includes new directions for reissuance and renewal of issued permits, and (4) makes NEPA inapplicable to crossing and trailing authorizations for domestic livestock.
H.R. 349Preserving Marginal Lands and Protecting Farming Act. Proposing to amend the Food Security Act of 1985, this bill would: (1) limit the amount of land that may be enrolled in the conservation reserve program (CRP) for FY2013-2018; (2) prohibit enrollment of class I and II land, and (3) allow the Secretary of Agriculture to permit terminations of CRP contracts (which have been in effect for at least five years), during FY 2014.
H.R. 1080 To amend the Sikes Act to promote the use of cooperative agreements under such an Act for land management related to Department of Defense readiness activities and to amend title 10, United States Code, to facilitate inter-agency cooperation in conservation programs to avoid or reduce adverse impacts on military readiness activities. This bill would allow The Department of Defense (which manages some 30 million acres of land in the United States, where more than 300 federally listed species live) to extend a program reducing restrictions on training by finding and restoring habitat off base.
H.R. 263 / S. 51 National Fish and Wildlife Foundation Reauthorization Act of 2013 (Re-Introduction of S. 1494 (from the 112thCongress). This bill reauthorizes the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation Establishment Act (the Act) for appropriations for FY2014-2019. It would revise the Act to increase director board from 23 to 28, while removing their appointment limitations. It would also authorize the foundation to assess, collect, use and match fees and contributions and allow the foundation to receive and administer restitution and community service payments, mitigation etc. for further fish and wildlife conservation efforts.
S. 340 Southeast Alaska Native Land Entitlement Finalization and Jobs Protection Act. (Re-introduced) Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s revised (AK-R) bill would convey approximately 70,000 acres of federal lands that are generally depicted as “Sealaska Selections” land, land entitlement under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) of 1971 to “Sealaska” or Southeast Alaska’s Sealaska Native Regional Corp. This bill (and its previous iterations) has been controversial among non-profit groups, Alaskan communities and other various stakeholders.
S. 231 Multinational Species Conservation Funds Semipostal Stamp Reauthorization Act (Re-introduction of S. 3208 (112th)) This bill would amend the Multinational Species Conservation Funds Semipostal Stamp Act of 2010 to require such stamp to be made available to the public for an additional four years. Proceeds raised through sales are transferred to FWS to be equally divided among: African Elephant Conservation Fund, the Asian Elephant Conservation Fund, the Great Ape Conservation Fund, the Marine Turtle Conservation Fund, the Rhinoceros and Tiger Conservation Fund, and other international wildlife conservation funds authorized by Congress.
S. 368 A bill to reauthorize the Federal Land Transaction Facilitation Act (FLTA) (AKA Baca Act) through 2021. FLTFA directs the revenues generated from the sale or disposal of certain public lands to an account that can be used by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), the U.S. Forest Service, the National Park Service, and the FWS to purchase lands located within federally designated areas from willing sellers.
H.R. 39 Multinational Species Conservation Funds This bill would reauthorize the Acts that provide grant funding through the African Elephant Conservation Fund, Asian Elephant Conservation Fund, and the Rhinoceros and Tiger Conservation Fund .
Federal Employees Can Once More Serve on Society Boards
Wildlife professionals mingle between sessions at The Wildlife Society’s 2012 annual conference in Portland, OR. (Credit: TWS)
On March 6th, the Office of Government Ethics (OGE) published a notice regarding a federal criminal statute (18 USC 208(a)) that was interpreted in 1996 as prohibiting federal employees from serving on the boards of outside organizations, even in absence of a conflict of interest.
The 1996 interpretation prevented federally employed scientists from serving in an official capacity with their associated scientific societies, reducing opportunities for professional development and potentially making federal service less attractive to highly qualified scientists.
Thanks to a 15-year effort by The Wildlife Society and many other scientific societies, the final rule from OGE this month will once again allow federal employees to serve as officers, directors, or trustees of nonprofit organizations without fear of violating a federal criminal statute. To read The Wildlife Society’s full coverage on the OGE rule, please read the weekly news article “Federal Employees Free to Serve in Professional Societies.”
Sources: Ornithology Exchange (March 6, 2013), Federal Register (March 6, 2013), US Code 18USC 208(a)
Wildlife and the Budget Sequester
Although ‘sequestration’ in the conservation world usually means carbon sequestration, the latest impacts to wildlife may actually be from the federal government’s budget sequestration. The Budget Control Act language of 2011 was intended to be a last ditch effort to force compromise in a divided congress, but when an agreed upon budget was not reached by March 1, 2013 the budget sequestration cuts outlined in the Act [Pub. L. 112-25] were automatically enacted.
An attempt to lower the federal deficit by $85 billion ($42.667 billion in non-defense spending) through 10 years of austerity, the bill starts with an average of 5% cuts in non-defense spending (5% discretionary, 5.1% mandatory) and defense spending cuts between 5 and 7.8%. However, since these cuts must be achieved by September 30 of this year, the effective reductions will actually be ~13% for non-exempt defense programs and 9% percent for non-exempt non-defense programs, since the cuts are not spread evenly over all 12 months. Today the Continuing Resolution (CR) was passed to fund the rest of FY2013, locking in the current sequester cuts for the remainder of the fiscal year.
Within the conservation realm, cuts to the National Park Service have been most widely publicized. On March 8, 2013, the National Park Service Director Jon Jarvis released a memo to his employees that “900 permanent positions will not be filled… [and] we will hire over 1,000 less seasonal employees this year”. The possible closure or reduced hours of national parks, as well as the impact to the small businesses surrounding the parks has been well covered by organizations such as the National Wildlife Federation, Congressional Sportsman’s Foundation and National Parks Conservation Association.
Similarly National Wildlife Refuges may be forced to limit public access and recreational opportunities by closing some refuges and visitor centers. The funds for refuges are included in the Resource management cuts totaling $64 Million; refuges will also be hit by cuts to ‘construction’ ($5 million), which includes many habitat restoration and erosion control activities, in addition to road, building and visitor services on refuges, and $1 cut to the National Wildlife Refuge Fund.
On March 2nd, OMB released a report detailing how much will be cut from each agency.
- US Fish and Wildlife Service: $127 million
- $64 million from Resource management
- $5 million from Construction
- $1 million from Multinational species conservation fund
- $21 million from Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration
- $1 million from National Wildlife Refuge Fund
- $2 million from Migratory Bird conservation Account
- $2 million from Cooperative Endangered Species Conservation
- $2 million from North American Wetlands conservation Fund
- $3 million from State Wildlife Grants
- $23 million from Sport Fish Restoration
- US Forest Service: $298 million
- DOD (related to the environment): $526 Million
- $94 million from Department of Defense environmental restoration accounts
- $26 million from Environmental restoration, formerly Used Defense Sites
- $394 million from Defense environmental cleanup
- $12 million from Non-Defense Environmental Cleanup
- BLM: $75 million
- NRCS: $223 million
- National Park Service: $153 million
- EPA: $472 Million
- (($163 million from Fire Management in total))
- $125 million from USFS Wildland fire management
- $38 million from DOI’s Wildland Fire Management
States will also be affected, as funds that come from the federal government are cut. Visit http://www.whitehouse.gov/issues/sequester/interactive-map for the information regarding your state (click on the environmental protection tab).
Sources: ABC News (March 13, 2013), American Institute of Biological Sciences (March 11, 2013), Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies, Federal Budget Sequestration Fact Sheet, CARE –Fiscal Cliff and Wildlife (2012), Environment News Service (March 1, 2013), Fairfax News (March 7, 2013), National Geographic News (Feb. 28, 2013), National Wildlife Federation, Conservation Impacts of the Fiscal Cliff, NorthJersey.com News (March 4, 2013), Sequester could hurt NJ’s environment, NPSretirees.org, ,OMB Report to the Congress on the Joint Committee Sequestration For Fiscal Year 2013, USFWS 2013 Budget
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