Throughout the month of July, shoppers at Bass Pro Shops retail stores, catalogs, and websites can learn about the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation and make a $2 donation for a chance to win some pretty amazing prizes.
Bass Pro Shops will forward 100 percent of proceeds to the Elk Foundation in support of its mission to ensure the future of elk, other wildlife and their habitat. In addition, Bass Pro Shops will match 50 cents for every $1 raised through this promotion.
Four prizes will be awarded, including:
1. Montana 2010 rifle elk and mule deer hunt for two.
2. Professional Bull Riding 2009 World Finals package with event tickets, VIP passes and lodging for four.
3. $1000 Bass Pro shopping spree (gift card).
4. $500 Bass Pro shopping spree (gift card).
A drawing will be held August 15, 2009.
During RMEF Conservation Month, Elk Foundation volunteers work with Bass Pro Shops store managers to engage and educate customers about elk and conservation. This is the third year that Bass Pro Shops had run this program. To learn more, please go to rmef.org or bassproshops.com – Jay Cassell
Friday, June 26, 2009
Energy Leases Deferred
The Utah Bureau of Land Management recently announced that valuable public-lands fish and wildlife habitat would receive additional review before being leased for oil and gas development.
The BLM initially offered more than 90,000 acres of public land on 67 parcels in its June 23 lease sale in Utah. The Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership filed a protest of 31 parcels, comprising 46,000 acres of crucial mule deer, elk and sage grouse habitat where supplementary development conditions could lessen negative effects on wildlife populations. Administrative protests such as these are the public's only recourse for commenting on the federal leasing process and raising concerns about impacts to resources like fish and wildlife. "Sportsmen unreservedly support oil and gas production on America's public lands," said Joel Webster, TRCP associate director of campaigns, "but responsible administration of these resources demands a consistent approach to leasing and development activities in order to sustain fish and wildlife - and to provide companies wishing to extract energy from our lands and waters an increased level of certainty in their investments and planning." For more, go to www.trcp.org -- Jay Cassell
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Study Indicates States Should Manage Wolves
Research funded in part by the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation is yielding data on why gray wolves in Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming should be managed by state wildlife agencies.
Wolves have been on and off endangered species lists in recent months. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has repeatedly announced at least partial delisting and state-based management via regulated wolf hunting. But, each time, anti-hunting groups have blocked the effort with lawsuits. “List, delist, repeat. It’s become an endless cycle driven by those who profit from legal uncertainty over gray wolves,” said David Allen, RMEF president and CEO. “Tying up this issue in courts defies a proven conservation system that is extremely successful at balancing predatory species within biological and social tolerances.” The Elk Foundation has long funded scientific research on topics surrounding elk and habitat. Universities and state and federal agencies apply for RMEF research grants and conduct the projects. Researchers present results to peers at professional conferences. New understanding leads to better management strategies for all wildlife in elk country. To get the full story, please go to www.rmef.org - Jay Cassell
Friday, June 19, 2009
A New and Improved Clean Water Restoration Act
In a vote to protect clean water and essential habitat for fish and wildlife, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee yesterday passed an amended version of the Clean Water Restoration Act. The bill as approved reaffirms the original intent of the Clean Water Act to broadly protect water quality and the streams, lakes and wetlands of our country. The vote creates momentum for legislation to be introduced and quickly considered in the U.S. House of Representatives.
“ America’s waters are closer to again having the comprehensive Clean Water Act protections that Congress intended,” said Jan Goldman-Carter, wetland and water resources counsel at the National Wildlife Federation. “This bill restores critical protections for our nation’s increasingly-precious fresh water resources while respecting private property rights and continuing longstanding Clean Water Act exemptions for agriculture and forestry.” For the full story, please go to http://www.trcp.org/newsroom - Jay Cassell
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Maine Salmon Put on the Endangered List
Earlier this week, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service extended Endangered Species Act protection to more Atlantic salmon by adding fish in the Penobscot, Kennebec, and Androscoggin rivers and their tributaries to the endangered Gulf of Maine population.
The decision is part of an effort to recover the imperiled fish, which once returned by the hundreds of thousands to most major rivers along the Northeastern U.S. and now returns in small numbers only to rivers in Maine. “Legend has it you could once walk across these rivers on the backs of salmon,” said FWS Acting Director Rowan Gould. “Unfortunately, in most years we are able to count barely 1,000 fish returning to the Penobscot and fewer than a hundred in the other two rivers. If we are ever going to recover this iconic species so that future generations can witness the teeming runs that awed past generations, we need to protect it now throughout the Gulf of Maine.” Though going along with the decision, the Atlantic Salmon Federation had been lobbying for Threatened status, which would have allowed for catch and release angling and thus more active, local involvement in salmon recovery. The Endangered status, on the other hand, means that fishing is now precluded. Local economies as well as a number of long-time salmon fishing clubs are expected to suffer. To get the full story, please go to the ASF’s website (www.asf.ca) and NOAA’s website http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2009/20090615_salmon.html – Jay Cassell
Friday, June 12, 2009
Big Increases for Conservation Approved
Conservation programs across the country got a huge boost yesterday when the House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee approved a 2010 spending blueprint that would restore funding for farmland conservation programs. The subcommittee rejected most of the hundreds of millions of dollars in cuts that the Obama administration had sought. A group of 50 different farm, forestry, conservation and environmental organizations sent letters to House and Senate appropriators last week, asking them to keep the farm bill spending levels. Next stop for the bill? The Senate.
For background information and analysis, please click here.
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Turkey Federation Helps Conservation Causes
The National Wild Turkey Federation distributed more than $314,000 last month to a variety of conservation and hunting-oriented causes. More than $50,000 went to habitat enhancement projects, another $50,000 went to youth education, more than $40,000 went to programs aimed at getting more youths involved in the outdoors—and there was much, much more. The money was raised from NWTF Hunting Heritage Banquets.
To date the NWTF and its partners have spent more than $286 million upholding hunting traditions and conserving nearly 14 million acres of habitat. Some of the Federation’s many projects include improving wildlife habitat, supporting hunter education, and providing opportunities for people with disabilities to experience the outdoors through outreach programs. To see all the things that the NWTF is involved in, click here. When the NWTF was founded in 1973, there were perhaps a million or so turkeys in all of North America. Today, and thanks in large part to efforts by the NWTF, there are now more than 7 million birds in North America. The organization also has almost half a million members. Want to join? You should, even if you don’t turkey hunt. Check out nwtf.org. – Jay Cassell
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Beavers, Other Wildlife On The Comeback Trail
Interesting story in the New York Times Science section today (June 9), on the comeback of beavers across the Northeast. There were tens and maybe hundreds of millions of beavers in North America when the European settlers arrived. Thanks to the Europeans’ love for beaver hats, beavers were almost wiped out by 1900. Some estimate their numbers plummeted to 100,000, with most of those in Canada.
As beaver hats grew out of favor, and as farming faded and forests reclaimed much of their lost ground, beavers (North America’s largest rodent, growing up to 60pounds) started to make a comeback in the mid 1900s. Today there are an estimated 10 to 15 millions beavers in North America, and many of them are considered pests. In Massachusetts, for example, beavers (state population -- an estimated 30,000 and growing) are cutting down trees and building dams, causing flooded property, jammed culverts, and overflowing sewers. One conservation agent complained that ‘There are beavers everywhere!” And the damage they do taxes municipality budgets that are already at the breaking point. Still, beavers do provide many benefits, damming up boggy areas to the benefit of ducks, ospreys, heron and fish. When a beaver dam eventually breaks and the water drains, what’s left behind is extremely nutrient-rich topsoil. Can man co-exist with the master engineers? Check out the full story on beavers as well as other wildlife (alligators, mountain lions) that are also making comebacks. Go to NYTimes.com. Get onto the home page, then click on the science section. – Jay Cassell
Friday, June 5, 2009
Buy Biodegradable, Save A Gamefish
In the March 2008 edition of Field & Stream, John Merwin’s Fishing Department, titled “The Worms Have Turned,” touched on a topic of great concern to the fishing world; namely, that many freshwater gamefish ingest soft plastic lures and are then unable to pass or regurgitate them out of their system. The result? Untold numbers of dead or sickly gamefish.
There are estimates that as much as 20 million pounds of soft plastic lures are being lost in freshwater lakes and streams annually in the U.S. The average life expectancy for these soft plastic lures is more than 200 years. The number of fish that could die from this one cause is staggering. In his column, Merwin cited a study done by Maine state fish pathologist G. Russell Danner and two colleagues on brook trout ingesting soft plastic worms. In the study, more than 65 percent of the brook trout voluntarily ate soft plastic worms when made available to them. If you want to learn more about the study, which was done at Unity College, a report on the project was recently published in the Northern American Journal of Fisheries Management. It is available here. A number of retail stores, including LL Bean, are now making plans to stop selling traditional soft plastic lures, offering biodegradables instead. This seems like a no-brainer to me; other stores should consider jumping on this bandwagon. – Jay Cassell
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Help on the Way for Chesapeake Bay
Twelve environmental projects in Virginia and the District of Columbia have received a total of $6.1 million in grants from the Chesapeake Bay Program and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation to reduce pollution to the local streams, creeks, and rivers that flow to the Chesapeake Bay.
The grants for these projects were awarded through the Chesapeake Bay Stewardship Fund, which provides funding for innovative and cost-effective projects that dramatically reduce or eliminate the flow of nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment pollution into local waterways and the Chesapeake Bay. The fund is administered by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and funded by the EPA’s Chesapeake Bay Program. In 2009, more than 24 projects in seven states plus the District of Columbia have received $12.9 million, with an additional $19.4 million in matching funds. For more information, go to www.nfwf.org/Chesapeake – Jay Cassell |
If you or someone you know is working on a conservation project, we want to reward your efforts. Click Here to contact our editors with information on your project. All nominees are eligible for the grand prize and runner up prizes, which will be announced this fall. 
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