As the year draws to a close, I’m looking back and thinking about all the positive things that have happened on the conservation front. Globally, our world leaders are slowly moving toward doing something about global warming – something that is very real, and very serious.
Other positive things include the legal hunting of wolves in the West, proof positive that the Endangered Species Act can indeed work if politics can be kept out of it and fish and game managers are allowed to do their jobs.
Elk populations are growing in many states, including West Virginia and Kentucky.
Wild turkeys are now in every state except Alaska, with populations generally on the rise.
Many of our trout streams are cleaner (see the new TU book, “Rivers of Restoration,” by John Ross, for profiles on 20 recovered waters).
And this year, duck populations generally seem to be up across the board, thanks to ideal nesting conditions in the northern pothole regions.
All this does not mean we can lower our guard. The Pebble Mine threat is still very real in the salmon-rich Bristol Bay region of Alaska; drilling in the Marcellus shale belt in the Northeast continues to spread in Pennsylvania, although New York has fended off the drilling so far; the western wolf hunts, while continuing, are still opposed by many animal “rights” groups, with elk suffering due to an overabundance of wolves in some areas. Quail populations are down in Texas, salmon runs are dwindling in California, moose populations are down in the UP; the list goes on.

There is much to be thankful for, much to be concerned about. So while we take stock of the year gone by, let’s get ready for more issues in 2010, for only by staying involved—at the grass roots level, at the national level, whatever works for you—can we preserve this great planet, and hopefully leave it in good shape for the next generation. – Jay Cassell

Pennsylvania has broken into a Top 10 list of places to find monster elk, an historic indicator of successful habitat and management efforts. Keeping that conservation momentum going, both at home and across the U.S., is the goal of a newly launched Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation chapter in Bloomsburg/Danville, Pa.

“Elk have roamed the Keystone State since 1913 after a successful restoration effort led by a young Pennsylvania Game Commission, but this is Pennsylvania’s first-ever Top 10 appearance in Boone and Crockett Club records, and that’s a big deal,” said David Allen, RMEF president and CEO.

The Boone and Crockett Club has kept trophy records of North American game since 1830. In the 169 years preceding 2000, Pennsylvania produced zero record-class elk.

In 2001, Pennsylvania held its first elk hunt in over seven decades. Between then and now, the club’s prestigious records book has gained four bulls from the commonwealth, which ties it with California as America’s 10th most productive trophy elk state in the new millennium. See full lists of Top 10 Boone and Crockett elk states below.

RMEF has played a key role in the growing success of Pennsylvania’s elk herd, says Carl Roe, executive director of the Pennsylvania Game Commission.

“The Game Commission’s efforts to improve habitat within the elk range in Pennsylvania has been greatly supported by the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation and its numerous Commonwealth chapters,” Roe said. “We welcome the newest RMEF chapter and look forward to working with them as partners for elk habitat.”

For more on what the RMEF has been doing to help elk in Pennsylvania, please go to rmef.org -- Jay Cassell

Populations of some bat species have plummeted more than 90 percent in Northeast
caves impacted by “White Nose Syndrome,” according to an extensive investigation by the New
York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), Commissioner Pete Grannis
announced today.

Surveying 23 caves at the epicenter of the bat die-off in early 2009, researchers found an
alarming decline – 91 percent on average -- in the number of hibernating bats. The study
included 18 caves in eastern New York, four in western Massachusetts and one in Vermont.

“These steep declines are alarming and disheartening,” Commissioner Grannis said.
“Researchers from around the country are focusing on the bat die-off and DEC will continue to
work with a wide range of partners to try to get to the heart of the problem.”
The study showed that not all species have reacted the same to White Nose Syndrome
(WNS). Species that prefer warmer, wetter roosting spots than other bats have been impacted
most severely. For example, the Little Brown bat has declined by an average of 93 percent (Little Browns account for 85 percent of all the bats that hibernate in the Northeast).

A separate survey of the endangered Indiana bat showed it declined 53 percent on
average. DEC bat specialist Alan Hicks said roost conditions may explain part but not all of the
difference -- Indiana bats prefer a colder, dryer hibernating spot than others. Also, the survey of Indiana bats found stark contrasts between sites. For example, two former mines in Ulster
County showed Indiana bat declines of 97 and 29 percent, respectively, with no obvious physical differences other than humidity.

The New York DEC has been at the forefront of the bat investigation along with federal officials, wildlife agencies and researchers from around the nation, since the disease was first discovered in some New York caves in winter 2006-07. The most obvious symptom involved in the die-off is a white fungus encircling the noses of some, but not all, of the bats. Called “White Nose Syndrome,” (WNS) the fungus (Geomyces destructans) is a prime suspect as a causative agent, although not yet confirmed. Impacted bats deplete their fat reserves months before they would normally emerge from hibernation, and die as a result.

More information is available at http://www.dec.ny.gov/animals -- Jay Cassell

WASHINGTON – The Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership has affirmed its support of Senate Bill 1470, the Forest Jobs and Recreation Act, legislation that would fulfill twin goals of sustaining traditional conservation values and fish and wildlife resources in Montana while upholding the forest-based jobs that form the economic bedrock of communities throughout the state.



The TRCP decision heightens the ongoing efforts by a number of prominent sportsmen-conservationist groups, including the Montana Wildlife Federation, Trout Unlimited, the Mule Deer Foundation and Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, to promote S. 1470 and furthers the TRCP’s aim of building consensus on natural resource policy issues affecting citizens in Montana and across the country.



Introduced by Montana Sen. Jon Tester, the Forest Jobs and Recreation Act would sustain the economic development and recreational use of National Forest System lands and other public lands in Montana, add lands to the National Wilderness Preservation System, release certain wilderness study areas and designate new areas for recreation.


For more details, please go to trcp.org -- Jay Cassell

MISSOULA, Mont.—Responding to the latest legal wrangling by some environmental groups, the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation again has entered into federal court an amicus curiae brief supporting wolf population management via state-regulated hunting in Idaho and Montana.

The move means U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy will consider RMEF positions against the environmental groups’ request for summary judgment in a lawsuit seeking to stop the hunts and return gray wolves to the endangered species list.

A summary judgment is a determination made by a court without a full trial.

Molloy is expected to rule early in 2010.

In September, Molloy denied the environmental groups’ request for an emergency injunction. Following a hearing in Missoula, Mont., Molloy ruled that plaintiffs had failed to demonstrate how hunting would cause irreparable harm to wolf populations. RMEF documents, filed shortly before the hearing, were considered in that decision.

For more information, go to rmef.org -- Jay Cassell

Mule Deer Foundation President and CEO Miles
Moretti announced today that MDF has once again put over $1.5 million
dollars on the ground in 2009 to enhance and conserve mule deer and
black-tailed deer habitat throughout the western United States. The
money was raised through the sale of state wildlife auction and
raffle tags, local fundraising banquets, along with corporate and
private donations. Despite the economic downturn, MDF has been able
to exceed project funding goals for 2009.

Projects funded vary from water developments and habitat improvement
projects to the purchase of land to be conserved for mule deer and
other wildlife. Moretti said, “The number one goal I had for MDF when
I took over the reins in 2006 was to increase MDF’s presence in
funding habitat projects for mule deer. We have worked with State and
Federal agencies, other conservation groups and private landowners to
make that happen.”

For more on Mule Deer Foundation projects, please go to www.muledeer.org - Jay Cassell

The long feared breach by Asian carp of the $9MM electronic barrier on the
Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal (which links the Great Lakes with the
Mississippi River drainage south of Chicago) may have occurred. The resulting impact on the Great Lakes could be devastating, and local environmental groups are
calling on the Army Corps of Engineers to close all Illinois gateways and
locks leading into Lake Michigan as an emergency precaution.

For more on this situation, please go to http://www.wwj.com/Asian-Carp-Breach-Electronic-Barrier/5725498

and

http://www.observer-reporter.com/or/localsports/d0505-BC-US-AsianCarp-1stLd-
Writethru-11-20-0671

--Jay Cassell