WASHINGTON – Members of Congress and American labor leaders joined with the sportsmen’s community this afternoon on Capitol Hill to review recent scientific findings on global climate change and discuss the need for dedicated funding to enable adaptive management strategies for fish and wildlife, the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership and Bipartisan Policy Council announced today. Also profiled at the event was “Beyond Seasons’ End,” a new report about game species’ adaptation to climate change and climate change’s effects on hunting and fishing.

The Tuesday Hill briefing coincided with legislation to be introduced this week by Sens. John Kerry, Lindsey Graham and Joseph Lieberman that could support federal and state-based management approaches to help fish and wildlife better adapt to and withstand the effects of a changing and more variable climate.

Congressman Raul Grijalva spoke at the sportsmen’s gathering. “Science-based management strategies are going to be essential in addressing the effects of climate change on fish and wildlife populations,” he said. “As chair of the House Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands, I will work to ensure adequate funding for such forward-thinking approaches in the climate change legislation currently being considered by Congress.”

“The science is compelling: Climate change has become the single-greatest threat to fish and wildlife and our sporting traditions,” said William Geer, director of the TRCP Center for Western Lands, who also spoke at the briefing. “Dedicated funding for state and federal management agencies is critical in our ability to implement field-tested adaptive management strategies to address these threats, and so sportsmen speak together in urging the Senate to support such programs in its soon-to-be-introduced climate change legislation – while we still have time to act.”

For the full story, please go to trcp.org -- Jay Cassell

In an effort to promote conservation and community-based recreation, President Obama on Friday launched The America’s Great Outdoors Initiative.

Headed by the Offices of the Interior and Agriculture, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Council on Environmental Quality, the initiative will form coalitions with state and local governments as well as the private sector.

President Obama channeled Theodore Roosevelt in a speech given at the Interior Department, in which he said that although "I will probably never shoot a bear,” he holds a strong connection to that legacy.

"I feel an abiding bond with the land," Obama said. "I do for the same reasons that all of you do. The same reasons families go outside for a picnic, or campers spend the night in a national park, or sportsmen track game through the woods or wade deep into a river. It's a recognition passed down from one generation to the next."
Among the goals outlined in an a memorandum of the initiative issued Friday are “to reconnect Americans, especially children, to America’s rivers and waterways” and “use science-based management practices to restore and protect our lands and waters for future generations.”

Although few specifics were listed, Obama also discussed the prospect of job growth.

"We're launching this strategy because it's the right thing to do—because, as TR said, we must not mar the work of the ages," Obama said. "But we're also doing it because it's the right thing to do for our economy. It's how we're going to spur job creation in the tourism industry and the recreation industry."

Click here for the complete story. —Tom Tiberio

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar yesterday announced a far-reaching agreement to support the conservation of greater sage-grouse and sagebrush ecosystems in parts of 11 Western states.

“Today’s agreement enables us to help this rare species in a comprehensive, integrated way,” said Vilsack. “By working cooperatively toward the same goal, we can build on the progress states have made protecting the sage-grouse and the sagebrush ecosystem it depends on.”

“The greater sage-grouse has historically inhabited millions of acres in the West, and if we are going to conserve the species we must work across political and administrative boundaries at a landscape scale to protect and restore its sagebrush habitat,” Salazar said. “This agreement gives us a framework to prevent further habitat fragmentation and undertake other conservation efforts in partnership with states, tribes, private landowners and other stakeholders.”

USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service Chief Dave White and Rowan Gould, acting director of Interior’s U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, signed the partnership agreement to promote and preserve greater sage-grouse habitat and sagebrush ecosystems.

The agreement ensures beneficial and consistent actions for conservation of greater sage-grouse habitat and provides a collaborative framework for states and private landowners. For its part, the Fish and Wildlife Service is committing to work with NRCS to use the authorities of the Endangered Species Act to provide participating landowners with reasonable assurances that their activities will be consistent with the act should the sage-grouse later be listed as a threatened or endangered species.

For the complete story, please go to fws.org -- Jay Cassell

MISSOULA, Montana-Pro-wolf groups were admittedly "surprised and disappointed" when the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation publicly challenged their mischaracterizations of the real impacts of wolves in the northern Rockies and are feeling even more heat today. Their recent call for a truce has been met with a scathing letter from RMEF President and CEO David Allen, who says Defenders of Wildlife, Western Wildlife Conservancy and others are party to what may become "one of the worst wildlife management disasters since the destruction of bison herds in the 19th Century."

Allen said, "These animal rights groups seem to think that every individual wolf is worth filing another lawsuit to protect, but the decimation of local elk herds is unimportant. What is truly ironic is these folks claim protection of the Canadian gray wolf under the Endangered Species Act. However these wolves are not endangered. There are thousands of them throughout North America. The ESA is being manipulated far beyond its intended purpose." One can find the text of the entire letter on RMEF's website www.RMEF.org.

Factual examples cited in Allen's recent letter:

• The Northern Yellowstone elk herd trend count has dropped from some 19,000 elk in 1995 before the introduction of the Canadian Gray wolf to just over 6,000 elk in 2008. At the same time the wolf numbers in this same area are on a steady increase.

• Yellowstone's Madison Firehole elk herd trend count has fallen from 700 to 108.

• The Gallatin Canyon elk herd trend count between Bozeman and Big Sky, Mont., has declined from 1,048 to 338.

• Wolf numbers in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming have far exceeded the original goals of 30 breeding pairs and 300 total wolves. Population estimates now exceed 1,700 wolves. And yet and others want to push the total up to 2,000 to 5,000 wolves.

• Studies show that wolves kill up to 23 elk per wolf from November through April alone or up to 40,000 elk in just six months. A smaller but still significant number are killed from May through October; with total annual elk kills by wolves just for food potentially greater than 50,000 at the present level of wolf population. This accounts for only the elk needed for food, not surplus killing, which are elk killed by wolves and not eaten, which also occurs. The majority of all these kills are not elk that are sick or old.

• Elk calf survival rates where wolves (and bears) are present are extremely low in specific herds, resulting in a survival rate of 10 percent or less-too low to sustain the herd over the long-term. RMEF points out this is a major issue as elk numbers going into the future, where wolves are concentrated, will suffer even greater losses and replacement becomes out of balance.

"Pro-wolf groups like to cite statewide elk numbers because it glosses over the ongoing annihilation of local elk herds," said Allen. "They like to say that elk and wolves evolved together and would coexist now if man would just leave them alone, which completely ignores the fact that this is no longer the Old West and millions of us live here now. Habitat is shrinking at a rapid pace and the wildlife that lives here must be carefully managed. Man must manage wildlife and we have done so very successfully for over a century. We're long past the day when wolf populations can be left unchecked. Right now this is simply a wolf amnesty program and the results are becoming alarming."

For more on this story, please go to rmef.org -- Jay Cassell

Developer Aaron Million is selling his proposed 500-mile water pipeline from Flaming Gorge Reservoir on the Utah-Wyoming border to the Front Range as a win for everyone, from thirsty Front Range communities to farmers to fish.

If you buy that, I've got riverfront property in the Mojave Desert to sell you.

The recent panel discussion on the proposal at the University of Wyoming highlighted some of the very real economic and environmental pitfalls of this multi-billion-dollar pipe dream ("Debate centers on water project," April 1 Colora-doan). As hydrologist Dan Leucke pointed out at that event, the proposal is rife with problems, including:

> Exorbitant cost. Million recently released a list of potential project customers. Almost all are irrigators.

According to a recent analysis by Western Resource Advocates, the value of irrigation water in eastern Colorado is less than $100 per acre-foot. By comparison, water from the $3 billion pipeline would cost an estimated $2,200 per acre-foot.

There's not an agricultural operation in the state that could afford Million's water, and few municipalities have expressed interest in the project. The economics don't add up, and it appears Million is engaging in water speculation, which is illegal according to Colorado law.

> Environmental impacts. Million has said that if the pipeline proposal has adverse environmental impacts, he'll be the first to "stick a fork in it."

It's time to stick a fork in it.

The pipeline would have huge environmental costs. The withdrawal of 225,000 acre-feet of water each year from Flaming Gorge Reservoir would draw down water levels - envision a mud-caked bathtub ring and stranded boat docks - and would threaten the world-class trout fisheries and endangered native fish species in the Green River below Flaming Gorge.

The pipeline itself would cut across and degrade sensitive wildlife habitat, such as Wyoming's spectacular Little Mountain area, renowned for its trophy elk and native cutthroat trout populations. And it could spread invasive aquatic species - such as zebra mussels and burbot - to Wyoming and Colorado waters.

April 6, 2010--The 13th annual Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC) results are in and it was a record-breaking year for participation. During the four-day event in February, more
than 97,200 bird checklists were submitted by an estimated 63,000 volunteer bird watchers from across the United States and Canada. From reports of rare species to large-scale tracking of bird movements, the GBBC provides insight into the lives of bird populations.

The GBBC is a joint project of the National Audubon Society and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology with Canadian partner Bird Studies Canada. It is open to bird watchers of all ages.
The results provided a snapshot of the whereabouts of more than 600 bird species. “There’s simply no better way to collect information about all these birds so quickly across such a large range,” said Janis Dickinson, Citizen Science director at the Cornell Lab.

For example, this year, participants recorded more American robins than any other bird species—primarily because of a massive roost in St. Petersburg, Florida. Participants reported
1,450,058 robins in Saint Petersburg alone. For perspective, the entire rest of the continent tallied 400,321 robins. Reports such as these help document hotspots for robins and year-to-year changes in their movements across the continent.

At the other extreme, one of the most dramatic results from this year’s count was the absence of other bird species, including winter finches such as Pine Siskins and redpolls. Pine Siskins moved south in such great numbers last year that they burst onto the GBBC Top-10 list of
most numerous birds for the first time ever. Over time, the GBBC has captured dramatic swings in the numbers of these species reported from year to year. These fluctuations may be influenced by the birds’ food supply and reproductive success far to the north. This year, they
presumably didn’t need to travel as far south to find enough food.

Visit the “Explore the Results” pages on the GBBC web site at www.birdcount.org to find the list of Top 10 birds reported in your state, province, or city. -- Jay Cassell

WASHINGTON – In response to a proposal by the president to allow oil and gas leasing and development on the outer continental shelf, the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership today renewed its calls for responsible oversight of offshore energy production in order to conserve marine fish and wildlife resources and sporting activities.



The sportsmen’s group promoted a three-pronged strategy of “precaution, planning and investment” that should be applied consistently to development onshore and offshore, renewable and nonrenewable. The TRCP also held up its “CAST Principles,” a set of core tenets based around “conservation, allocation, science and transparency,” as a guide to marine energy planning and development projects.



“Sportsmen acknowledge our country’s need to cultivate domestic energy sources, both onshore and offshore,” said Tom Franklin, TRCP director of policy and government relations, “but we remain committed to ensuring that the Department of the Interior adopts a responsible approach to leasing and development – an approach that safeguards our fish and wildlife populations.



“Nowhere is consistency and common sense more critical than in administration of the priceless resources found in our marine ecosystems,” Franklin continued, “and never has it been more critical for our nation to exercise strong leadership in overseeing the form and structure of energy projects that could profoundly affect saltwater game species and the sporting activities that depend on them.”

For specifics, please go to trcp.org -- Jay Cassell