|
Monday, August 16, 2010 |
|
 The U.S. House of Representatives passed a comprehensive energy bill on July 30 that includes full and dedicated funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund, reports the Wildlife Management Institute. The Consolidated Land, Energy, and Aquatic Resources (CLEAR) Act of 2010, H.R. 3534, which includes provisions from the Oil Spill Accountability and Environmental Protection Act (H.R. 5629), is intended to address safety and liability issues revealed by the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. In addition, the bill includes onshore drilling reforms, abolishes the Minerals Management Service and creates three separate bureaus to manage oil and gas leasing and safety, and provides for restoration of the Gulf of Mexico. |
|
Read more...
|
|
Monday, August 16, 2010 |
|
 In the perpetual yo-yo of wolf management in the Rocky Mountain region, U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy ruled on August 5 that wolves should once again be listed as an endangered species. The judge ruled that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s (FWS) decision to turn management over to the states of Idaho and Montana but to keep Endangered Species Act (ESA) protection in Wyoming was a political rather than a biological decision. |
|
Read more...
|
|
Monday, August 16, 2010 |
|
The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) recently certified the R. E. Burger power plant as a renewable energy facility. This action has significant implications for wildlife in the area, according to the Wildlife Management Institute (WMI). |
|
Read more...
|
|
|
Monday, August 16, 2010 |
|
The first general sign-up for the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) since 2006 currently is underway, according to the Wildlife Management Institute. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) began taking CRP enrollment applications on August 2 and will continue accepting them through August 27. USDA expects to enroll more than 4 million acres in the program as a result of this sign-up. Demand to participate is expected to be strong and will be enhanced because USDA updated soil rental rates since the 2006 sign-up, which, in most cases, will increase payments to program participants. Timing of this enrollment period is very good as contracts on 4.4 million acres of CRP are due to expire on September 30, 2010. These lands will be eligible to be re-enrolled, along with farmlands not currently covered by a CRP contract. Contracts awarded during this enrollment period will go into effect on October 1, 2010. In addition to being the single most important federal program to enhance populations of grassland-dependent wildlife, CRP is critical to controlling soil erosion and maintaining good water quality in many parts of the country. The 2008 Farm Bill authorized USDA to maintain a CRP enrollment level of up to 32 million acres nationwide. View more details on the program and current enrollment opportunities. (pmr) |
|
Monday, August 16, 2010 |
|
 Remember Tom and Huck, those two free-spirited scallywags last seen rafting down the Mississippi River? Well, they showed up again, a century later, canoeing on the Connecticut River, going under different names and disguised as over-the-hill voyageurs. Preferring not to spend their evenings on the river under the stars, the two were considerably older and maybe a little wiser than the Hannibal, Missouri boys, in fact, “too old to be sleeping on the ground, cooking over an open campfire and crapping in the woods.” But their sense of adventure hadn’t diminished over time.
|
|
Read more...
|
|
|
|
 Founded in 1911, WMI is a private, nonprofit, scientific and educational organization, dedicated to the conservation, enhancement and professional management of North America's wildlife and other natural resources.
ONB sign up
| Subscribe to the Outdoor News Bulletin |
|
|
