Category Archives: adminstration

State Wildlife Departments Are No Longer Game

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In January, the California Department of Fish and Game will become the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. With that change, only 12 state wildlife management entities will continue to use the term “game” in their names, according to an article in the Sacramento Bee.

The title of the Bee article is “California sporting groups leery of department name change,” which about sums it up.

The article notes that the name change came from the state legislature, not from the department itself and that California created the nation’s first state fisheries commission, back in the 19th century.

Read the Sacramento Bee article, here.

And, of course, you will want to know which states still have “game” in the name of their wildlife management agency or department. The Sacramento Bee’s information came from the membership rolls of the Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies.Those 12 members are: Arizona, Arkansas, Idaho, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Virginia, Washington, Wyoming.

However, several states list their agencies of natural resources as members, when those agencies also have a department for managing wildlife. For example, Alaska has a Department of Fish and Game (number 13!), whose relationship to the listed Agency of Natural Resources is hard to parse. (It is not listed among the agency’s departments on its website.) Vermont’s Agency of Natural Resources has a Department of Fish and Wildlife.

State Wildlife Departments Are No Longer Game

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In January, the California Department of Fish and Game will become the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. With that change, only 12 state wildlife management entities will continue to use the term “game” in their names, according to an article in the Sacramento Bee.

The title of the Bee article is “California sporting groups leery of department name change,” which about sums it up.

The article notes that the name change came from the state legislature, not from the department itself and that California created the nation’s first state fisheries commission, back in the 19th century.

Read the Sacramento Bee article, here.

And, of course, you will want to know which states still have “game” in the name of their wildlife management agency or department. The Sacramento Bee’s information came from the membership rolls of the Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies.Those 12 members are: Arizona, Arkansas, Idaho, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Virginia, Washington, Wyoming.

However, several states list their agencies of natural resources as members, when those agencies also have a department for managing wildlife. For example, Alaska has a Department of Fish and Game (number 13!), whose relationship to the listed Agency of Natural Resources is hard to parse. (It is not listed among the agency’s departments on its website.) Vermont’s Agency of Natural Resources has a Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Chad Bishop To Lead Colorado Wildlife Branch

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From a press release from Colorado Parks and Wildlife:

Colorado Parks and Wildlife Director Rick Cables has announced the selection of Chad Bishop to serve as Assistant Director for Wildlife and Natural Resources.

In his new role as assistant director, Bishop will oversee the biological units of the agency as well as the units that manage real estate and water resources. Since 2009, Bishop has headed the Mammals Research Program, which includes 18 research projects that address ecology and management of cougar, black bear, elk, mule deer, lynx and other species in the state. Bishop has recently been serving as acting manager of the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Terrestrial Section.

Bishop is an avid sportsman and has lived in Colorado since 1999. He has a bachelor’s degree in wildlife management from Montana State University, master’s degree in wildlife resources from University of Idaho, and a doctorate in wildlife biology from Colorado State University. Bishop started with the former Colorado Division of Wildlife as a wildlife researcher in 1999. As a researcher, he studied mule deer for a decade before becoming head of the Mammals Research Program in 2009.

“I’m excited for this new opportunity to serve Colorado Parks and Wildlife and the citizens of Colorado,” said Bishop. “Colorado boasts a wealth of fish, wildlife and natural resources. I’m looking forward to helping manage and preserve those resources for our State’s residents and visitors, now and into the future.”

Read the entire release, here.

Feds Announce State Wildlife Grants

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Oregon vesper sparrow and Mazama pocket gopher; mountain plover, burrowing owl and McCown’s longspur; the palila, a rapidly-declining Hawaiian honeycreeper; Karner blue butterfly, grasshopper sparrow, Henslow’s sparrow, and northern harrier; and white-tailed, Gunnison’s, Utah, and black-tailed prairie dogs are among the non-game species to benefit from this round of the US Fish and Wildlife Service’s State Wildlife Grants.

The competitive federal grants focus on large-scale, cooperative conservation projects for Species of Greatest Conservation Need (SGCN) that are included in State Comprehensive Wildlife Conservation Plans (also known as State Wildlife Action Plans — what would government be without changing terminology?).

Seven projects will take place in 12 states: Washington (2), Oregon, Idaho, Nebraska, Colorado, Hawaii, Michigan, Alabama, Arizona, Montana, Texas, Wyoming (and also British Columbia, Canada).

Read about the projects in the USFWS press release, here. Don’t bother to follow the link in the press release for more information about individual projects. It takes you to information about the grants that hasn’t been updated in years.

Photo: Black-tailed prairie dog, by Gary M. Stolz, courtesy US Fish and Wildlife Service

 

Feds Announce State Wildlife Grants

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Oregon vesper sparrow and Mazama pocket gopher; mountain plover, burrowing owl and McCown’s longspur; the palila, a rapidly-declining Hawaiian honeycreeper; Karner blue butterfly, grasshopper sparrow, Henslow’s sparrow, and northern harrier; and white-tailed, Gunnison’s, Utah, and black-tailed prairie dogs are among the non-game species to benefit from this round of the US Fish and Wildlife Service’s State Wildlife Grants.

The competitive federal grants focus on large-scale, cooperative conservation projects for Species of Greatest Conservation Need (SGCN) that are included in State Comprehensive Wildlife Conservation Plans (also known as State Wildlife Action Plans — what would government be without changing terminology?).

Seven projects will take place in 12 states: Washington (2), Oregon, Idaho, Nebraska, Colorado, Hawaii, Michigan, Alabama, Arizona, Montana, Texas, Wyoming (and also British Columbia, Canada).

Read about the projects in the USFWS press release, here. Don’t bother to follow the link in the press release for more information about individual projects. It takes you to information about the grants that hasn’t been updated in years.

Photo: Black-tailed prairie dog, by Gary M. Stolz, courtesy US Fish and Wildlife Service

 

Hunting and Fishing Up, Feds Say

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A new report from the US Fish and Wildlife Service says that the number of hunters nationwide has increased nine percent 2006 to 2011 and the number of anglers increased by 11 percent. More than 71 million people watched wildlife in those five years.

Wildlife-related recreation makes up one percent of the nation’s gross domestic product, the report says. (Now you can say that you are part of the one percent.)

While the news on hunting represents the halt in a decades’ long decline, the report is not all good news for wildlife managers. Not only did the number of people who watched wildlife not increase from 2006 to 2011, but most wildlife watchers never leave home to do so. While “wildlife watching” includes photographing and observing, for 74% of all wildlife watchers, the wildlife activity enjoyed is feeding wildlife.

The 24-page preliminary report is available now. (Here.) A more detailed report will be available in November, and reports on each state will be released starting in December.
Get the highlights in the press release, found here.

Photo courtesy US Fish and Wildlife Service

Mark Ellingwood Named N.H. Division Chief

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Mark Ellingwood, who, for the past 13 years, has served as the Wildlife Programs Administrator for the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department, has been named the department’s Wildlife Division Chief. He is been with NH Fish and Game for a total of 18 years and was also a regional wildlife supervisor.

According to the NH Fish and Game press release announcing his selection, Ellingwood holds a B.S. in Natural Resources Conservation from the University of Connecticut and an M.S. in Wildlife Management from West Virginia University.  Prior to working for N.H. Fish and Game, Ellingwood served for nine years as a deer biologist and project leader for the Connecticut Wildlife Bureau, and five years as a deer research associate with the Institute of Ecosystem Studies in New York State.

Read the entire press release, here.

Photo courtesy of NH Fish and Game Department

Why You Should Care About the Farm Bill

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You should care about the federal farm bill that was passed by the Senate last week. By providing funds to farmers, the US Department of Agriculture provides funding for a good chunk of the workaday wildlife conservation that goes on in this country. This is the funding that helps keep common species common (as opposed to the funding that provides first aid to species in critical condition).

I’ve been on the lookout for an article that explains why you should care about the farm bill, and I haven’t found the perfect article yet, but this piece by The Nature Conservancy CEO, Mark Tercek does a pretty good job.

For more about the farm bill than you are likely to want to know, there’s this article in The New York Times last week.

Keep an eye out for news about the farm bill. The resulting legislation is likely to have an impact on your work as a state wildlife biologist — one way or the other.

Why You Should Care About the Farm Bill

Posted on by
1

You should care about the federal farm bill that was passed by the Senate last week. By providing funds to farmers, the US Department of Agriculture provides funding for a good chunk of the workaday wildlife conservation that goes on in this country. This is the funding that helps keep common species common (as opposed to the funding that provides first aid to species in critical condition).

I’ve been on the lookout for an article that explains why you should care about the farm bill, and I haven’t found the perfect article yet, but this piece by The Nature Conservancy CEO, Mark Tercek does a pretty good job.

For more about the farm bill than you are likely to want to know, there’s this article in The New York Times last week.

Keep an eye out for news about the farm bill. The resulting legislation is likely to have an impact on your work as a state wildlife biologist — one way or the other.

New Road-Kill Rules in Idaho

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Allowing citizens to salvage road kill has it’s dicey issues, ranging from human health, human safety and enforcement issues. Idaho is plunging in with expanded road-kill salvage rules in the hope that letting people stop and pick up dead animals from the side of the road will lead to better data about where and when animals are being struck by cars.

There are a lot of caveats. See the press release for details.

It’s on clear what kind of data will come from limited access highways, since, as the press release points out, those roads only allow emergency stopping, and salvaging road kill is not an emergency.