LUVHunting

Nice mid-morning shad bite on the Potomac in DC the other week despite the drought and warm April water and air. The surface spray from all the shad was like nothing this lifelong fishing friend from had ever seen. This was just upriver from on their boat and recommendation.

These dogs can really hunt! Wasn’t sure after lots of couch time in the MD ‘burbs, surgeries, etc. So took them to ND and MT Wildlife Management Areas and private land access areas and they both were on fire. Thanks to and montana fish wildlife and parks for abundant access and well managed WMAs.

I love hearing and sometimes seeing barred owls from my back deck in Maryland. But barred owls have moved west, with our unintentional help, and are killing off an owl native to the magnificent old forests of the Pacific Northwest, the northern spotted owl. Sometimes saving a species calls for removing members of another species. A bill to block the removal of barred owls, and doom the spotted owl to potential extinction, was resounding defeated in the US Senate recently. It was reassuring to see how strong the support still is for science-based wildlife management and endangered species throughout the conservation world, from hardcore hunting to hardcore green groups.

Spotted Owls: A Proven Strategy Against Extinction - The National Wildlife Federation Blog The northern spotted owl population has been rapidly declining, largely due to an unexpected culprit—the barred owl. A proven wildlife management strategy offers the potential to avoid extinction.

🚨 Redefining ‘Harm’ Will Exacerbate Wildlife Crisis 🚨

A proposal to redefine the word “harm” could render one of the most successful environmental laws, the Endangered Species Act, ineffective at conserving the habitat needed to recover declining wildlife.

“This proposal ignores the essential fact — known to hunters, anglers, biologists, and even casual observers — that wildlife cannot exist without habitat and vice versa. The loss of habitat is the number one reason species decline,” said Mike Leahy, NWF's senior director of wildlife, hunting and fishing policy.

Read the full press release 📲: https://ow.ly/ZVC450VCzN2

Finally! When I realized back in high school that Grayling, Michigan was not only home to Bear Archery (at the time) but also arctic grayling once upon a time, I thought that was so cool, and wondered why we had not brought them back. I caught some of these fish in Alaska years back and they are beautiful and a lot of fun. Thanks and good luck in this effort to the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians, the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians, the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, and .

400,000 Arctic grayling eggs to be planted in Michigan waters 89 years after local extinction Arctic grayling disappeared from Michigan’s waterways in 1936.

Good to seem some progress on this important wildlife crossing.

MDT starts study of Sixmile wildlife crossing proposal Interstate highways fragment wildlife habitat and hinder, if not completely stop, important animal migration, but an effort is afoot to reduce those problems on Interstate 90 west of Missoula.

National Wildlife Federation Uniting all Americans to ensure wildlife thrive in a rapidly changing world, the National Wildlife Federation builds upon our nation's conservation heritage for present and future generations.

If Congress had been allowed to override biologists and the Endangered Species Act - for only the second/third times - it would have been a major setback to wildlife conservation in the U.S. as we know it.

With veto, Biden blocks GOP lawmakers' move to strip SC bat from endangered list Congressional Republicans including Rock Hill's Ralph Norman led the charge to remove federal protections for the northern long-eared bat, but President Joe Biden's veto thwarts their efforts.

Last week, Senate Democrats and Republicans introduced the “Wildlife Innovation and Longevity Driver Reauthorization (WILD) Act.”

The bipartisan legislation would reauthorize the Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program, which enables wildlife and habitat conservation in all 50 states and territories.

The Partners for Fish and Wildlife program has become a key tool for maintaining big game migrations and supporting other voluntary conservation projects on private lands.

Senate Democrats and Republicans just introduced the WILD Act to continue this U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service program, thanks Senator Carper & Senator Capito for leading the way!

We ask all Senators to sponsor this bill.

https://www.nwf.org/Outdoors/Blog/04-12-2023-Sandhills-above-Sharptails-below-Pronghorn-on-the-skyline

Sandhills above Sharptails below Pronghorn on the Skyline | Outdoors | National Wildlife Federation Sandhill cranes are conservation royalty. Tall, raucous, prehistoric, they were an omen of good luck, good fortune, or good fishing to certain Native American Tribes. To conservation luminary Aldo Leopold they were the “trumpet in the orchestra of evolution”, “symbol of our untamable past.” ...