RIVERTON — The Wyoming Game and Fish Commission met in Riverton this week for their last meeting of 2021. Concluding a big year for wildlife management, the Commission allocated $500,000 to the Kaycee to Buffalo wildlife crossing initiative on Interstate 25, which fully-funds the $3.8 million dollar project. The planned fencing and underpasses will reduce accidents with mule deer and white-tailed deer on a 15-mile stretch of road. Support came from 17 different funding sources, including partners, local government and donations from the public.

Animal migrations and homing instincts remain one the most fascinating of natural phenomena.  Salmon swim upstream and migratory birds fly south, north, and back again.

How do migratory birds know what to do? Memory is deeply implicated—molecular memory—profoundly encoded in the double helix of their DNA from eons of experience.

The first beautiful days of autumn usher migratory birds on their way before the breath of winter lays on the land: honking giant Canada geese in a V pointed south; swarms of chatty rusty blackbirds in an amorphous mass; and confusing fall warblers, singles slipping silently through sylvan stands. Birds big and little have learned a geography of survival over a span of time that rational beings can hardly comprehend.

What cues birds to pick up and go, and by what routes are becoming clearer, producing big data sets from the smallest of technologies over a vast geography of the northeast United States. It’s a multistate endeavor from Maine to Maryland made possible by State Wildlife Grants administered by the Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration program of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

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Triple digit totals of Peregrine Falcons migrated past the Florida Keys Hawkwatch daily for 10 straight days from October 8th to 17th – totaling 2,430 Peregrines in 10 days! Most of us consider a sighting of a single Peregrine a great accomplishment, so imagine daily tallies of 117 Peregrines October 8th, 287 on the 9th, 609 on the 10th, 296 the 11th, 126 the 12th, 137 the 12th, 239 the 14th, 113 the 15th, 134 the 16th, 142 on October 17th. And that’s not all, considering many other raptors graced the sky, including numbers of Ospreys, Broad-winged Hawks, and Sharp-shinned Hawks headed trans-Caribbean.

Take a look at the Florida Keys Hawkwatch daily totals for the month of October to see Peregrine Falcon numbers increase toward the peak days of migration and then downturn after mid-October, and see totals of other birds of prey that passed by the count station at HawkCount The current season total for Peregrines is 3,264!

To review live counts as they are posted today, as well as daily totals throughout the season, and monthly counts of raptors at all hawkwatch count sites across North America – which is great fun and informative – visit HawkCount

Tree planting, care and planning in 11 Michigan communities will be supported by community forestry grant awards totaling $117,208. Funds were competitively awarded through the annual Michigan Department of Natural Resources Community Forestry grant program for projects in Berrien, Ingham, Isabella, Kent, Leelanau, Oakland, Van Buren, Washtenaw and Wayne counties.

November 10, 2021 – The National Deer Association (NDA) November Beer and Deer Webinar will feature NDA’s Chief Conservation Officer, Kip Adams. Supporters can tune in today, November 10 at 7:00 p.m. EST for this month’s episode – Rubs and Scrapes: The 411 on How Deer Communicate. To register for this, and other NDA Beer & Deer webinars, please visit the Beer & Deer webpage at DeerAssociation.com.

“Kip is not only our Chief Conservation Officer, but one of our many in house experts on most things deer,” said NDA President and CEO, Nick Pinizzotto. “We always work hard to make sure each webinar in this series delivers useful information to our listeners and Kip has a ton of knowledge that can really be useful for hunters and land managers everywhere.”

Kip Adams is a certified wildlife biologist and NDA’s Chief Conservation Officer. He has a bachelor’s degree in wildlife and fisheries science from Penn State University and a master’s in wildlife from University of New Hampshire. He’s also a certified taxidermist. Before joining NDA, Adams was the deer and bear biologist for the New Hampshire Fish & Game Department.

Join NDA the second Wednesday of every month to sit in with NDA’s staff and guests as they cover a topic related to deer hunting, habitat management, or the latest in deer research. Additionally, each episode includes a message from Nick Pinizzotto where he discusses everything from behind-the-scenes business at NDA, to important updates in grassroots conservation, advocacy and hunter recruitment efforts.

To catch up or watch previous episodes, please visit the Beer & Deer playlist on NDA’s YouTube channel. Read more

Largest Freshwater Turtle in North America Threatened by Habitat Destruction, Trapping Across Midwest, Southeast

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla.— Following a petition and legal victory from the Center for Biological Diversity, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Monday proposed protecting the alligator snapping turtle under the Endangered Species Act as a threatened species.

This prehistoric-looking freshwater turtle is known for its spiked shell, strong, beaked jaws and worm-like tongue for luring fish. The alligator snapper faces a predicted 95% decline in 50 years and may be doomed to extinction in as few as 30 years under even the most optimistic predictions.

“Alligator snappers are some of the fiercest, wildest creatures in the Southeast, but overexploitation and habitat destruction have put their lives on the line,” said Elise Bennett, a Center attorney. “These freshwater giants will get a real shot at survival and recovery with the help of the Endangered Species Act and its lifesaving protections.”

Habitat degradation, historical overharvest and ongoing capture have caused significant population declines in the once-abundant turtle. Early in the 20th century, alligator snapping turtles were plentiful in river systems draining into the Gulf of Mexico, from the waterways and lakes of the Midwest to the swamps and bayous of Florida, Louisiana and Texas. But the Service found that the species’ range has since contracted in Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Tennessee and possibly in Oklahoma. Read more

Editor’s Note: The Michigan Department of Natural Resources is celebrating its centennial anniversary by releasing a series that recalls various accomplishments of the department over the past century. Happy anniversary, MDNR

Off the edge of a parking lot at Van Riper State Park, an interpretive display showcases information and artifacts resulting from one of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources’ most shining achievements.

The “moose lift,” as it was nicknamed, was a translocation project undertaken to restore the Upper Peninsula’s population of the large, roughly 1,000-pound browsing herbivores that today call the region’s mature forests, ponds and wetlands home.

The Michigan DNR traded moose provided by the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources for wild turkeys. Ontario wanted to help create a population of the gamebirds sustainable for hunting.

“Michigan’s moose reintroduction project was a monumental undertaking in terms of time, equipment, distance and costs,” according to one of the interpretive display panels detailing the effort. “In 1985 and 1987, with the help of the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, sporting clubs, civic groups and other interested people, 59 moose were translocated from Algonquin Provincial Park.”

Helicopters were used to position biologists armed with tranquilizer dart rifles before moose on the surface of frozen Canadian lakes. The moose were drugged and blindfolded to calm and protect them, before being lifted in slings to a staging area.

From there, the moose were radio-collared, crated and loaded into waiting trucks for a 600-mile journey from the park situated north of Toronto to the woodlands of Marquette County, north of Michigamme and Van Riper State Park.

The goal of the project was to create a self-sustaining, free-ranging moose population. An optimistic objective of wildlife biologists back then was to achieve a population of 1,000 moose over the subsequent 15 years.

“We fully expect get a herd large enough to support a limited hunt,” then DNR wildlife biologist George Burgoyne told the Detroit Free Press for an Outdoors Page story in January 1985. “Maybe around the turn of the century.”

Moose were native to Michigan but declined after settlement of the area progressed, with unregulated hunting and with mature forests altered through logging and subsequent forest fires. Read more

Live-streaming camera offers unique viewing experience

WILLCOX, Ariz. — Sandhill cranes by the thousands are once again returning to their wintering grounds at the Whitewater Draw Wildlife Area in southeastern Arizona.

For the next few months, viewers can observe almost 20,000 of these fascinating birds on a live-streaming camera installed by the Arizona Game and Fish Department (AZGFD). The live stream can be viewed at www.azgfd.gov/sandhillcranes.

Of the 47,000-plus sandhill cranes that migrated to Arizona in 2020, a record number — more than 25,000 — spent last winter at the wildlife area near Willcox.

“The sandhill cranes have once again sprung Whitewater Draw Wildlife Area back to life,” said Jeff Meyers, wildlife viewing program manager. “It’s truly a pleasure to offer this unfiltered view of our state’s wildlife directly to the public, giving them a chance to see the migration of this incredible species in action.”

The best time to view the cranes is 30 minutes before and after sunrise, just before they leave to feed for the morning. The leggy birds generally return to the wildlife area before noon, where they will remain for the rest of the day. With the camera being outfitted with infrared technology, viewers also can observe the cranes at night.

AZGFD will do its best to keep the camera focused on the cranes and other interesting wildlife subjects, but there will be times when that isn’t possible because of the unpredictability of wildlife. Viewers who don’t immediately see activity are encouraged to routinely check back. Read more