WESTFIELD, Massachusetts – June 23, 2023 – Savage Arms announces the release of its latest Savage Journeys episode: The Duren Family Farm. This complete story, by Savage Journeys and Savage Arms Affiliate Doug Duren, follows the 400 acre farm that’s revolutionizing conservation and community. This farm has been in Duren’s family for 120 years, and is located near Cazenovia, in a portion of southwest Wisconsin known as the Driftless Area. The farm contains extensive farming and wood spaces–it’s here that Duren encourages conservation through a new project. One that allows visitors access to his land in exchange for their assistance with maintenance and management projects on the farm.

Viewers can follow along as Duren provides the backstory on this farming and hunting project that is thriving on his family’s land. He attributes the project’s success to its values, which are rooted in the works of Aldo Leopold. Many people know Leopold as a pioneer in wildlife conservation and are familiar with his life story and major accomplishments. Leopold’s collection of essays “A Sand County Almanac” is iconic in many conservation, environmental and hunting communities–and Duren will be the first to agree with its importance.

“Leopold, that little book, and his other essays have continued to speak to me throughout my life,” Duren said. He adds that, “Leopold and a fascinating project: The Riley Game Cooperative,” were a great inspiration to this experiment in conservation on his farm. “At Riley, Leopold and some folks from town became friends with a group of local farmers. They worked together to improve marginal land for all wildlife, especially game species. Cooperatively they shared the work, the hunting and recreation benefits of their efforts.” This Riley Game Cooperative is greatly similar to the operation run by Duren, shown in this Savage Journeys story. Read more

Birders around the world are fascinated by vagrants – birds that turn up in unexpected places well beyond their species’ normal range. Vagrancy can be caused for a variety of reasons, but an interesting article published in Audubon magazine provides a new perspective on “lost” or “rare” birds. Ornithologists from the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) recently found a new reason that birds go astray by analyzing 60 years of bird banding data. They demonstrated that the frequency of vagrant birds increases during periods of geomagnetic disturbance – during a distortion in the Earth’s magnetic field, or a space storm.

Benjamin Tonelli, the study’s co-author, began his Ph.D. program at UCLA working under co-author Morgan Tingley during the summer of 2020, and by accessing data from the US Geological Survey’s Bird Banding Laboratory – more specifically, records of 2 million captures of 152 land bird species spanning 60 years – Tonelli and Morgan were able to look for connections between the rate of vagrancy over time relative to other factors, including geomagnetic disturbance and solar activities.

A clear pattern emerged: Vagrancy during fall migration increased during disruptive periods to the Earth’s magnetic field. Increased levels of geomagnetic disturbance were associated with a 250 percent increase in the number of re-captures of banded birds from unexpected places or time periods; and the effect was even more pronounced for long-distance migrants. These are the birds we read about weekly in the American Birding Association (ABA), Rare Bird Alert. Read more

MISSOULA, Mont. — Western landscapes recently impacted by wildfires are receiving $7.8 million in forest restoration treatments.

The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation allotted $330,000 in 2023 grant funding to help recover habitat for elk, mule deer, moose, pronghorn antelope, sage grouse, turkey and other wildlife, upping its overall 2021-2023 commitment to $1.6 million. Those funds helped leverage $6.2 million from RMEF’s conservation partners.

“Healthy forests mean healthy habitat. These active forest management projects positively affect elk and scores of other species,” said Kyle Weaver, RMEF president and CEO. “We recognize this would not happen without the U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, state and county agencies, private landowners and other partnerships.”

Habitat enhancement projects include invasive weed treatment, planting native grasses and shrubs, aspen restoration, conifer thinning, fence removal and/or replacement with wildlife-friendly fencing, riparian restoration and repairing or constructing wildlife water sources.

As of today, there are 41 wildfire restoration grants awarded to 10 states from 2021 through April 2023 with work continuing through 2025. Below is a list of the most recent 2023 projects slated to receive support. Read more

Ask many hunters across the country what their bucket list hunt is, and it would probably be a western big game hunt for elk, mule deer, or pronghorn. The vast landscapes these animals call home, with high-elevation forests and seemingly endless sagebrush sea, present the challenge and excitement for a dream hunt. These landscapes also define the lives of big game animals that must migrate across vast distances through the seasons to fulfill their habitat needs.

Hunters and westerners in general have long recognized that the deer they see in the sagebrush flats in mid-winter will be gone once spring unveils the newly sprouting forage in higher elevations. As the “green wave” moves up the hillside each spring, so too do the big game species as they follow the food that sustains them. They head to high elevations to fawn or calve, staying in the high country through the summer months before making the same trek back down. The advent of GPS wildlife collars has unveiled an even more detailed story about the life cycle of big game species, and the vulnerable habitats along their migration routes.

For decades, state fish and wildlife agencies have been at the forefront of managing big game populations, utilizing funds through the sale of hunting licenses as well as excise taxes paid by manufacturers of firearms, ammunition, and archery gear through the Pittman-Robertson Wildlife Restoration Fund. But the West is booming, and new housing construction, energy development, and increased traffic on roads coupled with wildland fires and the wide swing of drought to heavy snowpack, are all affecting big game populations.

Five years ago, the Department of the Interior’s Secretarial Order 3362 was signed to support state efforts to identify and improve big game migration corridors and seasonal ranges. According to the Department, direct funding to implement the Order over the last five years included $6.4 million for research and $2.5 million for mapping support to state fish and wildlife agencies. In addition, $20 million was directed toward habitat conservation and enhancement through a grant program coordinated by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. The new funding and focused attention have been invaluable to rapidly ramp up conservation efforts, however, states emphasize how important Pittman-Robertson funding has been to help them work with partners to implement big game habitat connectivity projects. Read more

A pair of grants from Wildlife Habitat Canada will add Hen Houses and expand hunter recruitment across Canada

WINNIPEG, MANITOBA — Grants from Wildlife Habitat Canada have been awarded to Delta Waterfowl to bolster the organization’s Hen House program, as well as HunteR3 recruitment and advocacy efforts.

A $60,000 WHC grant will support the growth and management of Delta’s Hen House program in Canada, adding new Hen Houses to the duck production effort. The grant will be used to build and install 200 new Hen Houses in Canada, as well as to support the maintenance of 750 existing nest structures. The new Hen Houses will be installed in the Canadian prairie pothole region, likely in mallard-producing regions of Alberta and Saskatchewan.

By providing a safe, productive nest site to mallard hens, these over-water nest structures make a successful hatch up to 12 times more likely. For hens nesting in grass cover, nest success is often less than 10 percent—a dismal rate that falls below the necessary level to maintain duck populations. In Hen Houses, nest success typically ranges from 60 to 90 percent. Read more

Contact: Chad Stewart 517-284-4745

DNR moose survey results show population in western UP statistically unchanged since 2019

Some survey indicators mark dynamics to watch going forward

In survey results reported to the Michigan Natural Resources Commission in Roscommon today, the moose population estimate for the western Upper Peninsula was not statistically different from the last moose survey conducted in 2019.

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources has been surveying the western U.P.’s core moose population since 1997, typically every other winter. The 2023 survey marks the first survey completed since 2019 due to scheduling conflicts associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The 2023 moose survey estimate was 426* individuals, which is not statistically different from the 2019 estimate of 509 individuals,” said Tyler Petroelje, northern Michigan wildlife research specialist with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources in Marquette. “This continues the trend of plateauing abundance where population growth over the last 12 years is now less than 1%.”

Aerial moose surveys are conducted over core moose habitat areas during winter to identify and tally bulls, cows and calves. This past winter’s survey was conducted by the DNR during portions of January and February.

The western U.P. moose core range covers about 1,400 square miles in parts of Marquette, Baraga, and Iron counties. Moose were translocated there from Canada in two separate efforts in 1985 and 1987. Read more