MONTPELIER, Vt. – The onset of fall sends Vermont’s bats into motion, which makes it an important time for conservation-minded Vermonters to learn about, and help conserve, our nine native bat species.

If you have noticed bats roosting in your attic, barn, or office over the summer, fall is the perfect time to safely evict these uninvited guests from your property. This is because summer groups of bats that roost in buildings begin to scatter in the fall, in preparation for migration or hibernation. You can learn how to safely evict bats from your building at the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department’s best management practices page.

You can also help bat conservation efforts by reporting large colonies of bats living in structures to the department’s website. Locations with rare colonies of endangered little brown bats are eligible for free bat houses from Vermont Fish and Wildlife. Read more

By Jim Shepherd…

When you think of our national parks during and post-pandemic, you immediately start thinking of the crowds of vacationers who jammed into them in order to enjoy some time outdoors. And you’d be mostly correct. Like other countries, our national public lands have been crowded to the point that many longtime visitors have complained.

In most, it’s not an unfair description. In some, traffic jams looked more like rush hour in a major city than a chance to get outdoors and commune with Mother Nature. In California, however, our public lands have suffered from more natural disasters than crowding. Between wildfires and flooding, national areas in California have suffered disastrous breakdowns in service and infrastructure.

That’s why I headed to California last week with more than a little trepidation. A long-anticipated photography class in Death Valley National Park has been something I’d looked forward to like a nine-year old looks forward to Christmas. Read more

Everywhere, USA. –– Field Ethos recently interviewed U.S. Congressman Andrew Clyde on their podcast to discuss his controversial bill the RETURN Act, which would eliminate the excise tax on firearms and ammunition that currently fund conservation and land access efforts of state wildlife agencies.

The RETURN act stands for “Repealing Excise Tax on Unalienable Right Now” and has received both criticism and praise from member of the hunting and shooting community.

In a move that some have called revolutionary, Field Ethos decided to actually talk to the person who wrote the bill and ask questions. Although it is much easier to read a press release and pass off an opinion as news, Field Ethos decide to do the moderately inconvenient work of talking to the author.

“When counting in dog years, Field Ethos has long been known for taking a different approach.”, said Jason Vincent, Field Ethos CEO. “In keeping with that tradition, we decided to interview Representative Clyde and have him address his bill and the concerns it generated.”

A rep for Andrew Clyde confirmed that none of the entities who had written articles opposing the bill had reached out for comment.

To see the interview in its entirety and form your own opinion, watch it for free on MOTV. Read more

The Need for the Recovering America’s Wildlife Act

Washington D.C. )- Wednesday, the North American Bird Conservation Initiative (NABCI) published the State of the Birds 2022 Report, highlighting two important trends and revealing an important message. The report reveals that birds are declining overall in every habitat except in wetlands, where decades of investment have resulted in dramatic gains. Comebacks of waterfowl show the power of dedicated conservation funding and policy investments. Passage of proactive conservation legislation, such as the Recovering America’s Wildlife Act, is essential to reverse this trend and bring birds back.

“Over 3 billion birds have been lost since 1970- more than a quarter of our birds in the U.S. and Canada. These dramatic bird losses demonstrate the urgent need for increased funding for their conservation,” said Curt Melcher, Director of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife and President of the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies. “The Recovering America’s Wildlife Act is a solution to this critical problem.”

Findings included in the report:

• More than half of U.S. bird species are declining.
• U.S. grassland birds are among the fastest declining with a 34% loss since 1970.
• Waterbirds and ducks in the U.S. have increased by 18% and 34% respectively during the same period.
• 70 newly identified Tipping Point species have each lost 50% or more of their populations in the past 50 years, and are on a track to lose another half in the next 50 years if nothing changes. They include beloved gems such as Rufous Hummingbirds, songsters such as Golden-winged Warblers, and oceanic travelers such as Black-footed Albatrosses.

Read more

Bozeman, Montana – The Wild Sheep Foundation (WSF) has allocated over $1.22 million in conservation grants, most of which will be used to capture, test, GPS collar, and release nearly 600 wild sheep for its fiscal year 2022-23. Some of these captured sheep will be translocated to new habitats.

“We’re upping the game,” said Gray N. Thornton, President and CEO of the Wild Sheep Foundation. “Active management is the only way to put and keep more wild sheep on the mountain. With the threat of disease transmission, abundant predators, and low natural reproductive rates, there is too much stacked against our wild sheep to let the chips fall where they may.”

Between July 1, 2022, and June 30, 2023, wild sheep projects in eight states and provinces will take place with several objectives, all aimed at maintaining the health of current populations and, where possible, moving surplus animals to augment struggling herds. One project is a three-state initiative in Idaho, Oregon, and Washington that will capture and sample 275 sheep.

“This is a multi-year, multi-jurisdictional adaptive management project to investigate further “test and remove” as a strategy to clear M.ovi from bighorn sheep populations,” explained Kevin Hurley, WSF’s VP of Conservation. In winter 2021-22, 249 bighorns in four populations were captured and tested in this tri-state project; during winter 2022-23, 275 sheep in seven populations will be tested.

M.ovi is a deadly respiratory pathogen inflicting wild sheep transferred by animal-to-animal contact with domestic sheep or other infected bighorns. Those wild sheep testing positive for the pathogen are often pro-actively euthanized. Read more