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Why It Matters: California’s law-abiding hunters and recreational shooters have long played a vital role in funding conservation through various wildlife management efforts throughout the state. Under the American System of Conservation Funding (ASCF), a unique “user pays — public benefits” program, California’s sportsmen and women generate tens of millions of dollars each year for…

Why it matters: A recent discovery by the National Marine Fisheries Service that the current Marine Recreational Information Program is overestimating angler harvest, one of the key components needed for stock assessments and setting annual harvest quotas, creates significant challenges for fisheries managers and could hamper recreational angler access in the years ahead. While it…

Why It Matters: New Jersey Division of Fish & Wildlife (NJDFW) is requesting the public’s help reporting potentially diseased deer within the Garden State. Wildlife managers ask that if you suspect a deer is diseased to report via the new Deer Disease Sighting Form (arcgis.com). This input is extremely valuable to the New Jersey Department…

Why It Matters: Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) is an always fatal neurologic disease caused by an environmentally resilient, infectious protein called a prion that infects both farmed and free ranging cervids. CWD was first discovered in Colorado during the late 1960s and was subsequently detected in wild deer in 1981. Although CWD was first detected…

Why it Matters: While the dog days of summer may not seem like the ideal time to be thinking about prescribed burning, actions taken now can set the stage for the use of prescribed fire later in the year. For land managers interested in improving wildlife habitat in many parts of the Lower Midwest, this…

Why it Matters: Arguably the most important access program in the Farm Bill for sportsmen and women, the Voluntary Public Access – Habitat Incentive Program (VPA-HIP) has expanded public access to roughly a million acres of private lands across the nation. As one of the few Conservation Title programs that does not receive baseline funding,…