June 5, 2009

Washington (AP) – A mysterious fungus attacking bats in the U.S. could spread nationwide within years and represents the most serious threat to wildlife in a century, experts warned Congress Thursday. Displaying pictures of bats speckled with the white fungus that gave the disease its name – white-nose syndrome – experts described to two House

Birmingham, Ala. (AP) – The federal government has designated more than 300 miles of southeast Alabama riverways as critical habitat for an endangered fish that industry groups say doesn’t even exist. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said Thursday it has set aside 245 miles of the Alabama River and 81 miles of the Cahaba

Spokane, Wash. (AP) – The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has agreed to consider designating critical habitat for woodland caribou that roam northern Idaho and northeastern Washington state. The agency earlier this week settled a federal lawsuit out of court that includes a November 2011 deadline to craft a critical habitat decision. Defenders of Wildlife

Chicago (AP) – Regular school may be out soon, but urban fishing school’s in. The Illinois Department of Natural Resources is opening fishing clinics mainly for urban children in Chicago 16 years old and younger. The department will also loan out fishing gear at more than 165 locations around the state. Instruction at the urban

Yankton, S.D. (AP) – The Game, Fish and Parks Commission will finalize two deer hunting seasons and take public comment about mountain lions at a meeting in Yankton. The commission’s agenda includes a public hearing Thursday afternoon on a proposed hunting season for lions that would start Jan. 1. It would set a harvest quota

Fishermen on the lower Yukon River will get the king salmon they need to feed their families, even if it means getting a ticket or going to jail, two Alaska Native leaders said. State and federal wildlife managers tightened the rules on subsistence fishing this summer, a “last-resort” decision to boost the number of kings

Yakima, Wash. (AP) – Morgan Grant schmoozes for a living. He does it while wearing a holstered handgun because, for weeks on end, everybody he approaches is carrying a rifle which, for Grant, a state fish and game enforcement sergeant, is all the more grist for schmoozing. “Oh, that’s a beautiful firearm,” he might say.