by Bob Marshall

Are they crazy or brilliant?

That's a question Trout Unlimited and a growing number of sportsmen are asking about the House leadership after it launched yet another attempt to block a proposed new wetlands guidance that could restore protection to millions of acres of wetlands, including headwaters of trout streams across the West.

The latest effort comes from the House Appropriations Committee, which voted along party lines for a measure that would prevent the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers from spending any money to implement the guidance, expected to be issued by the Obama Administration in the next few months.

Two House GOP budgets previously contained similar policy directives, neither of which made it through Congress. But the fact this try came so late in the game – and from a different vector – makes many conservationists nervous.

By Colin Kearns

Draper and I have been talking about adding another regular on the blog — something to help wash down all of the great game and fish that’s served here. So, we present The Toast. Every now and then we’ll bring reviews, recipes and stories of our favorite drinks (and, no, not all will be booze) to enjoy with a meal or just to celebrate a good day outdoors.

I’ll kick The Toast off with some notes about a new whiskey I was lucky to enjoy over the last month: Crown Royal Black. I’m definitely more of a bourbon and rye guy, but I enjoy Canadian whiskey now and then. I’ve always liked classic Crown — but now I like Black more.

--Chad Love

Any Alabama turtle hunters out there? If so, then you are no more, and you can thank the apparently insatiable Asian turtle meat market for that...
 
From this story on wkrg.com:  

Hunting wild freshwater turtles is now illegal in Alabama. The new regulations, which went into effect on Sunday, are some of the strictest in the nation - a fact herpetologist and "turtle expert" Dr. David Nelson welcomes. "We want to protect what we have," said Dr. Nelson, a professor at the University of South Alabama. "Because you can't go many places in this world and find nicer habitats or more diverse fauna, and so we've got something really valuable, and we need to keep and protect it." It turns out Asia has a big appetite for turtle meat, for food and medicinal purposes. According to experts, Asia depleted their own supply, and turned to the U.S to feed their hunger.

by Bob Marshall

Sportsmen, take a bow.

Fish and wildlife finally had a good week on the conservation front because your hard work resulted in this news Friday afternoon:

The Obama administration has found a way to fund an extra million CRP acres targeted for wetlands and grasslands, and will reshuffle upwards of 70 percent (almost $30 million) of the Migratory Bird Conservation Fund (MBCF) so it goes to work on the prairie pothole region.

Those headlines were rare sweet relief for the conservation community, which has spent most of the last 14 months as the favorite piñata of so-called deficit hawks in congress as well as at the administration. In 2011, the House of Representatives attempted to eviscerate decades-long conservation programs that have proven to be money makers for the economy. And last month President Obama's 2013 budget showed no funding for the Wetlands Reserve or Grasslands Reserve  programs.