Saint Paul, Minnesota - On Monday morning, 150,000 acres were opened to landowner enrollment through the Conservation Reserve Program's (CRP) State Acres For wildlife Enhancement (SAFE) practice. By Tuesday morning, states were already reporting their allotted acreages were fully enrolled. U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced the reallocation of these SAFE acres just over two weeks ago on February 27th at Pheasants Foerver's National Pheasant Fest in Des Moines, Iowa.

In a decision long anticipated by sportsmen and conservationists, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced last week that the greater sage grouse will be designated a candidate species for listing under the Endangered Species Act. The “warranted, but precluded” assessment for the popular upland gamebird, which occupies barely half of its traditional habitat, was startling but not unexpected news for the North American Grouse Partnership, an organization dedicated to the conservation of native grouse and their habitats, and the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership.

Tarrytown, NY – Riverkeeper, New York’s leading clean water advocate, today commended the New York City Council for passing Int. 54-A, a bill substantially increasing penalties for illegal dumping in New York City Waters. The bill, passed unanimously by the City Council, creates a new civil penalty for dumping into the waterways where none currently exists, setting fines at not less than $1,500 or more than $10,000 for the first violation, and not less than $5,000 or more than $20,000 for each subsequent violation.