CORRECTION: The number of species at risk in Nebraska is nearly 800. A previous version of the story listed only those the state currently considers threatened or endangered. (9:30 a.m. MST, Apr. 19, 2023)


Nebraska's threatened and endangered species - as well as farmers, ranchers and businesses - will benefit if the Recovering America's Wildlife Act becomes law this year.

At the 50th anniversary of the Endangered Species Act, U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich - D-NM - and U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis - R-NC - have reintroduced the bill.

The National Wildlife Federation's Director of Wildlife, Hunting & Fishing Policy Mike Leahy is optimistic it now has the support and momentum it needs.

"Every year there are new studies that come out highlighting how dire the situation is for a lot of species," said Leahy. "About a third of the species in this country are at heightened risk of extinction and decline."

Leahy acknowledged that Congress is still working out funding for the bill, a major roadblock last year.

The Act would give states and tribes $1.4 billion a year to spend on their federally-mandated Wildlife Action Plans, with $98 million designated for Tribal Nations' conservation programs.

Leahy said Nebraska would get roughly $16 million a year to help with 770 species identified as "in conservation need."

Leahy said the so-called RAWA calls for a "proactive, collaborative approach," and would fund projects with farmers, ranchers, landowners and businesses.

"Enhancing grasslands to conserve working farms and ranches," said Leahy. "That supports rural communities and businesses and also the wildlife in those communities. There's control of Eastern red cedars, control of junipers, strategic grazing strategies that can benefit livestock and wildlife."

Michael R. Coe, president of the Nebraska Wildlife Federation, says in an agricultural state like Nebraska wildlife organizations must work with the agricultural community.

"Now, it's not that agriculture landowners are anti-wildlife," said Coe, "but sometimes their farming practices don't work well with wildlife unless we do some specific things to protect them."

Coe said both RAWA and the Farm Bill - which is up for renewal this year - contain provisions designed to help farmers develop, or strengthen practices that benefit wildlife.

"Some of them are based on just training you on how to, for instance, manage your hay crop that doesn't interrupt nesting of birds," said Coe. "Some of has to do with setting aside acres, the old CRP concept."

Nearly 12,000 species in the U.S. are currently considered at risk, including nearly 800 in Nebraska.

The federal Bureau of Land Management has published a new plan for managing public lands which will put oil and gas management in sync with Colorado's big-game conservation policies.

Suzanne O'Neill, executive director of the Colorado Wildlife Federation, said the proposed final plan, which will impact BLM-managed lands in all 64 Colorado counties, is an important move to protect Colorado's iconic wildlife.

"It will help safeguard mule deer, elk, pronghorn and bighorn sheep habitats," O'Neill outlined. "These populations inhabit almost three quarters of the 8.3 million surface acres that the BLM manages."

The plan would amend management plans for 12 BLM field offices in Colorado by limiting active oil and gas sites to one per square mile in big-game high priority habitat. It also requires operators to minimize and offset direct, indirect and cumulative adverse impacts on wildlife. The BLM's proposed final Western Solar Plan revision is expected to be published this summer.

John Howard, former chairman of the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission during the Hickenlooper administration, believes the plan will give energy developers more certainty and should also cut the red tape found when dealing with multiple regulatory environments, which are not always on the same page.

"I think most of them are going to react very positively to having something that aligns so well between the federal government, the state government and local government," Howard projected.

The BLM is charged with managing lands owned by all Americans for multiple uses, including hunting, fishing, camping, rafting and hiking. O'Neill pointed to a 2020 report showing work is also needed to ensure trails and other recreation areas do not harm wildlife.

"They need to be appropriately sited, so they don't disturb wildlife that are birthing in the spring, or trying to migrate," O'Neill urged. "They need to be located in the right places."

Support for this reporting was provided by The Pew Charitable Trusts.


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Virginia's Marine Resources Commission is ending the winter blue crab harvest prohibition.

Crabbing is permitted from March to the middle of December. Extending the harvesting season targets adult female crabs which can harm this species' future. Environmental groups argued the Blue Crab Stock Assessment Committee's research does not support increasing the harvest.

Chris Moore, Virginia executive director for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, said recent winter dredge survey results showed it is an ill-timed decision.

"For the last 8 or 9 years or so, we had actually seen higher numbers of adult females every year going back to 2016 except for 2022," Moore outlined. "That was the year where we actually saw the lowest number of crabs total in that winter dredge survey."

The most recent winter dredge survey showed a continued decline of about 20 million blue crabs in Chesapeake Bay. Moore noted the committee's decision is preliminary and depends on several previous determinations, ranging from the season's duration, number of participants, allowable catch and harvest location. A final decision is set for September.

Reopening the winter harvest will not endanger or eliminate blue crabs from Virginia waterways due to thresholds for the population. Moore thinks the committee should wait for a stock assessment with Maryland and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to be completed. Since the last one was done in 2011, he argued more is known about blue crabs.

"We continue to learn more about the population dynamics of the blue crab," Moore emphasized. "We continue to learn more about some of the predators of the blue crab, like catfish, and so we really need to be thinking about what is the state of the resource now when it comes to managing the species."

Moore added the stock assessment's results can better determine how to manage blue crab populations. Studies show around a quarter of the female blue crab population was removed from Chesapeake Bay by fishing in 2023, below both the threshold to pause the harvest and the target for sustainable blue crab fishing.


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The Bureau of Land Management says it will start a wild horse roundup in Wyoming's White Mountain area, but wildlife advocates say the plan exceeds the agency's authority.

The BLM aims to gather nearly 600 wild horses starting August 15, in an area northwest of Rock Springs - to prevent what it calls 'further deterioration' of the land health due to impacts from the animals.

The group Wild American Horse Conservation says the agency used incorrect data to reach that number, improperly including foal counts.

Suzanne Roy, executive director of the group, said bad numbers are a problem for the local eco-tourism business the horses support, through a Wild Horse Scenic Loop drive.

"We're very concerned that the BLM is playing with numbers to remove more horses than they're legally allowed to," said Roy. "And if they are allowed to proceed, it will reduce the herd to such a low number, you'll never be able to view the horses."

Roundups involve gathering horses into holding pens until they're adopted.

But Roy said there are more horses being held than the adoption market can absorb, and that difference costs taxpayers about $70 million a year.

Roundups are an alternate population control method to sterilization. But Roy said her group advocates instead for fertility control.

"Basically, it's called immunocontraception," said Roy, "and it's a vaccine that creates an immune response in the animals and it prevents fertilization."

Roy said this method is also reversible, which is important in case of unexpected population die-offs.

The BLM is a multiple-use agency charged with balancing numerous interests - including those of the public, grazing rights and multiple wildlife species.

James "Micky" Fisher - lead public affairs specialist with the BLM Wyoming field office - said the agency isn't opposed to fertility treatments, but they're more difficult to implement.

"Unfortunately, with herd management areas of this size and even larger ones," said Fisher, "the sheer number of horses that we're required to gather to get down to the appropriate management level, fertility treatments and darting practices, they're just - they're insufficient."

A larger roundup is currently underway across four Herd Management Areas in central Wyoming.

Fisher said the BLM started the roundup on July 1, to gather over 2,700 animals.




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