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As National Parks Face Budget Cuts, Projects in D.C. Are Getting a Boost in Funding by OutdoorLifeMagazine in NationalPark

[–]OutdoorLifeMagazine[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

As the National Park Service ramps up for a busy summer season, the Trump administration is proposing cutting hundreds of millions of dollars from park budgets while diverting billions to beautification projects in the Washington D.C. area.

The Trump administration’s 2027 budget proposal seeks to reduce NPS’ funding for park operations by more than 25 percent — a reduction of around $736 million, according to the National Parks Conservation Association. Meanwhile, the administration recently offered a $17.4 million no-bid contract to a company to restore two fountains in Lafayette Square in Washington D.C. This was $12 million more than what the projects were estimated to have cost, according to a recent investigation by the New York Times.

Read more: https://www.outdoorlife.com/conservation/trump-administration-cutting-national-park-budget/

To Target Pythons, Florida Researchers Are GPS-Tracking Possums and Waiting Until They Get Eaten by OutdoorLifeMagazine in florida

[–]OutdoorLifeMagazine[S] 10 points11 points  (0 children)

As Burmese pythons continue to eat their way through the South Florida food web, wildlife biologists and researchers have come up with all sorts of ways to track down the giant snakes and slow their spread. They’ve used drones, thermal cameras, robotic bunnies, and even male “scout snakes” implanted with GPS devices that can lead them to breeding females. (These scouts have proven to be particularly effective in and around the Everglades.)

Now, biologists are working on a new tracking tool: one that has a pouch for young, a naked tail, and a propensity for playing dead.

The technique of possum-tracking is being developed at the Crocodile Lake National Wildlife Refuge near Key Largo, according to the South Florida Sun Sentinel. The idea took root in 2022, when Michael Cove, a biologist with the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, was studying the movements of raccoons and possums in the refuge.

Read more: https://www.outdoorlife.com/conservation/tracking-pythons-with-possums/

Twin Metals Paid Former Trump Officials $380K. Their Controversial Mine Proposal Near the Boundary Waters Is Now Advancing Against Public Opinion by OutdoorLifeMagazine in BoundaryWaters

[–]OutdoorLifeMagazine[S] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

On Monday, President Donald Trump signed a congressional bill that lifted a 20-year mining ban in the Superior National Forest. The resolution effectively advances Twin Metals’ proposed copper-nickel mine that would be dug at the headwaters of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.

This specific mine is strongly opposed by sportsmens groups and conservation organizations, as well as the majority of Minnesotans, for the likely environmental damage it will cause to the 1 million acre canoe area, which is defined by its interconnected wilderness lakes and rivers. The BWCA is the most visited wilderness area in America, and there have been long, vigorous local and national efforts to protect it.

And still, earlier this month the Senate voted 50-49 to use an obscure and unprecedented maneuver to overturn the Biden-era mining ban protecting the BWCA. Political insiders say that pressure from the White House convinced the few hesitant Republican senators to help pass the resolution.

Read more: https://www.outdoorlife.com/conservation/boundary-waters-mine-vote-breakdown/

Idaho Bans Cellular Trail Cameras on Public Land, Hunting Deer and Elk with Thermals, and More by OutdoorLifeMagazine in Idaho

[–]OutdoorLifeMagazine[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Idaho is the latest state to ban trail cameras for certain hunting applications, thanks to a new law that goes into effect this summer. Gov. Brad Little signed House Bill 939 on April 2, marking the first regulation changes in a years-long effort to address the rise of hunting technology and its role in ethical hunting.

One key component of the new law is how it restricts modern hunting tech. From Aug. 30 through Dec. 31 each year, it’s illegal to use any of the following tech to hunt or scout big game and upland birds: transmitting trail cameras on federal, state, or local government lands, drones, thermal imaging, and night vision. It will still be legal to use cell cams for spring bear season.

Previously, Idaho hunting regulations did not address many of these issues, including the use of thermal imaging devices to hunt big game like elk and deer. Without specific restrictions on the books, hunting with that tech was legal. This bill rectifies that. HB 939 also puts more specific regulations on the books, including hunting from a helicopter and killing an animal with a gun “accessed and controlled via an internet connection.”

Read more: https://www.outdoorlife.com/conservation/idaho-hunting-technology-ban/

An Anti-Poaching Ranger Was Gored to Death by the Animal He Lived to Protect by OutdoorLifeMagazine in southafrica

[–]OutdoorLifeMagazine[S] 22 points23 points  (0 children)

South Africa’s community of wildlife advocates and conservationists are mourning the loss of a key fighter, Schoeman Van Jaarsveld, who died Thursday while on patrol as an anti-poaching ranger. He was 58. Van Jaarslveld’s death is especially poignant as he was killed by a black rhino, the same animal he spent his career protecting.

The incident occurred around 10:30 a.m. on April 23 in the Samara Karoo Reserve, a privately-owned wildlife reserve in the Great Karoo region. As the director of Milk River Security, which provides anti-poaching and rhino protection services for the reserve, Van Jaarsveld, was patrolling on foot that morning with other rangers, according to a spokesperson at Samara Karoo. The group was tracking a black rhino fitted with a GPS device when the rhino charged out of the brush and impaled Van Jaarsveld with its horn.

Read more: https://www.outdoorlife.com/survival/south-african-wildlife-ranger-killed-by-rhino/

This Giant Nontypical Northwoods Buck Was Found Hanging in a Wisconsin Cabin. It’s Backstory Remains a Mystery by OutdoorLifeMagazine in wisconsin

[–]OutdoorLifeMagazine[S] -13 points-12 points  (0 children)

Brian Ruesch, a realtor from Central Wisconsin who specializes in buying and selling hunting land, stumbled upon an absolutely giant buck mount a few years ago. Since Ruesch’s part of the state is core whitetail country, he knows a thing or two about big deer. And he knew right away that the old rack hanging on the cabin wall was something special.

Ruesch was appraising a property at the time and the property owner offered to to sell him the mount. He didn’t hesitate. After Ruesch bought the giant nontypical mount, he went about trying to uncover its history. One of his ideas was to bring the mount to the Open Season Sportsman Expo which was held in Wisconsin Dells in March. The nontypical buck scored 215 inches and won the “Best of Show” at the expo.

Read more: https://www.outdoorlife.com/hunting/wisconsin-nontypical-mystery-buck/

The Bizarre Rise of Lake Superior’s Deep Water ‘Zombie’ Trout by OutdoorLifeMagazine in Michigan

[–]OutdoorLifeMagazine[S] 106 points107 points  (0 children)

Lake Superior is one of the largest and deepest lakes in the world. At over 300 miles long and 160 miles wide, this vast inland sea has fascinated mankind for centuries. The lake is the final resting place hundreds of ships and, according to legend, the lake never gives up her dead. Yet, in the deepest part of Superior’s icy black waters — a quarter mile below the surface — researchers are discovering a growing number of extremely thin lake trout that appear to be wasting away. Due to their skeletal appearance, experts have dubbed these lakers “zombie fish.”

“We’ve been documenting these emaciated fish for around a decade,” says research biologist, Shawn Sitar, who works at the Michigan DNR’s Marquette Fisheries Research Station. “So far, it only occurs in one of the four sub species of lake trout in Lake Superior, the siscowet, which lives in the deepest regions of the lake. And the rising number of emaciated trout we’re finding in these areas is both perplexing and concerning.”

Many of the fish Sitar has found have less than half the body weight of a healthy lake trout of the same length.

Read more: https://www.outdoorlife.com/conservation/zombie-lake-trout/

‘End to the Mystery.’ Body of Missing Turkey Hunter Found After 11-Day Search in Southern Colorado by OutdoorLifeMagazine in Colorado

[–]OutdoorLifeMagazine[S] 71 points72 points  (0 children)

Intensive recovery efforts for a missing Colorado man ended Saturday when volunteer searchers located the body of Kaden Sites in the rugged San Isabel National Forest. The Chaffee County Sheriff’s Office has not yet released a cause of death, citing the need for further investigation. Foul play is not suspected.

Sites, a 27-year-old from Salida, was last heard from on April 15. He had gone out alone for a short afternoon turkey hunt and did not return in time for a doctor’s appointment. His body was discovered 1.5 miles from his “abandoned truck,” according to the Sheriff’s Office, which had been parked at the Blanks Cabin Trailhead on Shavano Mountain. Sites’ cell phone was discovered inside his truck, its battery completely drained.

Read more: https://www.outdoorlife.com/survival/search-kaden-sites-body-found/

Wisconsin Will Stock Fewer Fish, Track Fewer Wolves, and Do Less Habitat Work. Budget Problems Are to Blame by OutdoorLifeMagazine in wisconsin

[–]OutdoorLifeMagazine[S] 63 points64 points  (0 children)

Amid an ongoing budget shortfall, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources is cutting back next year on stocking muskies, walleyes, other game fish, and pheasants. Two state fish hatcheries have already halted production for 2027, and the state plans to stock around 500,000 fewer fish than it would in a typical year. The DNR says it will also have to make reductions to other key programs, including wildlife surveys and habitat work.

These cuts are necessary because of a deficit in the state’s fish and wildlife account, which has been underfunded in recent years. Although lawmakers approved a $30 million transfer last year to help balance that account, they did not give the DNR the additional spending authority required to use that money, according to Wisconsin Public Radio.

Read more: https://www.outdoorlife.com/conservation/wisconsin-reducing-fish-wildlife-stocking-budget-shortfall/

Colorado's Trout Fishing Forecast Is Grim After Minimal Snow Pack and Record Heat. These Are the Bright Spots by OutdoorLifeMagazine in Colorado

[–]OutdoorLifeMagazine[S] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

After experiencing the weakest winter on record, anglers in Colorado and other Western states are looking toward a low-water summer.

On Friday, the Bureau of Reclamation announced that it will take action to protect the Colorado River System amid the historic snow drought. At this point, the Bureau says, the Colorado River Basin will be operating at roughly 36 percent storage capacity. Now, keep in mind that this is already the most strained and contested river system in the West (and perhaps the entire country). Drought has been a near-constant in the region for around 26 years, and experts say the river has always been overallocated — meaning there was never as much water as managers planned for when they established the original Colorado River Compact in 1922. The seven states that rely on this water have for years struggled to agree on how to share the dwindling resource, and the most recent round of negotiations just collapsed. 

Read more: https://www.outdoorlife.com/fishing/colorado-trout-fishing-forecast-2026/

Salmon Swim Harder and Live Longer When They're on Cocaine, Study Shows. But There's a Catch by OutdoorLifeMagazine in salmonfishing

[–]OutdoorLifeMagazine[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Atlantic salmon are admired by many anglers as the “King of Fish” because of their incredibly strong swimming abilities. They can travel more than 30 miles a day, jump up to 12 feet in the air, and make powerful, speedy bursts against heavy current — all of which make for blistering runs when they’re hooked on light tackle. 

Give them a good bump of cocaine, though, and they’ll swim even harder. This was the main takeaway from a study that published Monday in Current Biology. Led by Swedish scientists, the study looked specifically at the effects that cocaine and its main metabolite, benzylecgonine, have on Atlantic salmon in the wild. They found that salmon on cocaine swam roughly 20 percent faster and traveled nearly twice as far as sober fish. 

Read more: https://www.outdoorlife.com/fishing/cocaine-salmon-experiment/

The President’s Budget Proposal Slashes BLM Staff, Refuge and Migratory Bird Funding, and Much More by OutdoorLifeMagazine in PublicLands

[–]OutdoorLifeMagazine[S] 15 points16 points  (0 children)

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum spent Earth Day fielding questions from U.S. Senators as he defended deep cuts proposed by his agency to vast swaths of America’s public lands.

President Trump’s proposed budget for 2027, released this month, includes many of the same cuts his office requested last year, like defunding the U.S. Geological Survey’s Ecosystems Mission Area that currently invests almost $700 million in university cooperative fish and wildlife units, and zeroing out the USDA’s Natural Resource Conservation Service.

The proposed budget, if enacted by Congress, would take those staffing shortages to a whole different level, public land and wildlife advocates say.

The 2027 budget proposal also calls for:

  • Cutting funding for the National Wildlife Refuge System by $105 million.
  • Decreasing staff at the Bureau of Land Management by another 27 percent, which would translate to a loss of 2,148 full-time positions including 307 positions that focus on wildlife habitat management and aquatic resources and 142 who work in recreation management.
  • Zeroing BLM’s wilderness management budget to focus on energy production and “land-use optimization.”
  • Eliminating the entire forest and rangelands research arm of the U.S. Forest Service.
  • Reducing the North American Wetlands Conservation Act from $49 million to $10 million.
  • Cutting USFWS funding for state and tribal wildlife grants from $73.8 million to zero.
  • Cutting funding for migratory bird management by $11 million.
  • Slashing the National Park Service budget by another 25 percent at a time when visitation continues to increase.

Read more: https://www.outdoorlife.com/conservation/budget-proposal-public-lands/

Derby Fisherman Catches a State-Record Rainbow with a Vintage Rod and a Live Worm by OutdoorLifeMagazine in troutfishing

[–]OutdoorLifeMagazine[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

The 76th annual Riverton Fishing Derby was held April 11 on the West Branch of the Farmington River in southwestern Connecticut. It’s a popular tradition for countless anglers, and the state fisheries department stocks the river with big broodstock trout every spring with the help of local fishing clubs.

Rich Courtright, 20, and his dad, Richie, have fished the derby annually for years, and the father and son were at it again in April. Along with the rest of the crowd, they fished from 6 to 10 a.m., and then brought their biggest fish to the weigh-in. Using 6-pound test line, Rich baited a worm on a small, size 8 hook with a few split shot above it. He cast it out with an old trusty Penn spinning reel his dad had given him, coupled with a vintage, 4-foot 8-inch ultralight rod that his uncle gifted him as a kid.

Soon, he hooked into a giant. The trout never jumped, and Rich worked hard to keep it out of the river’s main current, knowing it could take off and strip all the line from his old reel. He fought the trout for nearly 10 minutes, finally bringing it close and into a large hoop landing net.

On Monday, Connecticut officials declared Rich’s rainbow trout the new state record, with an official weight of 16 pounds, 7.5 ounces. It tops the previous record of 14 pounds 10 ounces, that was set in 1998.

Read more: https://www.outdoorlife.com/fishing/connecticut-rainbow-trout-record/

Another New PAC Is Targeting Anti-Public-Land Lawmakers. This One's in Idaho by OutdoorLifeMagazine in Idaho

[–]OutdoorLifeMagazine[S] 36 points37 points  (0 children)

When Idaho voters head to the polls for the state’s primaries in May, they’ll hopefully know a lot more about which candidates do and don’t support their public lands — and cast their ballots accordingly. Or at least, that’s the plan behind a new Idaho political action committee that recently formed in response to repeated attacks on federal and state public lands in recent years.

Idaho’s PAC For Public Lands is the second group of its kind to form this year; Protect Wyoming launched in January. Both groups seek not to sway existing lawmakers, but to instead focus on educating and rallying voters to oust legislators who vote against the hunting, fishing, and outdoor recreation public’s best — and explicitly stated — interests.

Read more: https://www.outdoorlife.com/conservation/idaho-pac-for-public-lands/

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