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Special Session 2 at the 75th North American Wildlife and Natural Resources Conference will address the constraints, challenges and opportunities to fish and wildlife conservation and related recreation from various land designations of public lands. Wilderness, roadless or other land designations that limit habitat management of federal lands invariably have significant consequences for fish and wildlife populations, their management and recreational access to those lands.

Titled “Active or Passive Management of Public Lands: Implications to Fish and Wildlife Conservation and Recreation,” this Special Session will identify population trends for species that are affected by land designations that limit public access and habitat management opportunities. It will probe the impacts of proscriptive land-designations on the ability of state fish and wildlife agencies to meet habitat and population objectives outlined in State Wildlife Action Plans and societal expectations for outdoor recreation and associated economic activities. In addition, it will explore new and evolving assessment processes designed to compare quantitatively the short- and long-term effects on fish and wildlife of implementing habitat management projects versus effects of not implementing those projects.

Presenters will consider landscape and societal implications as a result of exclusionary federal land designations, including actual and potential impacts on:

• federal and state fire management and suppression activities;
• coordination with state fish and wildlife agencies to meet habitat management; objectives and effectively implement fish and wildlife conservation plans and invasive species control programs;
• hunting, angling and other recreational participation opportunities and attendant satisfaction; and
• state and local economic cost/benefit.

Rebecca Humphries (Michigan Department of Natural Resources) and Gary Kania (Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation) will cochair Special Session 2. Presenters will represent state and federal agencies and a number of influential NGOs.

Along with three other concurrent Special Sessions, Special Session 2 will take place Wednesday morning, March 24, 2010, at the Hilton Milwaukee City Center, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. You can find more information on the 75th North American Conference and each of the Special Sessions at the WMI Web site.

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