SWCA News

Starting December 3, 2021, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) will revert to interpreting incidental take under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA) as it did prior to the Trump Administration’s Jorjani Opinion. The Jorjani Opinion concluded that prohibition of incidental take applied only to direct and purposeful actions that resulted in loss of protected migratory birds, eggs, or their nests.

Sarah Sappington has been named the director for the SWCA Sheridan office in addition to Bismarck. 

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) has proposed to list the alligator snapping turtle (Macrochelys temminckii) as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) with a special rule refining the activities that would be prohibited without agency authorization. This species is the largest freshwater turtle in North America and has experienced population declines and reductions in range over many decades.