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Game warden has unlikely path to his position

By Jason Nark The Associated Pres PHILADELPHIA — The sound of rifle fire cracked the air on a recent blustery morning at a Poconos shooting range. When the game warden rolled in, the shooters turned their heads to watch his dark SUV roll slowly across the snow. Everyone notices when the warden shows up, particularly when it’s Warden Praveed “Abe” Abraham. “Cease fire,” Abraham said to the group of shooters as he approached them on foot. Abraham, 32, is the first full-time warden of color in the Pennsylvania Game Commission’s 115-year history. His path to ...

Rarely-seen eagle seems to like its new digs in Maine

GEORGETOWN, Maine (AP) — A rare species of eagle that has thrilled bird lovers and baffled scientists since arriving in Maine last month might not be in a hurry to leave. The Steller’s sea eagle arrived in Maine in late December after a brief stop in Massachusetts more than a month ago. It has stuck to Maine’s middle coast, eating fish and ducks and attracting hundreds of birdwatchers from everywhere. The sea eagle numbers only a few thousand worldwide and is native to northeastern Asia, including Russia and Japan, and has wingspans of up to 8 feet. The bird is far off course, ...

Tying flies great activity in wintertime

By Walt Young sports@altoonamirror.com This time of year, tying flies for a return to the trout streams in the warmer weather of the coming months has been a personal wintertime ritual for more than fifty years. Many other avid fly anglers share that same routine. No other fishing-related hobby has meant as much to me as fly tying, and I can’t imagine fly-fishing and not being a fly tier. When I started fly-fishing in the early 1960s, tying your own flies was almost a necessity. Crafting your own flies cost only a fraction of what it cost to buy completed flies. Even for those who ...

US judge questioning bison decision

The Associated Press YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wyo. — A federal judge has ordered the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to revisit part of its decision not to protect Yellowstone National Park’s bison as an endangered species. The Buffalo Field Campaign and Western Watersheds Project groups have been fighting since 2014 to have Yellowstone’s bison declared endangered or threatened under the Endangered Species Act. They have argued that two separate groups of bison in the park are genetically distinct. Rather than set a population limit of 3,000 animals for the entire park, ...

Wolf control board offering money for kills

By Keith Ridler The Associated Press BOISE, Idaho — State officials earlier this week requested $392,000 from the state’s general fund to kill wolves in Idaho, and with other revenue sources will have just over $1 million for that purpose starting this summer. The Wolf Depredation Control Board made the request to the Legislature’s powerful budget setting committee. The five-member wolf control board is contained within the governor’s office and allocates money for control actions approved by the Idaho Fish and Game Commission. The board’s general fund request is the ...

Funding to help out Great Lakes area

The Associated Press A project that will boost the Great Lakes area to protect the systems from invasive carp will get big funding increases under the Biden administration’s infrastructure package, officials said earlier this week. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said it would pump $226 million to the Brandon Road Lock and Dam near Joliet, Illinois, where plans call for the installation of obstacles to prevent invasive carp from migrating up the Illinois River to Lake Michigan. The project has been a top priority for members of Congress from the eight states that border the ...