A deficit is looming in the fund that provides most of the dollars for Minnesota's fish and wildlife programs, and it's projected to go into the red as soon as next year. That could mean deep cuts to programs important to hundreds of thousands of Minnesotans unless lawmakers take action.

USDA will accept over 300,000 acres in 43 states that were offered by producers during the recent ranking period for the Conservation Reserve Program Grasslands enrollment with emphasis placed on small-scale livestock operations.

In this Dec. 7, 2011, file photo, a female Mexican gray wolf at the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge in central N.M. Republicans in Congress are readying plans to roll back the reach of the Endangered Species Act after decades of complaints that it hinders drilling, logging and other activities on public lands. Over the past eight years, GOP lawmakers sponsored dozens of measures aimed at curtailing the landmark law or putting species such as gray wolves and sage grouse out of its reach.

Southwest Oregon's public lands: bursting with wild rivers, rare plants, and ancient forests. Last week, after years of hard work and community action, two extraordinary places received some much-needed conservation.

This Nov. 4, 2013, file photo shows a salmon making its way up the salmon ladder at Nimbus Hatchery in Rancho Cordova, Calif. In control of Congress and soon the White House, Republicans are readying plans to roll back the influence of the Endangered Species Act, one of the government's most powerful conservation tools, after decades of complaints that it hinders drilling, logging and other activities.

Firearms are an accepted part of modern warfare and military operations, but after the job is done, the environment suffers. Not only do spent shells and casings litter the landscape, but they can also prove to be a hazard to local wildlife -- not to mention the impact that chemical residues, such as bullet metals and rust, can have on future plant growth and sustainability.

President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration may be nearing, but that doesn't mean President Barack Obama's Interior Department is finished making decisions about the future of the United States' vast natural resources and open spaces. This week, the agency's Bureau of Land Management issued four plans to shape the management of some 6.5 million publicly owned acres of Alaska's eastern interior, a remote area stretching from Fairbanks to the Canada border that is filled with rivers, streams, forests, and very few major roads.

In their first day back on the job, the House of Representatives voted for a rule change that would make it easier to give away national public lands. The American people overwhelmingly oppose selling off our National Parks, Forests, Wildlife Refuges, and other special places.

A new wildfire-fighting plan to protect a wide swath of sagebrush country in the Western U.S. that supports cattle ranching and is home to an imperiled bird will likely continue after the Obama administration ends, Interior Secretary Sally Jewell said Tuesday. Jewell spoke after receiving her last update at the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise where managers oversee the nation's firefighting resources.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' newest effort in the long fight to save the pallid sturgeon is concentrated on 10 sites in the Missouri River between Kansas City and St. Louis. The Corps is working to re-engineer and restore some of the sites to allow better habitat for the pallid sturgeon, which has been an endangered species since 1990.

Coyotes are a fairly common sight in rural areas of the Pacific Northwest and Northern California, and landowners might instinctively reach for the rifle if they see one in the pasture or sniffing around the barn. Put a coyote in a city, however, and residents are more likely to react in a way that ranges from trying to feed them to panicking over their pets and children.

COLUMBUS, Ohio - In a story Dec. 11 about land leases on the Wayne National Forest, The Associated Press reported erroneously why a forest office was closed.

Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services Deputy Under Secretary Alexis Taylor announced the U.S. Department of Agriculture will accept more than 504,000 acres that were offered by producers during the recent ranking period for the Conservation Reserve Program Grasslands enrollment. Through the voluntary CRP Grasslands program, grasslands threatened by development or conversion to row crops are maintained as livestock grazing areas, while providing important conservation benefits.

For more than 20 years, the Gwich'in people of Alaska and northern Canada have fought to protect the 1.2-million-acre coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife from oil drilling. A film released today by Patagonia, The Refuge , tells the story of two Gwich'in women who oppose the drilling.