Western Hunting Journal, Vol. 1, Issue 3 whj013_final | Page 61

CWD in Your State? Most state game agencies have developed CWD action plans in case the disease shows up. Here are the plans of several states: CWD-NEGATIVE STATES Oregon http://www.dfw.state. or.us/wildlife/health_program/ chronic_wasting/ Washington https://wdfw. wa.gov/conservation/health/ cwd/ Idaho https://idfg.idaho.gov/ hunting/monitoring-chron- ic-wasting-disease California https://www. wildlife.ca.gov/Conservation/ Laboratories/Wildlife-In- vestigations/Monitoring/ CWD#508011591-what-is-cali- fornia-doing Nevada http://www.ndow.org/ Nevada_Wildlife/Health_and_ Disease/Chronic_Wasting_Dis- ease/ Arizona http://www.azgfd. gov/w_c/research_cwd.shtml CWD-POSITIVE STATES response. Most state game agencies are strapped with their workaday mandates of monitoring wildlife, catching poachers, and licensing hunt- ers. Monitoring and sampling for CWD is expensive, and a bill in Congress aims to help. Senate Bill 2252, the “Chron- ic Wasting Disease Support for States Act,” would make available $35 million annual- ly in federal funds, to be split between states ($20 million), tribes ($5 million), and a rap- id-response fund that states or tribes could tap when CWD is detected inside their borders. Montana http://fwp.mt.gov/ fishAndWildlife/diseasesAndRe- search/diseases/chronicWast- ingDisease/management.html Colorado http://cpw.state. co.us/cwd Wyoming https://wgfd.wyo. gov/Wildlife-in-Wyoming/ More-Wildlife/Wildlife-Disease/ Chronic-Wasting-Disease New Mexico http://www.wild- life.state.nm.us/conservation/ invasive-species-and-diseases/ chronic-wasting-disease/ Lastly, keep abreast of CWD’s advance. While you cer- tainly don’t want it to show up where you hunt, knowing about how it affects animals, how to identify it, and knowing what to do if it does arrive make the unknowns about the disease a little less unsettling. WHJ www.westernhuntingjournal.com 59