The appropriations bill would provide a little over a quarter of the funding that was promised. Our bigger concern is that the program is not mandatory and it does not guarantee annual appropriations, as CARA would have.

State fish and wildlife agencies are pretty much funding themselves. They do a tremendous job on a shoestring budget, but that is very difficult without a reliable funding source. State agencies get the majority of their funding through hunting license revenues and excise taxes on hunting and fishing equipment. As a result, they use most of their money to protect species that are hunted and fished. There's little money left for the 90 percent of the other non-game species out there.

If CARA doesn't happen this year we will be looking for ways to make the legislative package work down the road.

One of the reasons I love writing for middle graders, besides their voracious appetite for books, is their deep concern for fairness and morality.

It is a great source of concern when any of these procedures are not being followed. One is always going to find a violation here or there, but an indication that ignoring the rules is widespread practice is shocking and deplorable.

In each of these situations, demand has been negatively affected by public concern over avian influenza.