MAD LOVE.  We’ll be feeling the love today as temps warm up and a good weekend settles in over much of the region.  In the meantime, we’ve got news on CWD spreading along the ND/SD border, concerns over cuts to conservation in the President’s budget proposal and a last push by PF to get landowners signed up in CRP all as part of our Outdoors Roundup.

Featured Photo:  AWW.  A buck and doe share a close moment. Happy Valentine’s Day! Simonson Photo.

WEATHER (Bismarck Forecast):
Today:  Fri 2/14 – Warming – Hi 32, Lo 1, Wind S@10, G18
Tomorrow: Sat 2/15 – Westerlies – Hi 29, Lo 22, Wind W@10, G22

SOLUNAR (Bismarck Times):

Sunrise        Sunset
7:48AM        6:05PM

Moonrise         Moonset        Overhead       Underfoot
Fol. Day          10:54AM         5:30AM            5:55PM

Moon Phase:  Waning Gibbous (66% Full)

EDGE HOUR: 5:30-6:30PM.  Moon underfoot, sunset and the peak of our warm-up align in today’s Edge Hour.

DAY RATING:

OUTDOORS ROUNDUP:

CWD SPREADS IN SD.  Four deer tested positive for Chronic Wasting Disease in fall sampling surveys with the SD Game Fish & Parks Dept., including a whitetail deer in Corson County just south of the ND line.  The prion-based disease was detected in two whitetails and two mule deer.

CUTTING.  Cuts to the Land and Water Fund – a conservation funding source fueled by offshore oil and gas taxes – are being called out by the National Wildlife Federation. Additionally, cuts to the EPA and Dept. of the Interior are of concern to the nation’s top conservation group.

FINAL STRETCH.  In the last two weeks of the CRP General Sign-Up, Pheasants Forever will be using its annual Pheasant Fest event to help landowners enroll their lands in the program.  The event runs today through Sunday in Minneapolis and is expected to draw tens of thousands of hunters and conservationists.