We remember a time, not all that long ago, when the soundtrack of our state was the “bob-white” whistle of quail and the excited song of western meadowlarks.

Over the past few years, natural resource conservation — from restoring our national parks to conserving critical wildlife habitat — has provided rare common ground and bipartisan victories.

New research published today indicates that, despite declining crop prices, the United States is losing an average of more than 1 million acres per year to cropland conversion.