Message from Ed Carter, President of the Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies
According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, relevance is the quality or state of being relevant or practical, especially with social applicability. Blacksmiths were a group of hardworking people whose products varied from the practical to magnificent works of art. I don’t know whether they had a “Blacksmiths of America Association,” but if they did, I can envision their president rising at their annual meeting in 1903, in response to the increasing number of automobiles, to say, “Americans have always needed horseshoes and wagon rims, we are really good at producing them, and that’s what got us here and we will not deviate from that mission.”
In my 45-plus-year career as a wildlife professional, I have seen plenty of change, both within the field of fish and wildlife conservation and in society as a whole. Our nation’s population has never been more diverse, urban, educated, or dependent on technology. Growing up in a predominantly rural area, hunting and fishing were the norm for me and most of my friends. Today far more people participate in other forms of outdoor recreation such as wildlife viewing, paddling, hiking, and mountain biking. These changes have implications not just for the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, but also every other fish and wildlife agency. In the midst of all this change, we in the fish and wildlife profession must ask ourselves, “Are we still relevant to the people we serve?” If the answer to that question is “no” or “maybe,” then we may need to seriously evaluate what we are doing, how we are doing it and for whom we are doing it.
The Fish and Wildlife Relevancy Roadmap is intended to be a nonprescriptive guide to help fish and wildlife agencies adapt to changing societal conditions. The goal of the Roadmap is simple: “enhance conservation through broader engagement.” Another way to say this is if we don’t start engaging a larger segment of the public, then the influence of fish and wildlife agencies, which are entrusted by citizens to conserve fish and wildlife, will be severely challenged and our chance of success will be in doubt.
As Director of the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, I know the importance of serving broader constituencies. In fact, it’s written into our enabling legislation that we will serve all the citizens of the State of Tennessee. And yet in reality I’m only too aware of the fact that, due to a lack of awareness and engagement, many of our citizens may question our fulfillment of that directive. I’m also aware there are a number of barriers that inhibit us from achieving that mandate. The Roadmap identifies many of those barriers and offers practical strategies and actions for addressing them. I have no doubt that my state is seriously beginning the process of examining our role in today’s diverse society and is implementing the changes necessary to maintain our relevance in the 21st century. I’m confident other fish and wildlife agencies will do so as well.
As President of the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies, I’m very proud of the leadership role that it and the Wildlife Management Institute have taken to address the issue of relevancy in our fish and wildlife agencies. The research is clear that in America today, our citizens are more and more disconnected from nature and the outdoors, and that disconnection makes our jobs as protectors of fish and wildlife all the more difficult. What people don’t know or understand they won’t care about, and if they truly don’t care, then the role and past success of fish and wildlife agencies will be in peril. My hope is that you will read this report, identify the barriers and strategies that most apply to your agency or community, and begin the hard work of instituting change so we can continue to be the leaders of fish and wildlife conservation in the 21st century.
