Foreward to the Relevancy Roadmap
By project co-chairs Tony Wasley (Director, Nevada Department of Wildlife) and Steve Williams (President, Wildlife Management Institute)
Driven by the broad conservation obligations of state fish and wildlife agencies and inadequate funding to achieve these expectations, the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (AFWA) convened the Blue Ribbon Panel on Sustaining America’s Diverse Fish and Wildlife Resources in 2015. The Panel recognized the urgent need for additional funding requisite to meet the modern, expanding challenges of fish and wildlife conservation confronting these agencies. Central to the Panel’s discussion was the identification and pursuit of additional funding sources or mechanisms. While waiting at the airport after the Panel’s September 2015 meeting at Big Cedar Lodge in Missouri, Steve Kellert and Steve Williams discussed their belief that inadequate funding was really a symptom, and not a cause, of the lack of relevancy of conservation in the lives of many Americans. A few months later, at the December 2015 Panel meeting in Houston, Texas, both Kellert and Williams requested that the Panel add a second recommendation specific to the need for increased funding for the management of fish and wildlife. The second recommendation of the Blue Ribbon Panel established the foundation for the Fish and Wildlife Relevancy Roadmap – a roadmap that would allow agencies to adapt to the nation’s changing demographics and values by increasing agency engagement with and service to broader constituencies.
Building on presentations and workshops conducted at previous North American Wildlife and Natural Resources Conferences, the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies formed a Relevancy Working Group. The untimely passing of Steve Kellert slowed progress and slightly changed the direction of the Relevancy Working Group, but it forged ahead. Although work progressed slowly in the intervening years, the effort was reinvigorated by a July 2018 meeting in Denver, Colorado, where the Wildlife Management Institute hosted a meeting of AFWA representatives and other experts in the field of human dimensions research, public engagement, and state agency wildlife management. As a result of ideas and consensus formed at that meeting, AFWA passed a resolution at its September 2018 annual meeting that approved and directed the group to continue to develop what is now contained in this document.
Many involved in this Relevancy Roadmap effort believe that this work addresses the most important challenge confronting natural resource agencies that we have faced in our careers. We have made tremendous progress in restoring fish and wildlife populations and their habitats since the turn of the 20th century. Our understanding of ecological principles and science-driven decisions has created conservation success stories that are the envy of the world. However, if we do not adapt to the changing social demographics that are characteristic of the 21st century, the durability of those successes becomes uncertain.
Over 12 months and through the work of more than 60 individuals from the U.S. and Canada (employed by state and federal agencies, nongovernmental organizations, tribes, business, industry, and academia, as well as private citizens) the Fish and Wildlife Relevancy Roadmap took shape. These individuals drew on successful efforts to date, personal and professional experience, and academic research to identify barriers to public engagement, strategies to address those barriers, and tactics by which to implement those strategies. What resulted from their tireless work is a practical roadmap to relevancy. Like all roadmaps, it is not prescriptive and is intended for voluntary use. It simply provides various routes based on the capacities and challenges facing each agency or organization wishing to broaden their reach and service to more constituents.
Through the application of the recommendations presented in this document, we envision a future where fish and wildlife conservation becomes a foremost issue for all, where the public understands the powerful impact that fish and wildlife conservation has on their quality of life and mental and physical well-being. The fish and wildlife profession is concerned about more than just managing fish and wildlife populations – it is committed to protecting and maintaining quality lands that provide clean air, clean water, carbon sequestration, flood retention, pollinator habitat, food and fiber production, and outdoor recreation available to all constituents. We envision a future where all constituents proudly support conservation both socially and financially. For more than 100 years, hunters and anglers have provided the overwhelming majority of financial support for conservation through their license dollars, excise taxes paid on equipment, and contributions to conservation organizations. Sustaining our diverse fish and wildlife resources in the future will require all other constituents to join ranks with our traditional supporters. Broadening financial support for conservation will help us address the challenges of keeping species abundant and providing vibrant landscapes that support a healthy economy.
Finally, we want to thank Coordination Team members Matt Dunfee, Ann Forstchen, Elsa Haubold, Mark Humpert, Jen Newmark, Jason Sumners, and Chris Smith for their tireless dedication to this project. Their work was essential, kept us on schedule, and provided a consistent approach to strategy development. We also thank the many Strategy/Tactic Team members who are identified on page 2 of this document. These individuals spent countless hours over the course of the last year identifying and defining potential paths forward to overcome barriers facing each of the agencies and organizations for which they work. This work was truly beyond their already overcommitted workload. We thank their supervisors for understanding their importance to this project and the importance of the project to our profession.
The Relevancy Roadmap is ready for a test drive. We ask that you find your place on the map and chart a journey and destination that will help you engage and serve a broader constituency.
© Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission
We envision a future where fish and wildlife conservation becomes a foremost issue for all.
