Where Hunting Happens, Conservation Happens™
On Wednesday, March 27th, Scott Bowen, Director of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, welcomed conference attendees to the great state of Michigan. WMI President, Tony Wasley, provided opening remarks and then turned the podium over to 3 distinguished speakers. Mark Madison, the national historian for the US Fish and Wildlife Service since 1999, shared a brief history of conservation highlighting key achievements, important figures, and critical moments in our conservation history. Leeann Sullivan, social scientist, then explored the uniqueness of the sociocultural climate which currently exists and how it relates to our current wildlife governance. Francine Madden, principal and founder of Constructive Conflict and Executive Director of the Center for Conservation Peacebuilding (CPeace), then shared process insights for consideration of meaningful and durable outcomes for conservation. The title of the plenary was Old Wine in New Bottles, and it explored the value of “stealing like an artist” from our conservation predecessors and repacking those past successes in ways that can ultimately lead to a broader and more successful conservation vision for the future as we tackle climate change, biodiversity loss, and cultural conflicts.
In addition to the Special Sessions and Workshops, the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies and the National Military Fish and Wildlife Association conducted more than 100 committee meetings, along with numerous related meetings. As in the past, the Boone and Crockett Club conducted their spring business meeting in conjunction with the North American Conference. During Wednesday’s Conservation Administrator’s Luncheon, WMI President Tony Wasley presented Ken Elowe with the George Bird Grinnell Memorial Award for Distinguished Service to Natural Resources Conservation.
The award is the highest honor bestowed by WMI. WMI thanks all of the Conference co-sponsors, exhibitors, and attendees for their support of this conference. We invite you all to participate in the 90th North American Wildlife and Natural Resource Conference, which is scheduled to be held in Louisville, KY. As always, WMI would like to thank the Boone and Crockett Club, its regular and professional members, for making this Conference a great success.
"The wildlife and its habitat cannot speak. So we must and we will."
-Theodore Roosevelt