Whitetails Unlimited Attends American Wildlife Conservation Partners’s 11th Annual Summit
OutdoorHub 08.25.11
Gathering of conservation partners advances common goals and cooperation.
Wildlife conservation programs involve many different government agencies, at all levels, as well as a large number of non governmental organizations. Mike Spors, Whitetails Unlimited’s national conservation representative, is currently attending the American Wildlife Conservation Partners’11th Annual Summit this week in Elkton, Oregon. This gathering pulls together more than 50 representatives from various federal and state agencies, and national conservation organizations for the purpose of building unity, identifying key wildlife issues, and developing a vision for wildlife for the 21st century.
“The sessions have been very valuable,” said Spors. “The wolf issue is of particular interest to us, and Dan Ashe, the new director of Fish and Wildlife, spoke about what is going to happen with the delisting issue in the Western Great Lakes region by the end of the year.” Spors said that several other presentations that spawned many discussions involved potential federal budget cuts that could have an impact on conservation programs administered by the USDA and F&WS.
A new initiative that would increase communication between hunters and the 90 percent of the population that does not hunt received strong support. “After the presentation there were many who wanted to sign on to a working group to move the idea forward,” said Spors. “This is important because the vast majority of nonhunters still support regulated hunting, they just choose not to hunt themselves. We need to make sure they fully understand the value of hunting, as a management tool and also because hunters fund conservation that benefits the entire outdoors.”
The conference packs in more than two dozen presentations in a day-and-a-half, but does leave time for informal discussions and networking among the participants. Spors reports that 37 different wildlife conservation groups, representing 4.5 million hunters and conservationists are at the meeting, along with representatives of a variety of federal and state agencies.
For more information about AWCP, visit their website at: www.wildlifepartners.org.
Founded in 1982, Whitetails Unlimited is a national nonprofit conservation organization.
Our mission is to raise funds in support of education, habitat enhancement and acquisition, and the preservation of the hunting tradition for the benefit of the white- tailed deer and other wildlife. When it comes to the whitetail and its environment, WTU’s degree of professionalism and dedication has earned us the reputation of being the nation’s premier whitetail organization.
