Attending the SCI Hunters’ Convention Benefits Local Conservation Efforts
Safari Club International 10.30.13
Attending the annual Safari Club International Hunters’ Convention February 5-8, 2014 in Las Vegas, Nevada not only allows hunters to enjoy the largest hunters’ convention, with 2,500 exhibitors from all over the world, it also raises funds that support local conservation efforts.
Some of the funds raised during the annual SCI Convention help support the SCI Foundation. Since 2000, the SCI Foundation has provided $50 million to promote science-based conservation through wildlife research, capacity building in governments, youth and teacher education, and humanitarian programs that show the importance of the hunting community in society around the world.
Conservation efforts that the SCI Foundation has supported recently in the United States include predator/prey studies, species and habitat enhancements and wildlife disease studies.
A few of the specific projects that SCI Foundation is currently supporting from funds raised at the SCI Convention include:
- Moose: In Wyoming SCI Foundation is supporting research to estimate moose population performance and the influence of grizzly and black bears on moose survival and recruitment where calf survival is low.
- Black Bear: SCI Foundation is assisting the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) to estimate the population of black bears, their movement patterns, habitat preferences, and genetic relatedness. Read More.
- Wildlife Disease Management: SCI Foundation and Mossy Oak have partnered with the University of Georgia’s Southeastern Cooperative Disease Study (SCWDS) to combat hemorrhagic disease, the most important viral disease of whitetailed deer in the United States. Read More.
Information on other North American Conservation projects, including predator/prey interactions, species and habitat enhancement and wildlife disease, can be found on the Safari Club International Foundation website.
Travel to Las Vegas, NV February 5-8 2014 for the annual Safari Club International Hunters’ Convention and support local conservation efforts. Register now while rooms are still available and discount badge pricing is still in effect.
Protecting hunters’ rights and promoting wildlife conservation, SCI’s two areas of focus, historically has been the interest of hundreds of individuals long before SCI was established. But how did SCI as an organization begin?
Forty years ago, there were many safari clubs across the country made up of local, unaffiliated groups of hunters. One such was Safari Club of Los Angeles, which was formed in April 1971 by forty-seven individuals. In early 1972, an out-of-towner from a similar club in Chicago attended one of the monthly Wednesday night meetings, and it was decided that the L.A. club should attempt to combine with the one in Chicago to make it an affiliated chapter. The founder of Safari Club of Los Angeles, C.J. McElroy, went to the Windy City and instituted the new chapter.
Eleven months after the formation of Safari Club of Los Angeles, on March 9, 1972, the name was changed officially to Safari Club International. SCI continued to reach out to other independent safari clubs throughout the United States in an effort to combine them into a single overall organization.
Today, interest in SCI’s two primary missions has grown a worldwide network. Subsequent involvement and promotion of these missions is rooted in each of our 55,000 members, supported through each of our 190 membership chapters found across the globe, and put into action by government representatives and personnel both nationally and internationally.
In this way, we can encourage an appreciation for nature and wildlife so that conservation efforts remain strong, while also fighting to protect our rich hunting heritage. Big changes can be achieved through the endeavors of many who are united in a mission – the mission of Safari Club International.
