Thanks to everyone who attended the 86th North American Conference March 8-12, our first virtual conference experience. As with many other events, we saw record attendance, and we hope that you had a productive and educational week.
While it was certainly a conference experience like no other, 2021's conference was another success thanks in large part to all of our Partners and their immensely generous support of this meeting and what it achieves. Thanks also to the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies and the National Military Fish and Wildlife Association for meeting in conjunction with the North American. Your leadership in addressing the current issues facing conservation is invaluable to those who attend this conference and the natural resources they are working to protect.
Special Sessions:
A plenary session kicked off the event on Monday, March 8, and a special session was delivered each morning the rest of the week. You can find more information (along with video recordings of each session) below.
Fish and Wildlife Conservation on Tribal Lands and Waters: Needs and Opportunities
Current Approaches to SARS-CoV-2 , COVID-19, and Wildlife Health
Climate Adaptation Action and Dynamic Learning
About the Conference
For more than 80 years, WMI has administered the North American Wildlife and Natural Resource Conference. The North American Conference sessions, workshops and more than 150 separate meetings and functions, serve as the annual forum to set conservation policy in North America.
Conference attendees include the administrators of federal, state and provincial wildlife and other natural resource agencies, college and university program leaders, heads of leading private conservation organizations, and other managers, scientists, researchers, officials and students of natural resources. The conference is a regular gathering of professionals to learn and exchange ideas, through a formal program, related meetings and other scheduled business, social and educational events.
The conference format is designed so that attendees leave with
- A better understanding of the origins, complexities and likely solutions to current conservation issues, and
- A better sense of the need for and the methods to achieve coordinated, cooperative management of the continent's wildlife.
The "North American" is outlined annually by a Conference Program Committee, chaired by WMI. As many as 20 different agencies and private organizations have participated in helping set the agenda of the North American. In addition, agencies and organizations schedule more than 150 meetings and functions to overlap and occur in conjunction with each conference.