Co-chairs:
Ali Duvall
Assistant Coordinator, Intermountain West Joint Venture
Noreen Walsh
Regional Director, USFWS Region 6
Tony Wasley
Director, Nevada Department of Wildlife
Escalating pressures related to species protection, management, and biodiversity conservation are complicated by social and ecological change due to human population growth, land use change, increasing food and energy demands, and climate change. While global consequences of human activity are accelerating—at rates, scales, and combinations that are different from what we have known—we are also beset by numerous social challenges. Two key challenges for effective conservation include a crisis of relevancy and potential polarization between state fish and wildlife agencies, federal agencies, non-governmental organizations, and the private sector.
Collaborative conservation is one key approach that has been implemented to achieve balance and determine acceptable trade-offs between diverse human interests, ecosystem health, and the conservation and management of wildlife. The purpose of this special session is to create an interactive and participant-based session that discusses current wildlife management and conservation challenges; foster learning about the factors that propel us forward or hold us back from successful, durable, multi-scale, collaborative conservation; encourage authentic and courageous conversations with diverse perspectives about conservation relevancy and ways to connect; and, develop key concepts or principles that will be required to effectively implement the next era of system-wide, collaborative conservation.
For more information, view this recent article from WMI's Outdoor News Bulletin.