On the Front Lines of Making Conservation Relevant and Valued: A Florida Case Study

摘要

We’ve heard at the North American Wildlife and Natural Resources Conferences and otherrnprofessional gatherings during the past several years that state fish and wildlife management agenciesrn(SFWAs) need to become more relevant to society. But what does this mean? We suggest that beingrnrelevant means having a vital connection to issues of social significance (e.g., the economy, job creation,rnenergy development, transportation, health care, education, climate change) and being recognized asrnhaving such a connection. But where or how does fish and wildlife conservation fit into these significantrnsocial issues? Unfortunately, wildlife conservation is usually being negatively affected or stands in thernway of “improvements” in these high-level societal issues, so relevance of SFWAs is often cast in arnnegative light—as an antagonist with respect to the big issues of societal importance. Our situation todayrnis unlike a century ago when conservation was made a national issue of social significance by the tirelessrnefforts of Theodore Roosevelt and other celebrated individuals of his time. In the late 1800s, when manyrnwildlife species were in decline, state fish and wildlife agencies didn’t exist, and nongovernmentalrnorganizations with missions to promote species or habitat protection were few, a relatively small cadre ofrninfluential leaders such as Roosevelt instigated the development of a vast infrastructure that over the lastrncentury reversed the decline in many species of wildlife (especially game) in North America. Fast forwardrnto today and we have not only the infrastructure but a trained profession with significant (thoughrnincomplete) knowledge of coupled social-ecological systems in which wildlife conservation is embedded,rnyet we struggle with reclaiming relevance to a large portion of American society.