Matthew Dunfee

In his past and current positions with WMI, Matt has served as the Conservation Program Specialist in WMI's Washington D.C. Headquarters where he worked on numerous projects related to North American wildlife conservation, wildlife disease ecology, private lands programs, and hunting heritage. He also serves as the Director of the Chronic Wasting Disease Alliance, the Chair of the North American Wildlife and Natural Resources Conference, Co-Chair of the National Hunting and Shooting Sports Action Plan, and Co-Lead Investigator on projects with NASA’s Earth Science Division. In his current roles, Matt serves on numerous professional committees and boards including the AFWA Fish and Wildlife Health Committee, national and regional association R3 Committees, the North American Wildlife and Natural Resources Conference Steering Committee, and the National Academies of Sciences. Following his leadership in developing evaluation theory and toolkits for hunter, angler, and shooter R3 efforts, Matt has delivered over 40 multi-day training and information workshops for state and federal wildlife agency staff and administrators on R3 strategies, program development, evaluation, and best practices. He has led and authored dozens of research projects on R3, Hunter Education, and Conservation Relevancy, and co-authored foundational R3 best practices guidance documents including the Outdoor Recreation Adoption Model, WAFWA R3 Metric Standards, the AFWA Relevancy Roadmap, and the National Hunting and Shooting Sports Action Plan.

Before his work with WMI, Matt worked as a program coordinator for the Center for Environmental Management on Military Lands and a research associate with the National Park Service's Bison Management Working Group. He received his B.S. in Fish, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology from Colorado State University.

Professional Awards

• 2017 recipient of the Dr. Edward Kozicky Award from the International Hunter Education Association
• 2018, the Council to Advance Hunting and the Shooting Sports special leadership recognition