Outdoor News Bulletin
Working Lands, Wildlife: A Wild Goose Chase Win?
In the rolling Baraboo Hills of Wisconsin, just a quarter mile from Aldo Leopold’s Shack—where A Sand County Almanac took root—a diverse group of two dozen gathered for the Wild Goose Chase II meeting from May 6–7, 2025. Private landowners, conservationists, federal agency leaders, policy experts, and academics united with a shared goal: conserving species while keeping America’s working lands thriving.
Organized by the Conservation Without Conflict Coalition, this meeting sparked a vision: “A society that builds collaborative networks of healthy, vibrant working lands, sustaining wildlife and livelihoods for people now and into the future.”
Through heartfelt conversations, participants embraced Leopold’s belief that “a thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty” of nature.
“Connecting with nature rejuvenates the soul,” said attendee Cathy Phillips, capturing the spirit. Guided by Murray Lloyd’s teamwork principles, the group swapped conflict for collaboration, crafting solutions Leopold would have cheered.
Leopold's Shack Inspires
Hosted by the Aldo Leopold Foundation and set near Leopold’s Shack, Wild Goose Chase II revived the collaborative spirit of its 1990s predecessor, which pioneered successful conservation tools like Safe Harbor Agreements and Candidate Conservation Agreements with Assurances. The Conservation Without Conflict (CWC) philosophy, rooted in building trust and voluntary partnership, drove the meeting’s purpose: uniting diverse voices to conserve species while sustaining farms, ranches, forests, and all working lands across the nation.
Over two days, participants—engaging as individuals, not just organizational representatives—relied on open, human-to-human conversations, free of PowerPoint slides, formal agendas, or presentations. Through simple, unstructured dialogue, they fostered trust and connection, sharing personal stories and passions under the Baraboo sky. Together, they crafted a Vision Statement that echoes A Sand County Almanac’s spirit. The gathering showed conservation can thrive without clashing interests, aiming to scale this approach nationwide, honoring Leopold’s legacy.
Empowering Private Landowners
With over 60% of U.S. land privately owned and more than 55% of Endangered Species Act (ESA)-listed and at-risk species relying on these lands, private landowners are conservation’s backbone. Wild Goose Chase II stressed that landowners need incentives, regulatory flexibility, and assurances to protect wildlife long-term. The Partners for Fish and Wildlife Agreements, which restored habitat and supported the reintroduction of the Reticulated Flatwoods Salamander on active forestry lands in Florida’s Santa Rosa County, showed how private lands can drive species recovery without regulatory risks.
Other ideas included a “Conservation Trust Fund,” modeled on a program in North Carolina, which could use real estate transaction fees to fund species conservation projects on private lands, tackling fragmentation while keeping working lands working. Studying and seeking to emulate landowners who host rare species—focusing on their successful practices, not dictating actions—makes conservation an asset, not a burden.
The meeting explored bold strategies to amplify collaborative conservation, emphasizing the integration of CWC with large-scale landscape initiatives. Recognizing that over half of ESA-listed and at-risk species depend on private lands, the group discussed delegating more ESA authority to states through Section 6, enabling state-led efforts like those that recovered and delisted the bald eagle and the American alligator, and conserved the wild turkey and white-tailed deer nationwide. By aligning CWC’s trust-based model with regional partnerships like the Southeast Conservation Adaptation Strategy and State Wildlife Action Plans, conservation could achieve greater benefits across vast areas, prioritizing long-term outcomes over rigid regulatory assurances. This vision highlights the meeting’s innovative push to reshape conservation for decades to come.
Building Bonds for Conservation
Relationships fueled the meeting’s energy. Participants proposed mentoring programs, like “Walk a Mile in My Boots,” to connect new landowners and junior conservation and private lands leaders with seasoned conservationists. These community networks, sparked in Baraboo, embody the “altruistic we” Lloyd championed, quoting Ecclesiastes 4:12: “A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.” Lloyd’s “Southern Rules”—show up, focus on solutions, debate kindly, hard on the topics and not on the people, have fun—guided open dialogue, rejecting “us vs. them” attitudes. The group’s commitment to a follow-up gathering later this year underscores their drive to strengthen these bonds for lasting conservation.
A Collaborative Future
To many, a “Wild Goose Chase” suggests a futile, chaotic pursuit—chasing something elusive with little hope of success, like chasing wild geese across a windswept field. It evokes thoughts of wasted effort, endless detours, or a whimsical adventure leading nowhere. In contrast, the Wild Goose Chase II meeting redefined this phrase. What might seem like an impossible mission—uniting diverse landowners, conservationists, and agencies to conserve wildlife while sustaining working lands—became a triumph through the power of relationships, trust, and collaboration. By building a network of shared purpose, the meeting fostered innovation and progress, proving that even the most daunting challenges can yield lasting solutions for vibrant lands and thriving species.
Looking ahead, the coalition envisions a dynamic future where its innovative ideas—forged in the Baraboo Hills—evolve into actionable strategies. The group plans to refine concepts like the Conservation Trust Fund, Partners agreements, and state-led ESA initiatives through collaboration with coalition members, state and federal agencies, and diverse stakeholders, sparking partnerships for durable solutions.
The future of conservation, participants agreed, hinges on relationships and common ground—collaboration, not conflict, is the most powerful tool. This gathering, which Leopold would have proudly joined, set a path for durable, win-win outcomes. The Vision Statement—“A society that builds collaborative networks of healthy, vibrant working lands, sustaining wildlife and livelihoods for people now and into the future.”—is a call to action.
Visit http://www.conservationwithoutconflict.org to learn more, share a story, share new ideas, or join CWC to build a future where working lands and wildlife thrive together.
