Sustaining and growing public support for wildlife conservation and management is a high priority on state and national wildlife conservation agendas. Without public support, little meaningful conservation is likely to occur; with it, much is possible. Over the past decade, North American conferences have hosted sessions that explored incentives and challenges for agency transformation. Speakers have discussed ways to communicate relevancy of wildlife conservation, examined societal trends that change what ?relevance? means, demonstrated ways agencies have addressed their public trust responsibilities, and even proposed principles for governing wildlife conservation administration. The relevancy-improvement theme will be developed further in a special session at the 82nd North American Wildlife and Natural Resources Conference titled Making Relevance a Reality. This is one of four concurrent Special Sessions planned for Wednesday, March 8, 2017 from 10 a.m. to noon at the Davenport Grand Hotel, Spokane, WA.

Over the past decade, state fish and wildlife agencies have seen opinion shift on the value and importance of marketing. Originally considered a luxury or something state agencies don?t do, now state agencies are turning to marketing experts to implement strategies and utilize today?s technology, to understand customer behaviors and motivations, and to help their work be more relevant to an ever-changing public. Insights to Inform Marketing Efforts within State Fish and Wildlife Agencies, one of four concurrent special sessions at the 82nd North American Wildlife and Natural Resources Conference, will provide examples of what has worked for several state agencies and lessons learned for future improvement.

In line with the national effort to implement the recommendations of the Blue Ribbon Panel on Sustaining the Future of America?s Diverse Fish and Wildlife Resources, the states of Oregon and Washington are pressing ahead with their own strategies. A diverse task force of Oregonians spent over a year exploring the needs of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife and options to conserve all species. The task force identified the need for $86.9 million per biennium and proposed two potential funding mechanisms. Meanwhile, a recent Washington Wildlife Leaders Forum that brought together 50 individuals with diverse interests reached the conclusion that their state needs to broaden funding, too. The Forum participants recommended the Washington legislature appoint a task force similar to Oregon?s to identify a means of funding their State Wildlife Action Plan by the end of next year.

The Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) recently announced that it is adding 11 new Working Lands for Wildlife (WLFW) projects, according to the Wildlife Management Institute. The WLFW was established to provide incentives for farmers and ranchers to conserve habitat for declining wildlife species on lands under production for other purposes.

Launched in June 2015, the North Atlantic Aquatic Connectivity Cooperative?s (NAACC) goal is improving aquatic connectivity of rivers and streams across 13 states from Maine to West Virginia. For the species dependent on these watersheds, their ecosystems are particularly vulnerable to fragmentation from culverts and bridges that might prevent access to important habitat. Because stream crossings are so numerous throughout the region, any effort to increase connectivity of streams and rivers could only be successful with the cooperation of multiple states and the expertise of many partners. The cooperative recently finalized its second field season and added important new data to the NAACC online database.

The Maine Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit is studying American shad in the Penobscot River in Maine. Throughout their life history, American shad provide an important food source for a number of organisms in the river. For anglers, American shad support a popular fishery built around the strong fight they muster and the fine table fare they provide.