Wildlife biologist, hunter, trapper, conservationist and former Habitat Specialist at Purdue University, Dr. Zachary E. Lowe has been hired as the National Coordinator for the Conservation Leaders for Tomorrow (CLfT) program. Zach will assume his new post as of February 1.

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CLfT, now in its fifth year, is a program to acquaint nonhunting, upper class and graduate university students in natural resource disciplines with the roles and values of recreational hunting.

The program, jointly sponsored by the Max McGraw Wildlife Foundation (McGraw Foundation) and the Wildlife Management Institute (WMI), is not a hunter-recruitment effort, but an investment to enable those nonhunting students to gain perspective about hunters and hunters before they (the students) become resource managers. At present, CLfT conducts three-day, intensive workshop for a total of 17 universities at various sites around the country. ?
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In his recent capacity at Purdue University, Lowe had the opportunity to work closely with undergraduate and graduate students, a diversity of conservation organizations, and state and federal resource agencies. He will work directly with CLfT chair Dick McCabe of WMI to continue to expand the program to other schools, agencies and areas of the country. ?
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"This is an unusual chance for me to do something that already is paying big dividends for conservation," said Lowe. "The challenge of maintaining CLfT success for current schools and locations and expanding the program as quickly as resources and facilities permit are a bit daunting, but ones that I certainly look forward to. I very much believe in what CLfT has achieved and will continue to accomplish."
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Lowe's on-the-job experience will begin at a workshop at the Ringneck Ranch in Tipton, Kansas, his first week as National Coordinator. A second workshop, at Chesapeake Farms near Chestertown, Maryland, will follow the next week.
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"Zach brings a unique blend of energy, talent and enthusiasm to the National Coordinator position," said McCabe. "He is the right person to orchestrate the CLfT program to its next level of success."

For additional information about the Conservation Leaders for Tomorrow program, go to www.clft.org.