The Wildlife Management Institute (WMI) and Responsive Management have just completed a new Multistate Conservation Grant study on the conservation words and phrases that resonate the most with the American public. The study is predicated on the fact that words matter—that the individual terms and phrases used by conservation professionals to describe their work can mean the difference between concern and apathy among everyday U.S. residents.

If you haven’t heard about the new coalition Conservation Without Conflict, it’s time to get better acquainted. This initiative started out as a collective vision of collaboration for mutual benefit across a broad range of partners to conserve wildlife while keeping America’s working lands working. To help balance the many competing values on our working lands—which sometimes come into conflict with one another—a nationwide partnership was formed based on trust and collaboration. At this time, Conservation Without Conflict is being administered through the Wildlife Management Institute and WMI is also represented on the Executive Board.

Today’s conservation organizations recognize the need to cultivate the next generation of researchers, managers, and leaders in the field. One major challenge to that is identifying early undergraduate students with an interest in conservation and providing opportunities that inspire them to continue on that path. Achieving this goal is particularly difficult for students from demographic groups that are under-represented in conservation agencies and organizations.

The Boone and Crockett Club and Wildlife Management Institute have been working together on the Poach & Pay Program, a collaborative effort to assess and address the level of illegal take of wildlife. Initial research started in 2016 examined and reviewed state restitution systems for illegal take of big game species and found that the judicial systems were the primary obstacle for successfully convicting and punishing poachers. In December 2020, the groups announced the next phase of the Poach & Pay efforts to complete comprehensive estimate of the rates of undetected, unreported, and unresolved wildlife crimes in an effort to determine the true impacts to conservation and the public trust agencies. This research got underway in late 2021, with early results showing how hunters perceive poaching in their states.

There is perhaps nothing more evocative of the American West than herds of elk, mule deer or pronghorn moving freely across the landscape, and a new series of detailed maps reveals their migration pathways—thanks to a team of state, federal and tribal scientists.