Season 3: Episode 20: Managing Wildlife Across Two Thirds of a Continent

If you've ever wondered what it takes to manage wildlife and fish across two thirds of a continent, this episode has your answer. In Season 3, Episode 20 of Connecting with Conservation, co-hosts Jon Gassett of the Wildlife Management Institute and Jim Curcuruto of the Outdoor Stewards of Conservation sit down with Zach Lowe, Executive Director of the Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (WAFWA). WAFWA represents 23 states, provinces, and territories stretching from Corpus Christi, Texas, to Banks Island in the Canadian Arctic, encompassing more than 1,500 species and roughly 18,000 fish and wildlife employees. Zach brings a unique perspective to the conversation, having started his career as a prairie habitat specialist and Farm Bill extension biologist before spending 13 years at the McGraw Foundation leading the Conservation Leaders for Tomorrow program, and ultimately landing in the executive director's chair at WAFWA five years ago.   The conversation covers the full sweep of what makes western wildlife management genuinely different from the rest of the country, from the scale of federal land ownership and the politics of multi-jurisdictional management to the quirks of shed hunting regulations and the lottery-level odds of pulling a float permit for Hells Canyon. Zach and Jon dig into how harsh western winters drive boom-and-bust cycles in pronghorn, mule deer, and elk populations, why tag quotas are a biological necessity and not a punishment for non-residents, and how WAFWA's big game migration and connectivity initiative is working at a biome scale that most conservation organizations can't match. On the fisheries side, Zach walks through three of WAFWA's fish habitat partnerships, including the Western Native Trout Challenge, the Desert Fish Habitat Partnership, and the newly expanding Great Plains Fish Habitat Partnership, and introduces one of the most innovative fisheries tools in the conservation toolbox: the Trojan Male Fish program, which uses genetically conditioned hatchery fish to crowd out invasive brook trout and, potentially, carp from western watersheds.   Whether you're a hunter chasing elk tags in Wyoming, an angler working to check off native cutthroat subspecies, or simply someone who wants to understand how the vast, complicated, and spectacular American West is managed for wildlife, this is a conversation worth your time. WAFWA may not be a household name, but the work it does shapes hunting seasons, fish populations, and habitat conservation across the largest wildlife management jurisdiction on the continent.   To learn more, find us at: Wildlife Management Institute: https://wildlifemanagement.institute Outdoor Stewards of Conservation: https://stewardsofconservation.org Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies: https://wafwa.org   #wildlife #wildlifeconservation #wildlifemanagement #fishing #flyfishing #hunting #westernwildlife #publiclands #habitatconservation #nativetrout #biggame #muledeer #elkhunting #pronghorn #fishandwildlife #wildlifemanagementinstitute #outdoorstewards #connectingwithconservation