About the AFWA Fish and Wildlife Health Program Toolkit:
Thriving fish and wildlife populations are important to all. State, Territorial, Provincial, and Tribal natural resource management agencies are entrusted with the responsibility to prioritize fish and wildlife health in their mission delivery and, as such, must maintain agency capacity to do so. The toolkit document and this resource repository are resources for agency leadership and decision-makers to support the creation, maintenance, and improvement of fish and wildlife health programs. Meeting agency fish and wildlife health goals often requires partnerships. Within the fish and wildlife health arena, such partnerships exist and can be leveraged with other State, Territorial, Provincial, and Federal agencies, Tribal agencies academic institutions; regional laboratories and programs; organizations; and individual subject matter experts. One Health is the recognition of the interconnection of wild, captive, and domestic animal health; human health; and ecosystem health. Partnership is the core value of One Health implementation. Because One Health relies on a transdisciplinary, collaborative approach working at local, regional, national, and global scales, connections among natural resource management agencies, public health, and agricultural agencies are essential for fish and wildlife health. Building a fish and wildlife health program takes time and resources and evolves as constantly changing conditions warrant. The content of this toolkit provides a menu of tools to consider for an effective fish and wildlife health program. Throughout the document, “fish and wildlife management agencies” will be used to represent the relevant State, Territorial, Provincial, Federal, and Tribal natural resource management agencies responsible for healthy fish and wildlife populations.