Increase Public Awareness of State Fish and Wildlife Agencies

In 2024, a Multistate Conservation Grant (MSCG) funded project showed roughly a third of the general public in the Southeastern Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (SEAFWA) region knows little about their state fish and wildlife agency – or cares to know (“Public Perceptions of State Fish & Wildlife Agencies” produced by Southwick Associates for the SEAFWA under MSCG #F23AP00489). 45% of the Southeastern public does not engage in any form of outdoor recreation and of these, 40% do not feel their state agency shares the same values as them. 14% would like to see their state agencies’ budgets cut. These opinions often vary significantly across various segments of the public. Clearly, a need exists for state fish and wildlife agencies to improve their perceptions and engagement with the various segments of the public. As many of the public segments less supportive of state fish and wildlife agencies are growing in size and voice, failure to boost relevancy will diminish state agencies’ ability to carry out conservation and public use of resources managed under the Wildlife Restoration and Sport Fish Restoration Acts. Given the importance of boosting state agencies’ public relevancy and support, including those who do not hunt, fish or trap, efforts similar to the 2023-24 SEAFWA grant are now underway for the Midwest Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (MAFWA) region, and also proposed for the Northeast Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (NEAFWA) and Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (WAFWA) regions. Likewise, a current MSCG-funded effort is testing a pilot relevancy campaign (AFWA’s “Rebranding, Repiloting, and Reevaluating the National Conservation Outreach Strategy and Relevancy Toolkit”). While states and their partner Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs) have some insights how to best understand and connect with hunters, anglers and trappers, no information has been located that identifies the ideal tactics and methods to best engage the other broader range of segments that comprise the general public. Whether it’s the messages and images that would best connect with various segments, or the most practical media and public communication channels to employ, or the ideal timing and methods for best collecting their feedback and perceptions, we simply do not know the best steps for engaging with states’ non-traditional audiences. Improving our knowledge in these areas will allow states to better carry out conservation of eligible wildlife and sport fish species and public use of these resources managed through support of the Wildlife Restoration Act and Sport Fish Restoration Act. This project will be led by the MAFWA in partnership with the SEAFWA as a no-cost partner. We will also engage the WAFWA and NEAFWA as advisors to help ensure the results will be useful to all states. The project will employ standard qualitative and quantitative approaches used successfully in recent multi-state grant projects that identified ways to engage more mentors and hunting/shooting participants (Wildlife Management Institute, Sportsmen’s Alliance Foundation, International Hunter Education Association). All results will be tested to identify those that best resonate with various segments of the public. The results will be shared in a detailed report complete with recommended visuals, messages and tactics thoroughly tested and evaluated. The regional associations are best suited to conduct research in public relevancy outreach tactics given our previous work in documenting the severity of the problem and ability to disseminate and employ the results. This project will enhance states’ abilities to understand and engage with their various publics, resulting in greater support and relevancy. States and NGOs engaged across all segments of the public are the intended beneficiaries.