Draft:Wildlife Conservation Initiative

The Wildlife Conservation Initiative (WCI) is a voluntary, collaborative wildlife conservation program between the U.S.-based National Alliance of Forest Owners (NAFO), the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), the National Council for Air and Stream Improvement, Inc. (NCASI), state wildlife agencies, and other stakeholders.

The WCI has ongoing species conservation projects in every USFWS region where NAFO members own or manage significant acres of forest land. NAFO member companies collectively oversee more than 44 million acres of private working forests across 33 states. Together, NAFO’s forests are larger than the 10 largest U.S. National Parks. The scale and reach of the program is unique among public-private partnerships.

The WCI began as a series of regional wildlife conservation collaborations between private forest owners and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and over the course of six years grew into an agency-wide initiative with projects across the U.S. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service refers to the WCI as a model for effectively engaging private landowners, governmental agencies, and other stakeholders in voluntary, collaborative conservation efforts.

Objective

The WCI’s objective is to conserve common species, at-risk species, threatened species, and endangered species through the active management of forests in private working landscapes across the U.S.

Conservation Approach NAFO member companies partner with NCASI, Inc., the USFWS, and other collaborators to identify priority species that need private working forests for their habitat. They then collect field data on how active forest management affects species and use the data to determine together how to maintain or improve conservation benefits.

Through the WCI, state and federal wildlife agencies, academic institutions, and researchers are granted access to private working forest lands owned and managed by members of the National Alliance of Forest Owners. The scale of private land ownership in the United States makes this partnership essential to research for species with habitats that may exist entirely on private land.

Data collection regarding the impacts of sustainable forest management on species plays a vital role in the WCI process. This data guides joint efforts to sustain and enhance conservation.

Collaborative conservation outcomes

The collaborative conservation efforts of the WCI have yielded positive results for wildlife, potentially reducing the need for regulatory measures under the Endangered Species Act.

One example of a WCI success is the gopher tortoise. The gopher tortoise is a keystone species, benefitting more than 350 other species, including snakes, insects, frogs, and owls, that all depend on tortoise burrows and surrounding habitat to survive. In 2022, the USFWS found that the Eastern population of the gopher tortoise did not warrant listing, in part due the open canopy habitat conditions on sustainably managed private working forests and the population and habitat information provided by NAFO members and other private landowners. The survey work leading to the USFWS decision was conducted through the WCI.

A second example of WCI success is the red tree vole, a small mammal that nests in forest canopies. Through the WCI, NAFO members worked with the USFWS to identify the red tree vole as a species of common interest, and the WCI supported a research project with funding. In 2024, the USFWS Species Status Assessment cited valuable input from NCASI, Inc. and WCI researchers as a factor in the “not warranted” listing decision.

2023 Memorandum of Understanding

In January 2023, NAFO, USFWS, and NCASI, Inc. formalized the Wildlife Conservation Initiative through a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). This MOU underscores the value of active forest management as a potential conservation tool.

Key Elements of the WCI MOU: Promotes cooperation and collaboration; establishes consistency as a USFWS agency-wide initiative; encourages proactive, voluntary conservation approaches before considering regulatory action; supports research examining the impact of active forest management on species conservation; facilitates voluntary access agreements for research in private forests; and provides enhanced data and resources for USFWS species conservation efforts.

2024 Memorandum of Understanding

In January 2024, NAFO, The Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (AFWA), and NCASI, Inc. formalized the Wildlife Conservation Initiative through a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). This MOU expanded the formal partnership of the WCI to all 50 State and Wildlife Agencies in the United States.

Chuck Sykes, President of AFWA and Director of the Alabama Division of Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries (part of the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources) said, “Through proactive, voluntary participation in this program, we are able to better implement our state wildlife action plans (SWAPs) and make a meaningful impact to conserve our species of greatest conservation need.”

White House Recognition

During the White House Conservation in Action Summit on March 21, 2023, President Joe Biden announced significant actions aimed at conserving and restoring lands and waters across the nation, including the formalization of the Wildlife Conservation Initiative through the MOU:

"The Department of the Interior’s U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Alliance of Forest Owners, and the National Council for Air and Stream Improvement Inc., will announce a memorandum of understanding which formalizes the Wildlife Conservation Initiative, a collaborative partnership focused on advancing the conservation of at-risk and listed species within private working forests nationwide. The announcement comes as the Department of the Interior celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Endangered Species Act and highlights the landmark law’s importance in preventing imperiled species’ extinction, promoting the recovery of wildlife, and conserving the habitats upon which they depend."

Department of Interior Recognition

In her Senate confirmation hearing to be Deputy Secretary of the Interior on July 10, 2024, Assistant Secretary of the Interior, Shannon A. Estenoz referred to the work of the Wildlife Conservation Initiative by stating, “We marked the 50th Anniversary of the Endangered Species Act with a call to action to focus more partnership energy on species recovery and listing prevention… we have strengthened existing partnerships and built new ones so that today the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service counts the Department of Defense and the National Alliance of Forest Owners among its most valued partners in species recovery.”

Collaborators

Collaborators include the National Alliance of Forest Owners (NAFO), U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, National Council for Air and Stream Improvement, Inc., Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies, American Forest Foundation, American Forest Management, California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt, California Department of Fish and Wildlife, Cambell Global, Collins, Conservation Resources, Empire State Forest Products Association, Forest Investment Associates, Forest Landowners Association, The Forestland Group, Giustina Resources, Green Diamond, Greenwood from Nuveen, Hampton Lumber, Integral Ecology Research Center, Irving, The Langdale Company, Lone Rock Resources, Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, The Lyme Timber Company, Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry, Maine Dept. of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, Maine Forest Products Council, Maine Forest Service, Maine Woodland Owners, Michigan State University, Molpus Woodlands Group, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, New Hampshire Fish & Game Department, New Hampshire Timberland Owners Association, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, Oregon Department of Forestry, Oregon State University, Port Blakely, PotlatchDeltic, Rayonier, Resolute Forest Products, Resource Management Service, LLC, Rogue Detection Teams, Roseburg Forest Products, Seven Islands Land Company, Sierra Pacific Industries, Starker Forests, Inc., Sustainable Forestry Initiative, Tangled Bank Conservation, The Conservation Fund, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, The Forestland Group, The Rohatyn Group, The Westervelt Company, Timberland and Investment Resources, U.S. Bureau of Land Management, United States Forest Service, U.S. Geological Survey, University of Oregon, UPM, the Vermont Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation, Vermont Forest Products Association, Vermont Woodlands, Wagner Forest Management, Ltd., West Virginia Department of Natural Resources, West Virginia University, and Weyerhaeuser.