Fish and Wildlife Management

Strengthening Washington’s fish and wildlife management by supporting WDFW in navigating complex ecological, social, and policy challenges, and helping shape science-based, inclusive decisions that protect biodiversity for the long term.

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Our Approach

We work to strengthen Washington’s fish and wildlife management by supporting WDFW’s mission and helping the agency navigate the complex policy, social, and ecological challenges shaping modern conservation.

As habitat loss, climate impacts, and biodiversity declines accelerate, WDFW must manage more species, more expectations, and more scrutiny than ever before. Our role is to help the agency meet that mandate by engaging directly with staff, leadership, and the Commission to clarify priorities, improve policy decisions, and broaden the perspectives informing them.

Through this work, we help WDFW build capacity, enhance effectiveness, and stay aligned with science based stewardship while maintaining public trust. By supporting the state’s primary wildlife agency in making durable, well-informed decisions, we help ensure Washington’s wildlife and ecosystems are protected for the long term.

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Current Focus

Work We’re Doing to Achieve Fish and Wildlife Management Goals

Adaptive Management

We work to strengthen Washington’s fish and wildlife management by helping agencies adapt to rapidly changing ecological and social conditions.

Across the country, agencies are grappling with relevancy as habitat loss, biodiversity decline, climate impacts, and shifting public values reshape expectations for conservation. We track and engage with frameworks like the Fish and Wildlife Relevancy Roadmap, which provides to broaden constituencies and modernize approaches.

In Washington, we support the implementation of WDFW’s 25 Year Strategic Plan, which commits the agency to serving both consumptive and non consumptive users, improving decision making transparency, and engaging more effectively with diverse communities and Tribal partners.

Inclusive Leadership

Our role includes working directly with agency leadership, commissioners, and staff to ensure that policy decisions reflect ecological science, public values, and long term stewardship needs.

We help elevate voices within WDFW who are advancing new approaches to community engagement, youth outreach, and co management with Tribes. We also support efforts to integrate Traditional Ecological Knowledge into wildlife management and to break down user silos by fostering curiosity, education, and shared responsibility for conservation outcomes.

Through this work, we help shape a paradigm shift toward more inclusive, durable, and forward-looking natural resource management in Washington that serves all communities and wildlife.

Impact & Results

A History of Fish and Wildlife Management

We have played a long-term role in supporting Washington’s fish and wildlife management by contributing science-based input, policy guidance, and collaborative leadership within WDFW advisory processes.

Long standing service on WDFW advisory bodies

Budget and policy leadership within WDFW (since 2017)

Advancing understanding of Washington’s shifting wildlife values

Long standing service on WDFW advisory bodies

Conservation Northwest has held seats on the Wolf Advisory Group and the Wildlife Diversity Advisory Council since 2013, providing consistent, science informed input on carnivore management, wildlife diversity, and agency decision making.

Budget and policy leadership within WDFW (since 2017)

Service on the WDFW Budget and Policy Advisory Committee since 2017 has helped shape agency budget requests, policy proposals, and long term planning, strengthening the foundation for durable conservation outcomes.

Advancing understanding of Washington’s shifting wildlife values

Collaboration with WDFW’s Conservation Social Scientist and Natural Resource Economist is helping illuminate changing public attitudes toward wildlife, informing both advocacy strategies and the search for alternative, sustainable funding sources.

Impact & Results

Our Key Accomplishments in Forest Habitat

From protecting critical landscapes to advancing collaborative forest restoration, these efforts deliver lasting benefits for wildlife, habitat connectivity, and climate resilience.

Loomis Forest Protection

Securing the Loomis State Forest’s permanent conservation designation

Protected ~24,000 acres of high value habitat, prevented fragmentation, and established a durable conservation framework that maintains connectivity between the Cascades and Okanogan Highlands. Staff led the coalition building and policy work that made the designation possible.

Collaborative Forest Model

Pioneering one of the nation’s first durable forest collaborative models

Helped establish the Northeast Washington Forest Coalition (NEWFC), one of the earliest and most enduring forest collaboratives in the country. By uniting conservation, timber, counties, Tribes, and recreation partners, it moved large scale forest health projects from conflict to implementation and set a model now replicated widely. Staff provided the convening and infrastructure that keep it functioning.

Landscape-Scale Restoration

Advancing large scale forest health and connectivity projects in Northeast Washington

Supported restoration treatments across priority landscapes around the Kettle Crest and Colville region, improving habitat resilience for lynx, mule deer, and wide ranging carnivores while reducing catastrophic wildfire risk. Staff consistently bridged policy and implementation by securing funding, aligning partners, and moving projects through NEPA into on the ground action.