From The Field

The Harvard Kennedy School has awarded Wildlife Forever and our partners the Bright Ideas Award, which recognizes creative and promising government programs and partnerships. The initiative is offered through the Innovations in Government Program and was presented for our collective outreach efforts with the Eastern Region of the U.S. Forest Service.

This prestigious recognition was quite a surprise. But we about to get yet another.

While attending the 100th annual Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (AFWA) Conference in Grand Rapids, Michigan, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the ANS Task Force presented Wildlife Forever with a special award to "recognize Wildlife Forever's leadership with the Stop Aquatic Hitchhikers campaign".

Bryan Arroyo of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (L) presents a leadership award to Douglas H. Grann, President & CEO of Wildlife Forever (C) and Pat Conzemius, Program Manager, Wildlife Forever

Wildlife Forever continues to break new ground to help stop the spread of invasive species. Read on to discover a new approach to fighting non-native species.

Wildlife Forever’s First Television Show

Silent Invaders is a new television series on invasive species. Four pilot shows, produced by the North American Fishing Club, will start on November 28, 2010 and be seen Sunday mornings through December on the Versus network.

Each episode focuses on one invasive species, why it is a top threat, what is being done about it and what you can do to help. Here are the topics of the first four shows:

Killer Lamprey: Invasive seas lamprey have killed millions of native sport fish in the Great Lakes. The fight to control lampreys continues today.

Zebra/Quagga Mussels: These filter feeders are destroying the Great Lakes food web from the bottom up. Scientists race to solve this growing issue.

Asian Carp: Asian carp are at the doorstep of the Great Lakes, Can their expansion be stopped?

Round Gobies Goby: These nuisance invasives eat the eggs and fry of popular sportfish such as smallmouth bass. They are spreading rapidly.

This is a very exciting development because it has never been done before. Plans are to roll out the show to 14 weeks in 2011.

Wildlife Forever will send out a reminder email to all eNewsletter subscribers along with a link you can use to comment on the new show.

Otters Make Splashing Return

After a 100-year absence, river otters have returned to the central and western regions of New York state thanks to a working partnership involving Wildlife Forever and the New York River Otter Project Inc. Nearly 270 river otters were trapped and transferred during this multi-year undertaking.

River otters have made a welcomed return to regions of New York state
where they had been absent for more than 100 years.

Otters were live-trapped in areas where stable populations currently exist. The captured otters were then transported and released at nine carefully selected sites. The New York Department of Environmental Conservation's Bureau of Wildlife and the New York State Trappers Association are provided training and technical support during the project. These groups also assisted with monitoring the otters after the release at their new homes.

More than 21 river otters were released in the early months of the undertaking. Two females in this group wore transmitters provided by Cornell University to assist in the monitoring efforts. River otters are popular for wildlife viewing because of their playful habits and daytime activity.

Support Conservation When You Shop Online

It’s almost the holiday shopping season and if you are an online shopper you can effortlessly support fish and wildlife conservation, while saving yourself money.

You can support Wildlife Forever’s conservation programs when you buy or sell on eBay. Here’s how it works:

Check out those items for sale that benefit Wildlife Forever. If you make a purchase, the seller makes a donation. You can get a great deal and support fish and wildlife conservation at the same time.

You can also support Wildlife Forever when you sell on eBay. You can choose to donate 10-100% of your final sale price the next time you list something. Charity listings often get more bids and higher prices than regular eBay listings. Plus eBay gives you a fee credit on your basic selling fees. Choose Wildlife Forever as your eBay charity.

The Wildlife Forever toolbar finds hidden shopping discounts.

If you want to save yourself a good deal of money while shopping at nearly any major online retailer, get the new Wildlife Forever toolbar for your Internet browser. You’ll discover hidden discounts at 1,000+ major retailers (See partial list of participating stores). If the participating store you are visiting has discount offers, the toolbar “lights up” and gives you a list of money saving offers.

As if saving you money wasn’t enough, it gets better. These same stores will also make a donation to Wildlife Forever if you make a purchase. The toolbar will tell you how much. Some corporate donations go up to 25% of whatever you spend! See how much has been raised this year.

The Wildlife Forever toolbar works on both Internet Explorer and Firefox, PCs and Macs. Effortless to upload and you can easily turn it off or remove it. Once you upload the toolbar it will sit just below the web address window in your browser, taking up very little screen space. Save yourself some money and support conservation. Upload Wildlife Forever Toolbar now.

Wildlife Forever's Zazzle store features the winning art from the State-Fish Art Contest and much more. You'll Bass Business Cards, Walleye Caps/Shirts and Official Wildlife Forever merchandise. Window-shop the Fundraising Store.

Chairman Grieve Recognized For Dedication to Conservation

Wildlife Forever presented Scott Grieve with the Soaring Eagle Award in recognition of his many contributions to fish and wildlife conservation.

Life Member #10 Scott Grieve (R) accepts the Soaring Eagle Award
from President & CEO Douglas H. Grann.

As the head of a software training company, Mr. Grieve first began working with Wildlife Forever back in 1998. His company, Pondview Productions, was working with Wizard Works a computer game company and they worked out a deal that made a donation to Wildlife Forever every time a fishing or hunting game was sold. As a result, tens of thousands of dollars were raised over the next several years (The background of the photograph is a display of the many game titles Wizard Works created, including the former #1 computer game Deer Hunter).

His personal support was instrumental in helping Wildlife Forever renovate the wildlife wing of the DNR building at the Minnesota State Fair grounds. Plus, it was his efforts that led to the Kodiak Fillet Knife becoming Wildlife Forever's limited edition 20th anniversary knife (Three knives remain). It was also Scott's efforts that brought Rapala on board as a sponsor of the State-Fish Art Contest.

In 1999, Scott was elected to the Board of Directors and in 2002 was elected Chairman of the Board. His ideas, contacts and personal support have been instrumental in the growth of Wildlife Forever.

Chairman Grieve is the first to receive the Soaring Eagle Award, presented to those who have directly or indirectly raised more than $250,000 in support of Wildlife Forever.