We are on the hunt for a fresh logo that tells the ACI story – a design that’s modern, attractive, and versatile across all applications. The current logo (shown above) serves as a reference, but we’re looking for something that reimagines who we are and helps propel ACI into the future.

What’s in it for the winning designer?

• An invitation to attend a future ACI conference, with all expenses paid.
• A commemorative plaque recognizing the winning design.

 

Eligibility:

To enter, designers must be employed by an ACI member conservation organization or an organization eligible for membership by December 1, 2024. Unsure of your membership status? Verify it before entering at [ACI Membership Status](https://www.aci-net.org/about-aci/our-members/).

For membership-related questions, feel free to reach out to:

• Judy Stokes Weber at jsweber@wcvt.com
• Aaron Meier at ameier@ndow.org

 

The Challenge:

Use your creative expertise to design a new logo, or reimagine the current one, that reflects who we are and positions ACI for years to come. This logo will also inspire a new color palette as we work toward a full website redesign, enhancing how we represent and serve our members.

Get started today, download the design brief, and help shape the future of ACI!

The post ACI Logo Contest: Design the Future of ACI appeared first on Association for Conservation Information.

By Blake Podhajsky, Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation

Blake Podhajsky, ACI President

As I sit down to write this, the echoes of our annual ACI Conference are still fresh in my mind. It’s always a whirlwind of inspiration, learning, and networking, and this year was no exception. Every moment reminded me of why I love being a part of ACI. But as the awards ceremony on the final night wrapped up and the last goodbyes were being said the next morning, a familiar feeling washed over me: the bittersweet reality of having to wait another year to attend the conference. It’s like my 10-year-old self on Christmas morning opening my last gift.

While the conference may be over, the momentum generated from our time together doesn’t have to fade. As we settle back into our routines, let’s keep the conference spirit alive. Reach out to a colleague you met, take inspiration from something you learned and dive into a new project, or continue a conversation you had during afterhours dinner. For those that were not able to attend this year, I hope to see you in Atlantic City, New Jersey in July 2025! Outside of the conference, I encourage you to stay connected with ACI, and also consider getting involved on one of many committees that help shape who we are. We have an awards committee, grants committee, auction and fundraising committee, communications committee and soon to be conference committee. If you would like to become more active, email me anytime at blake.podhajsky@odwc.ok.gov.

I am pleased to announce we have several initiatives lined up over the next 6-7 months! On behalf of the ACI Board of Directors, I am happy to announce that plans are underway to rebuild our website www.aci-net.org. To keep in line with our mission, a modernized and more efficient website will serve as a hub to inform and provide a resource for not only our members, but the natural resources community at-large. There is not a target date set, but we anticipate a new site to be up earlier next year.

We also felt this would be an opportune moment to also rebrand ACI with a new logo that better reflects who we are as an organization. Over the next several months, we plan to hold a competition for ACI member graphic designers and artists to submit their ideas for a new logo. Please stay tuned in the coming weeks for more information.

So, while I’m already looking ahead to New Jersey in 2025, I’m equally thrilled about what’s to come in the meantime. ACI has great momentum going and I invite you to join in my excitement.

The post Message from the President appeared first on Association for Conservation Information.

Dr. Mamie Parker

The 2024 ACI Conference kicked off on Tuesday, July 23 with a great keynote address by Dr. Mamie Parker.

Dr. Mamie Parker is a distinguished fish and wildlife biologist renowned for her leadership and advocacy in conservation. As Principal Consultant at Ecologix Group, Inc., she brings decades of experience as Chief of Staff and Assistant Director at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and as the first black Regional Director in the Northeast in the agency’s 135 year history. Her influence extends through transformative initiatives such as renaming the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources and pioneering diversity resolutions. Dr. Parker’s accolades include the Presidential Rank Award, NPR and Smithsonian publications recognition, and the Association of State Fish and Wildlife Agencies’ Lifetime Achievement Award in honor of Bass Pro Shop Founder, John L. Morris. She continues shaping environmental policy and mentoring women and future black and brown leaders in STEM fields.

YouTube Link: https://youtu.be/WhOijlCliUA?si=-EbgBZk1tOGfI1HN

The post Passion, Inspiration, and Excellence in Making the Outdoors Better Together appeared first on Association for Conservation Information.

By Dan Dennison, Communications Director, Hawai‘i Dept. of Land and Natural Resources

For the second year in a row, attendees at the 2024 ACI conference in Arlington, VA were treated to a live recording of a podcast, the 7^th episode of the ACI Outdoor Communicators Podcast. At the 2023 conference in Nashville, ACI members served as a live audience for the Tennessee Wildcast podcast. You can watch last year’s tips from podcasting vets in this unedited recording: https://vimeo.com/989298412 or a produced video feature: https://vimeo.com/735161042

Jason Harmon of the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, and a host of the Tennessee Wildcast was one of the panelists this year, along with Emily McCabe of the Maine Dept. of Inland Fisheries. Tim Akimoff, of the Oregon Dept. of Fish and Wildlife moderated the session. He is a veteran podcaster as the host of the Beaver State Podcast and co-host of ACI’s The Outdoor Communicators Podcast.

My department is just entering the world of podcasting and I shared video of the 2024 podcasting session with staff who will be responsible for hosting and producing the Hawai‘i Conservation Kuleana podcast. We found the tips for success, the pratfalls and potholes to avoid when debuting a podcast, and discussion about what makes a great podcast and drives audience acceptance tremendously valuable. For a refresher, or if you missed this great session, you can watch, in its entirety here:

YouTube Link: https://youtu.be/Pi2O0TWOLhE?si=xi8ue_ImNEBvu0X5

The post The Outdoor Communicators Podcast Live appeared first on Association for Conservation Information.

Beyond Boundaries Whitewater Trip

Shep Roeper, Director and Co-Founder of Beyond Boundaries

I was fortunate enough to be able to attend this year’s ACI conference in Arlington, Virginia, and even luckier to hear some wonderful speakers. One of the most interesting and inspiring talks was entitled “Inclusion in the Outdoors” by Shep Roeper, Director and Co-Founder of Beyond Boundaries. His organization is based in Virginia and helps connect individuals of all abilities access a wide range of outdoor activities with the surrounding community.

Their main focus at present is veterans, underserved youth, individuals with disabilities, and people in substance recovery programs. Some of their adventure opportunities include whitewater rafting, kayaking, rock climbing, fishing, hiking, biking, and camping. He and his partner are always looking to expand to offer other types of programming and try to accommodate requests whenever they can. In 2023 they provided 250 trips and experiences for participants, which is a huge leap from their first year when they hosted two rafting trips.

Part of their mission is to remove barriers that prevent people from being able to experience the outdoors. “Being outdoors is something that everyone should be able to do, but we realize that is not the case,” said Roeper. “There are barriers to these amazing experiences that can be physical or financial and we work hard to take those barriers away.”

Beyond Boundaries works with volunteers, partners, and organizations to provide the programming. Partner groups handle the registration and know their participants’ abilities. Beyond Boundaries has also been working with the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources for the past seven years, including on wildlife grant programming and some of DWR’s staff have worked as volunteers. They offer volunteers Disability Inclusion Training with covers such topics as communication and social skills, empowering terminology, defining disability, labeling, inclusion, empowering body language, and using mobility devices.

Goals of the program include empowering participants and helping to build their confidence. “Creating independence for someone with a disability is amazing,” said Roeper. “We create an inclusive space to be able to see someone for their abilities rather than their disabilities. After completing a class, participants self-identify as a birder, an angler, or a paddler.”

Being in nature has been shown to provide many benefits, including reducing stress, improving sleep, providing a sense of connecting with others, and improving self-esteem. Roeper noted that outdoor activities allow their participants to work on teamwork, communication, problem solving, and independence.

Currently they only operate in Virginia, but hope to expand their program. To learn more, visit Beyondboundariesrva.org

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Kelsey Steenburgh with Virginia DWR

Developing Strategic Partnerships

Kelsey Steenburgh with Virginia DWR, this year’s ACI host agency, gave conference goers some insight into how to develop external partnerships. Her talk was titled Developing Strategic Partnerships: Amplifying Your Organization’s Reach. She began by defining what partnerships are — external organizations with common and shared goals to your organization which are mutually beneficial and share resources. Partnerships are an arrangement and can be either formal or informal. She was clear about what partnerships are not: vendors, contractors, one-time collaborators, industry peers and legislators.

Within strategic partnerships, governments typically provide expertise, resources, time and labor. If it is to be effective and productive, strategic partnerships require investment from both parties. They also need to be planned and measured. Most importantly, they need to be intentional.

Kelsey then shifted to amplifying brands and messaging. Utilizing partners can help us reach goals and audiences, increasing the reach for each organization. Working together, we can combine resources, including money, and increase the legitimacy of both partners. Each group can create more partners through the other’s existing network.

It is important for organizations to foster resiliency. Kelsey listed five elements organizations should strengthen: trust, authenticity, clear purpose and mission, values and quality products. If one of these categories is reduced for any reason, customers will stick around given the other four have a strong foundation. She gave examples of branding Virginia DWR has utilized, like partnering with local companies to create and sell relevant, branded products in their store. They also partnered with a Virginia brewery for a multi-year agreement with a shared goal of promoting local habitat work, which included product collaboration. Virginia DWR also created a program that provides grant money for organizations to promote shared goals.

As partners work together, communication is key. Maintaining information channels and keeping the other party updated supports the working relationship. This kind of communication can come through official channels, personal emails and phone calls, with personal communications being especially useful in relationship building. This method can also be one of the best ways to thank partners, as well as providing them with swag and recognizing partners publicly.

To finish up her talk, Kelsey gave the audience some action items to take back and implement in their agencies. She suggested that anyone looking to build strategic partnerships should begin by talking to colleagues about who they are already working with, ask how to help them and for their ideas. Getting out into the field, meeting current partners and seeing their work and projects was something she strongly encouraged. Utilize available technology to make things easy for partners, like branded toolkits they can plug into their own marketing. Recognize your partners and amplify your work with them. Ultimately, she encouraged everyone to understand the worth of their brand, be strategic in choosing partners and only work with partners of equal value.

During a brief Q&A following Kelsey’s presentation, she was asked about fundraising. Virginia DWR works with a foundation for donations for many of their events as they can not always accept funds directly. She was also asked about recognizing partners when they are numerous and how to do so equally. She acknowledged that recognizing all partners appropriately and equally remains a challenge for Virginia DWR. There are often many partners involved in a given event or product, so she suggested checking in with field personnel to try and cover your bases to make sure everyone is included.

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Tim Akimoff

Since 1986, the Kay Ellerhoff Spirit of ACI Award has been awarded to individuals who have embodied exemplary leadership, unwavering dedication and profound commitment and enthusiasm to the ACI membership.

And this year’s recipient, Tim Akimoff, is no different. Tim has consistently exemplified what it means to go above and beyond the call of duty. His dedication to our community is evident and his overall passion for helping others through mentorship, leadership, collaboration and the ultimate pursuit of knowledge is something to be admired. And I am not talking about just within ACI, Tim Akimoff has been a constant beacon of inspiration in the conservation communications community and on a grander scale, in the entire government social media and communications arena.

Tim works for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife as their social media coordinator and he produces and hosts the ODFW’s “Beaver State Podcast”. Tim has an interesting backstory as well. He spent 7 years of his youth in Europe and at the age of 8 he moved to Oregon. Soon after getting married to his wife Cheryl, they traveled the world volunteering at refugee camps and spending time in Bosnia and New Zealand among other places. Then after two children and a move back to Oregon he received his journalism communications degree from the University of Oregon, worked for three newspapers in Oregon and Montana, and eventually dipping his toes into social media for a NBC news station in Alaska. They also spent time in Chicago as he worked for NPR affiliate WBEZ, working on their popular podcasts and managing social media. Eventually, he found his way back to Oregon where he became the social media coordinator for ODFW, back when government agencies were starting to dabble in the social media space.

I tell you all this because Tim possesses a fascinating view of the world from firsthand experiences, and is equipped with a well-rounded skillset in communications, and all this is reflected by his leadership as he has mentored and inspired many of us throughout our careers. Tim never hesitates to help others and he explores ways to give back to our community.

For instance, he created and manages the “Fish and Wildlife Social Media Coordinators” Facebook group, giving his colleagues across the country a forum to ask questions, vent and collaborate. He has also volunteered his expertise many times presenting at not only our ACI Conferences, but also the GSMCON and RBFF conferences and webinars to name a few. And just this past spring, Tim was honored at the Government Social Media Conference with the Social Media Professional of the Year.

Tim has been involved in ACI since 2016, and has since been a leader within the organization, whether it was serving on the board of directors, helping with the auction committee, or most recently, hosting ACI’s own podcast “The Outdoor Communicators”.

Congratulations Tim!

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By Blake Podhajsky, Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation

Blake Podhajsky, ACI President

The annual ACI Conference is always a highlight of the year for me. Over the years I have met some of the most talented and inspiring individuals at the conference, many of you, which have become good friends. Of course the conference is all about learning, networking, craft improvement and getting inspired by our colleagues from around the country. More importantly, it feels as though I am going to a family or class reunion of all my favorite people.

Although I do love the conference, this year’s theme of “The Outdoors are Better Together” seems to fit right in with the reunion feel (A little more appropriate than “Virginia is for Lovers” lol). The conference is less than a month away and I can’t wait to once again come together for what I know will be an amazing time in Arlington, Virginia.

If you are fortunate enough to be attending the conference, I can’t wait to see you. If you aren’t able to attend this year, please know you will be missed and maybe we can see you next year.

Caitlyn Fralin Jacobus and her team from Virginia have spent countless days planning this event and they have compiled a well rounded agenda for the week. There are also plenty of quality items available to win at the ACI Auction, such as getaways in the Smoky and Vermont Mountains, a Nashville vacation, and tons of hunting and fishing raffle items, just to name a few. If you have any last minute donation items, or want to bring some of your own swag to the conference, any little thing helps with our fundraising efforts! Also, be sure to bring some comfortable walking shoes as there is plenty to see around Arlington and our nation’s capital.

Hope to so you soon in Arlington!

The post Message from the President appeared first on Association for Conservation Information.

One of the most difficult messages it seems to get across to outdoor adventurers is the importance of safety precautions. We all know people who skip the helmet, use their PFD as a cushion, hike a mountain in sneakers and shorts, or leave the compass at home when venturing into the woods. We have also heard the many excuses too. But nobody wants to be injured or rescued either, or worse.

New Hampshire is fortunate in that we have a seacoast, proximity to three other states, hundreds of lakes and rivers, an international border, and mountains, quite big mountains, and yet we are the fifth smallest state. The White Mountain National Forest covers over 13% of the state at almost 800,000 acres. The Presidential Range in the Whites is a big draw for hikers, and New Hampshire Fish and Game’s Law Enforcement Division has a statutory mandate to coordinate all search and rescue operations occurring in the woodlands and inland waterways of New Hampshire, including searching for run-a-ways, missing persons, and the elderly, as well as all searches conducted within the White Mountains. This amounts to over 100 hiker and climber rescue missions each year and another dozen missing person searches for our Conservation Officers, not to mention drownings.

We do our level best to encourage hikers, many of whom have never tried it before, to be prepared. We have a great partner website with everything someone needs to know before venturing out https://hikesafe.com/. We send out a press release about every rescue mission we conduct and end almost all of them with safety reminders. We do articles in our magazine, social media posts, media interviews, and provide publications and education for events as well as partnering with nonprofits.

We could not do what we do without our volunteer search and rescue agencies. There are even groups that have volunteers who sit at trailheads on busy weekends and hand out safety information and advice. I once asked one of these folks how many people turn around and go home if she tells them they are not prepared. I think you can guess. We need to reach them before they leave home unprepared.

With no state funding provided to our agency to cover this cost, however, it is a struggle. So in 2014, a program was created to help defray the cost of rescues and preparedness of our Wardens for this work. It is called the Hike Safe Card https://www.wildlife.nh.gov/get-outside/hiking-safety. For $25 for one person or $35 for a family, the card exempts the purchaser for a calendar year from liability to pay for response expenses if their actions were not reckless. We have billed people, but few can afford the cost of a National Guard rescue helicopter. People who purchase a fishing or hunting license are also exempt. This program has been very successful in not only raising funds but in raising awareness.

It is human nature to believe that you are capable of more than you are, to not admit you are unprepared, and to not want to turn back when you have so much time and effort invested in something. Many people also just do not understand how much different conditions are at the top of a mountain versus the bottom, even in July. Mount Washington is known for having some of the harshest weather in the United States, including the potential for snow 12 months a year.

As we like to tell people, “The mountain will be there tomorrow, and the goal is to get back to the bottom, not the top.”

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A large herd of about 200 elk snarled traffic in Salt Lake City along the I-80 freeway for several weeks during the record snowfall in 2023.

Utah experienced a series of chaotic, “dumpster-fire”-esque events during a six-month period between the fall of 2022 and spring of 2023. Much of the mayhem involved record-breaking snowfall, which was great for combatting ongoing drought conditions, but also wreaked havoc on wildlife in several parts of the state.

Because wildlife can be unpredictable, various crises involving them and their management occur from time to time. When such situations arise, it falls to the communications teams of wildlife agencies to help relay essential information to the public and to internal staff. Here’s a look at the recent crises that the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources dealt with and lessons learned by their public information officer, Faith Heaton Jolley.

Millcreek Canyon cougar incident

The first situation involved a woman who was leapt on and scratched by a cougar while trail running in Millcreek Canyon near Salt Lake City in September 2022. Thankfully, she wasn’t seriously injured and was able to make it down the trail and to a local hospital. DWR biologists and conservation officers responded to the scene and were able to locate the cougar involved. Because it had injured a person, the cougar was euthanized, per DWR protocols.

Because the woman had called emergency dispatchers, a local media outlet (listening to police scanners) was alerted to the incident. After providing information and doing a virtual interview, the PIO felt confident that the TV station was satisfied and had what they needed. However, the reporter then showed up on the scene unannounced to get additional footage of the area. The search for the cougar was still underway, and the reporter was there and heard the gunshot of the cougar being euthanized.

Lesson learned: Be prepared for reporters to just show up on scene, even after providing them information. Have a prepped outreach/communications employee there, even if you aren’t planning to hold a formal press conference. This will allow your employee to intercept reporters and visit with them in a predetermined staging area. This will also help keep media personnel out of areas where an investigation — or other follow-up activities — are still occurring, so they don’t impede ongoing work or see or hear something you don’t want them to.

Diamond Fork cougar incident

In April 2023, there was another very similar incident. A man was hiking in Diamond Fork Canyon, about 70 miles south of Salt Lake City, when he encountered a mountain lion and was also severely scratched. He was able to hike back down the canyon and drove himself to the hospital. The local county sheriff’s office received a report of the incident and shared it through social media late that same night, which of course, alerted reporters to it. Because so many media outlets wanted information, the decision was made to hold a press conference.

The PIO told the agency’s conservation officers to ask the victim if he was comfortable doing media interviews at some point in the future, in case the media asked — thinking that media could just be referred to the man if they were interested. However, moments later, an officer informed the PIO that the man who’d been attacked was on his way to the press conference — a definite curveball to controlling the narrative at the media event. Thankfully, the victim’s account of the incident was straightforward, and the press conference went smoothly.

Lessons learned: Make sure you are coordinating with other partnering agencies so you can help control the timing and messaging of any public information that is released. Make sure you communicate very clearly about the plans for any public outreach so that everyone is on the same page

Winter mayhem

More than 900 inches of snowfall in parts of Utah during the 2022-23 winter caused multiple issues for the state’s wildlife. Here are a few of the incidents and decisions that had to be communicated to the public:

• Elk take over Salt Lake City: In search of food, a herd of roughly 200 elk migrated onto a golf course next to a major freeway on the east side of Salt Lake City. They caused countless traffic concerns on nearby roadways, and despite numerous attempts to herd them out of the area, they kept returning and stayed there for roughly 2 months.
• More elk chaos: A separate herd of elk migrated near the freeway about 15 miles from the first location, and 15 elk were hit by vehicles during one weekend. The DWR had to partner with the Utah Department of Transportation to lower speed limits in the area and post warnings on electronic road signs.
• Emergency deer feeding: In an effort to help deer herds that were struggling in deeper-than-normal snow, the DWR implemented emergency deer feeding in some parts of northern Utah. This also required nuanced messaging to explain why the public should not feed deer or other wildlife on their own.
• Emergency shed hunting closure: The DWR announced a statewide emergency closure to shed antler hunting during these months, also in an effort to help wintering big game, particularly deer populations.
• Closures to wildlife management areas: While several wildlife management areas in Utah have annual seasonal closures to help protect wintering big game, those closures were extended this year due to the weakened condition of deer in northern and central Utah.

The concurrent, multi-month crises obviously provided some challenges and increased workload for the public information officer and DWR communications team. But there were also some valuable takeaways and lessons learned. Here are a few:

• Keep providing updates to the media, even if there isn’t much of an update to share. They are anxious for more information each day. Always be responsive and just tell them that there isn’t any new information, if there aren’t any updates that day.
• Have an emergency response plan (particularly for wildlife attacks or other major crises that occur from time to time) and train staff to know what to do and what their role is. This should all be done in advance and routinely brushed up on so that everyone feels confident in what to do when the actual crisis hits.
• As much as possible, prep evergreen statements, draft messaging, etc., and get it approved in advance. This will help speed up your emergency communication efforts. If you have preapproved statements or information, you can reuse it — or easily modify it — in applicable situations.
• Don’t forget about your internal communication! So often as communications professionals, we are focused on our external audience and the general public, but we need to loop in our internal staff as well. This was an oversight when we closed shed antler hunting, and then our front desk staff began getting calls and had no idea what was going on or what to tell people.
• Train your coworkers to loop you in when crises arise, particularly ones that may hit the media or that the public could learn about. This will help you to prep messaging and talking points in advance so you are ready when reporters do reach out.
• Use all your channels to get your messaging out. This will help magnify your message and help you reach more people who may get their information in different ways.
• Don’t be a hero — ask for help! When everything is on fire and chaos is raining down, don’t try to do everything yourself. Lean on your team members to help prep messaging, put together communications materials and handle media interviews.

The post When wildlife go wild: Lessons learned and crisis communications tips appeared first on Association for Conservation Information.

One of the items of business at this year’s ACI Conference is the election of four new members to the Board of Directors.

The new Board members will succeed Linda DiPiano, Fairley Mahlum, Faith Heaton Jolley and Sarah Southerland. Three of these positions will serve a three-year term (through 2027). One of the positions will serve a one-year term that is currently vacant (Through 2025).

If you’ve been considering getting more involved in ACI, this is your opportunity! Our Policies & Procedures spell out the eligibility requirements for a position on the Board and new board members will be voted in during the ACI Business Meeting at the conference, July 25.

There are also other opportunities to get involved within the organization. ACI has several committees that meet throughout the year, such as the grants committee, awards committee, scholarship committee, auction and fundraising committee, conference committee and communications committee.

If you are interested in getting involved, please reach out to me at blake.podhajsky@odwc.ok.gov. Or if you are at the conference, feel free to talk with any of the ACI board members, officers or committee chairs!

Officers
President: Blake Podhajsky, Oklahoma
Vice President: Aaron Meier, Nevada
Secretary: Joanne Martonik, RBFF
Treasurer: Judy Stokes Weber, Vermont
Immediate Past President: Lance Cherry, CAHSS

Board of Directors
2024
Linda DiPiano, New Jersey
Fairley Mahlum, North Carolina
Faith Heaton Jolley, Utah

2025
Dan Dennison, Hawaii
James Pittman, New Mexico

2026
Brent Drinkut, Indiana
Bobby Jones, Nevada
Beth Quillian, Oregon

Committee Chairs

Patty Allen, AFWA- Communications Committee Chair
Jenifer Wisniewski, National Deer Association- Grants Committee Chair
Jason Harmon, Tennessee- Auction and Fundraising Chair
Beth Quillian, Oregon- Awards Committee Co-Chair
Chris Martin, Wyoming- Awards Committee Co-Chair
Joanne Martonik, RBFF- Scholarship Committee Chair

The post ACI Leaders Wanted appeared first on Association for Conservation Information.

“Don’t give it another thought, just get there. It will become evident to you within the first half day that you have made the best decision of your career.”

–– Judy Stokes-Weber

By Blake Podhajsky, Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation

Blake Podhajsky, ACI President

I was driving to the office listening to ACI’s “The Outdoor Communicators” podcast. Episode 4 was an episode I was particularly excited about as they were discussing video with our friends from Texas Parks and Wildlife. As a video producer myself, listening to guests Ron Kabele and Garret Graham talk about storytelling and the power of video really resonated with me.

The great thing about being involved with ACI, we are inspired by work our colleagues from around the country are doing. Often through my career with the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation, I would take a peek at what Texas was doing just south of the Red River for inspiration. For decades, TPW’s video staff has set the standard in regard to their storytelling and high-quality video productions. Simply look at the number of ACI Awards, and Emmys, Texas has won throughout the years — it truly is remarkable!

As an aside, I remember the first ACI conference I attended was in 2013 at Midway, Utah. During the awards ceremony, I sat next to Alan Fisher, a video producer from Texas Parks and Wildlife. We were sitting toward the back of the room at an eight-person round table. He was the only conference attendee from Texas that year, so of course he had the honor of accepting all the awards his agency won. Within moments of the first category winners being announced, Alan left his seat and made the walk to the stage to accept an award. Back he came. A minute later, he was gone. Back he came. Wash, rinse, repeat. In hindsight nobody from Texas should ever sit in the back of the room during the awards ceremony! A trillion calories and a ‘beat-down game trail’ of a path later, and Alan — no joke — has a stack of plaques at our table so high that we were starting to google how much it would cost to buy luggage to haul the plaques home. Nonetheless, this was proof that Texas does pretty well, to say the least.

I digress. Back to my podcast thought.

After a great conversation with Ron and Garret, podcast co-host Tim Akimoff sat down with Judy Stokes-Weber during the “Member Moment” segment that endcaps each episode. Judy is one of the legends of ACI, as she has been involved with our organization for decades. She currently serves as the ACI treasurer but also has been a conference host state coordinator, ACI secretary, vice president, president, and was the recipient of the prestigious Kay Ellerhoff Spirit of ACI Award in 2008. Without a doubt, with her experience in the organization and her dedication to serve, she understands the value that ACI brings, and she understands the value of our annual ACI conference. During this “Member Moment” (which you can hear at the 35:30 mark of the podcast), Tim asks Judy what she would say to somebody who was thinking about going to the ACI Conference. Her response was golden:

“Don’t give it another thought, just get there. It will become evident to you within the first half day that you have made the best decision of your career.”

That’s a big statement. Is it the best decision? Alan Fisher might disagree after having to check an extra bag on his flight home in 2013! Joking aside, I and many others can relate to what Judy said. Attending the ACI conference has influenced my career in many positive ways, and I have since immersed myself into the organization as much as I can.

This year’s conference will be held in Arlington, VA, July 23-25, 2024. If you have been to the conference in the past, I hope to see you there again. If you are in a position to send your employees, I strongly encourage you to provide them an opportunity to attend. Or if you are not sure about attending and just thinking about it, take Judy’s advice and “don’t give it another thought, just get there.”

Conference information, such as registration, lodging, agenda and sponsor sign up: 

https://www.aci-net.org/conferences/ 

“The Outdoor Communicators” podcast: 

https://www.aci-net.org/updates/the-outdoor-communicators-podcast/ 

The post “Just Get There” appeared first on Association for Conservation Information.

By: Matt Hencheck, Senior Public Information Assistant, New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection

Photo Credit: MacKenzie Hall, NJDEP Fish & Wildlife Senior Biologist

In February of 2023, New Jersey Fish and Wildlife released a new mobile-friendly website for the public to use when observing rare species of wildlife in their natural habitat, or wildlife of any status on roadways, by using the new NJ Wildlife Tracker application.  NJ Wildlife Tracker is user- friendly and allows the public to submit wildlife information to New Jersey Fish and Wildlife biologists, so they can collect data on rare species sightings as well as the locations of wildlife of all kinds reported on roadways. This information contributes to our understanding of the populations of Endangered, Threatened or species of Special Concern such as, bobcats, bald eagles, and Eastern box turtles among many others. When wildlife of certain species of interest, such as bobcats, are reported dead on roadways, staff will record the location, remove the carcass, and collect samples. We have encouraged the public to practice “safety first” in every situation, especially when reporting animals along roadways. In addition to a NJ Wildlife Tracker application video that was published on our social media platforms in May 2023, there is also a video tutorial on the New Jersey Fish and Wildlife website on how to use the app correctly.

Regardless of the size of wildlife, whether it be a tiny spring peeper or a large black bear, wildlife need to move through many landscapes to find food, shelter, mates and other resources. The Connecting Habitat Across New Jersey (CHANJ) project is an effort to make our landscapes and roadways in New Jersey more accessible for terrestrial wildlife by identifying key areas and actions needed to preserve and restore habitat connectivity across the state. These actions include mitigating the barrier effect of roadways that cross habitat cores and corridors by constructing safe passageways through the roads for wildlife in these key areas. The CHANJ project offers two main products – an interactive Mapping Tool that gives land managers, transportation planners, conservation groups and the general public a way to visualize New Jersey’s habitat connectivity and a Guidance Document to help make strategic planning choices when preserving land, restoring habitat and mitigating the effects of roads for wildlife. Both tools are available to access on the New Jersey Fish and Wildlife website.

The public’s assistance using the NJ wildlife Tracker application when observing wildlife along roadways helps inform our Connecting Habitat Across New Jersey (CHANJ) project team to manage and prioritize actions in specific landscapes and roadways that help improve habitat connectivity for New Jersey’s wildlife.

The post The NJ Wildlife Tracker App appeared first on Association for Conservation Information.

Please visit the ACI website to register, check out the agenda, reserve your hotel room and more.

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By Will Babb, Staff Writer, Ohio Division of Wildlife

Most conservation agencies use the top social media platforms to reach their constituents, but the Nevada Department of Wildlife (NDOW) took a progressive approach by connecting with residents using the Nextdoor app. Staff from NDOW shared their unique approach at ACI’s 2023 conference in Stateline, Nevada, and what they shared will surely spark interest in Nextdoor with conservation agencies across the country.

Nextdoor is a neighborhood connection app, much like social media but targeted to bring users information relevant to their locality. The app is widely popular, with most people joining the app to find information on neighborhood yard sales, lost pets, or similar suburban tales. NDOW saw the app as an opportunity to shift household perspectives on wildlife, especially when human-wildlife conflict arises.

The Nevada Department of Wildlife noticed an increase in the number of wildlife-related posts from Nevadans on Nextdoor, and many posts had a negative tone or shared incorrect information. NDOW classified most posts as being misidentifications of backyard wildlife, expressions of fear about wildlife visiting suburbia, and instances of people helping wildlife with good intentions but causing harm instead. The agency saw a chance to correct misidentifications, counter fearmongering, and help residents live in harmony with wildlife.

The app is unique among social media apps in that users don’t have to like, follow, or subscribe to an account to see its content. Rather, information appears in a user’s feed based on their location. Users see posts relevant to their own neighborhood. NDOW saw Nextdoor’s location feature as free targeted marketing and began posting wildlife conflict information to regions that needed it. This meant that neighborhoods with bear problems saw information on dealing with nuisance bears, and so on. The benefit was that NDOW reached a nontraditional audience, non-hunters and non-anglers who wouldn’t otherwise follow NDOW on social media or visit their website.

NDOW primarily uses Nextdoor to target human-wildlife conflicts, but they also share informational posts about wildlife found in backyards to reduce misidentifications and encourage people to see wildlife in a more positive light. The results have been extraordinary. Not only is the agency reaching a new audience, but it’s also making an impact. They’ve heard positive feedback from constituents and observed mainly positive interactions online. Nextdoor allows the agency to talk with the public on a small, direct, and personal platform. In doing so, they’ve reduced misinformation and seen a drop in call volumes about nuisance bears, with callers being more informed.

Nevada has done something right by leveraging Nextdoor’s popularity and reach for the benefit of wildlife and people. NDOW’s success will be envied by every other conservation agency. It appears a few states have tried using Nextdoor but have encountered a few hurdles with setting up a statewide account. If those can be resolved, the app could be transformational for many agencies. There is little doubt that state agencies like my own will be considering how they too, can use Nextdoor to reach the neighborhood.

The post Using Nextdoor – Tips and Tricks to Reaching the Neighborhood appeared first on Association for Conservation Information.

Your hosts Ashley Zeme and Tim Akimoff talk about the craft of conservation communication with luminaries from around the world of conservation. You can listen to this podcast on all major platforms including Spotify and Apple Podcasts. You can also visit “The Outdoor Communicators” podcast page on the ACI Website for a list of all episodes.

Please like, subscribe and leave a review, and don’t forget to tell your coworkers! If you have a topic you would like the podcast to discuss, please feel free to share your suggestions on the ACI contact form HERE. Thanks for listening!

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We are seeking 8-10 volunteers from state agencies and industry leaders who are engaged in range construction and operations. Your experience about the types of shooting opportunities states can offer, what the public is most interested in, and construction and operation constraints would be very beneficial.

The task will entail commenting on a draft questionnaire to be produced and fielded by our partner, Southwick Associates, probably in May and June. We will later seek your input about how to best package and disseminate the results to ensure maximum awareness and use. If interested, please contact Lisa Bragg at Southwick Associates at lbragg@southwickassociates.com. This effort is funded by a Multi-State Conservation Grant awarded by the USFWS and the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (AFWA).

The post Sportsmen’s Alliance Foundation and ACI Seeking Volunteers appeared first on Association for Conservation Information.

NDA is looking for ways to work with any other state as well. Please reach out to NDA’s Chief Marketing Officer, Jenifer Wisniewski at jenifer@deerassociation.com for more information or to suggest your ideas.

The post National Deer Association Offers appeared first on Association for Conservation Information.

The Association for Conservation Information (ACI), Council to Advance Hunting and the Shooting Sports (CAHSS), Recreational Boating and Fishing Foundation (RBFF) and DJ Case are working on a Multi-State Conservation Grant to update and add photos to the R3 Clearinghouse. Here are a few updates that have been made to date:

• Simplified the tagging system and search functions
• Added more than 4,000 photos, videos, and other resources

Soon, more than 1,600 new videos and 3,000 new photos from a national hunting and shooting sports shoot will be added.

With your help, we would like to expand the library even further. If you can, please send us the following:

• Photos of game species (deer, waterfowl, squirrel, etc.) in the wild
• Photos of game fish in the wild or being caught by anglers.
• Images of game or fish in any stage of field dressing, cleaning, processing, or storage

You can donate images here by creating a folder and uploading any photos and/or videos you wish to contribute. We’ll add your resources to the R3 Clearinghouse and ensure they are available to help states connect more people with the great outdoors.

Thank you for your support!

The post Donate Your Images and Digital Resources to the R3 Clearinghouse appeared first on Association for Conservation Information.

By Blake Podhajsky, Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation

Blake Podhajsky, ACI President

As communicators, we understand how vital it is to meet people where they are and to communicate with them in ways that best suit their needs. As an ACI member, you might not always read your emails, follow our Facebook page, visit our website www.aci-net.org, or read our newsletter “The Balance Wheel”, and that is ok. Are you more like the approximate 163 million Americans who would rather listen to podcasts to get their information?

I am happy to announce that ACI has a new podcast called, “The Outdoor Communicators”! The idea of having an ACI podcast had been floating around for several years and finally it has become a reality. Primarily through the hard work and planning by the podcast’s co-hosts, Tim Akimoff and Ashley Zeme. Tim is the host of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife’s podcast “The Beaver State Podcast” and Ashley is the co-host of the Nevada Department of Wildlife’s “Nevada Wild” podcast. They have combined their experiences in podcasting with their love of the outdoors (and love of ACI) to provide our members a new way to stay engaged.

For many of us in ACI, attending the annual conference allows us to learn new skills and meet new people who share our same interests and experiences. Often between conferences, there is a desire to continue those conversations and pursue new ideas. It is our hope that a podcast by ACI members, for ACI members can help fill that void. A podcast is also a great way to shine a light on the great work we do around the country, and it might also serve as a conduit to garner support for our work inside our own agencies.

Recently, I sat down with Tim and Ashley virtually, to talk about “The Outdoor Communicators” and what we can expect with this podcast.

(The following discussion is a transcription of our video chat and has been slightly edited for formatting and readability. The bold text are my questions.)

Today we are discussing something exciting! ACI’s first podcast and it’s called “The Outdoor Communicators”. Share with me, what can listeners expect?

Tim: This is not going to be a true crime podcast. It’s not going to be “This American Life”.
What people can expect really, is a good ongoing conversation about the work we do every day as outdoor communicators, as communicators that are focused on conservation. What we set out to accomplish is extending the conversations that occur during our ACI conferences. Every year they’re often very good. They help us grow as communicators and we wanted to take that and continue it throughout the year, so we’re kind of up on what’s changing, what’s happening in the world of social media, video, writing, press releases, graphic arts- all these things that we do.

The world is very dynamic, it’s changing and sometimes the conversations that happen from one ACI conference to the next, things have totally changed and actually and I felt like we could kind of have that conversation ongoing throughout the year. I think that’s really what you can expect, is a good conversation with luminaries around ACI and even outside of ACI who can really help us continue to grow our craft and improve what we do every day.

Ashley: Tim approached me and asked me. It was his idea, so I must give him credit for it.
He approached me and asked me if I wanted to help because I do the Nevada Department of Wildlife podcast. I almost feel selfish every week because I’m just like, what do I want to know? Even when we come up with topics, it helps me in my position, and I know it helps other communicators. So, it’s been really fun picking the topics, just figuring out, what questions do I have? So, it’s been awesome. I appreciate him for asking me to be part of it.

ACI members such as us, our jobs cover a wide spectrum of skill sets.
Whether you work for a state agency or NGO, a tribal nation, or at the federal level, we pretty much run the gamut of conservation communication. What types of topics will be discussed on “The Outdoor Communicators?

Tim: Really, you can look at almost any communications department across that spectrum. We do a lot of different things within that, and that communication is fairly broad. I mean, you’ve got video, you’ve got a writing focus, you’ve got marketing, you’ve got PR, you’ve got podcast, social media, all these different fields, and sometimes one person is doing all of that, and I think Ashley can attest to that. She does a lot of different things for Nevada and then other shops have different people for each of those jobs. The topics that we’re going to focus on really mirror what we do every day.

We are starting off with an episode that is featuring Sarah Southerland from your shop, Blake. Sarah is viewed as a leader in social media broadly, not just within the conservation realm, she’s very well known and celebrated outside that. And so, Ashley and I wanted to have a chat with her about what’s happening in the world of social media. If you could peek into the future, what would you see? And then I’ll let Ashley talk about the next topic a little bit because she put that one together.

Ashley: Faith Jolley with the Utah Division of Wildlife, she did a great presentation at the last ACI on crisis communications. So of course, being a PIO, I was telling her that it’s something you always prepare for but you don’t deal with it every day. So that was something I wanted to learn more about. So again, I’m being selfish. I think of the topics I want to learn more about in my position, so we reached out to Faith and she gave us a great podcast. Just all the tips on crisis communications. And then, so far, we’ve had another guest, Tim, do you want to take this one?

Tim: We couldn’t get through the first few episodes without having the legendary Jenifer Wisniewski talking about marketing. Marketing is a big, important part of what we do. When I started in conservation communication, marketing was a prohibited word. You couldn’t say it. And Jennifer really broke down the history of that for us. So really, that’s the first three episodes.

Really what we want to do is continue to cover the things that we do every day. We want to get into the heart of the communications room that we work in, and then beyond that, we’d really like to explore topics of interest to other people around ACI. We’re going to hopefully do one of these a month between the conferences and we’d like to tape quite a few of these at the conference with folks from around ACI. Maybe some of the guest speakers that are there and then periodically we want to plug in people even outside of our realm to bring in fresh new ideas.

Ashley: We’ve had a lot of fun learning through these podcasts. We want everyone to take advantage of this. So, if there is a topic you want to hear about, let us know. Also, we want people to be sharing it with their leadership. There’s a lot of people who don’t know what we do as communicators, so this is an awesome way to be sharing what we do within our agencies.

Podcasts have been around for decades, and their popularity has exploded over the past 10 or so years. So why is this the right time for ACI to enter the game, if you will?

Tim: This is an interesting time for podcasts. Like you said, they have been around for a while.
We’ve seen sort of everything go sky high in popularity like the true crime podcasts and every new television show that comes out has an accompanying podcast. But one of the things that I think has become stronger and stronger within organizations, either a business or like ACI, is what’s referred to as an ‘internal podcast’. This is a podcast that tends to focus on information that goes out to people who work in communications and conservation. This podcast is a blend of two things, a conversational format, one that does tie into a particular interest, but we’re also going to launch it broadly.

So, it’s not just limited to ACI in the hopes that it might find some interest beyond that. Podcasting is evolving, audio shows are becoming more and more popular, the formats are changing broadly and widely. And I think the thing that we’re looking at with this is, it’s a contextual tool that allows us to really take some of those magic moments from our conferences that are limited by the number of days we have to be together and extend them throughout the year. So I think that’s really where podcasting shines. It’s just a great way to continue those conversations.

Ashley: Yeah, I agree. It’s a tool that a lot of our state agencies are all using now.
So we know it works. You can provide a lot more context with the podcast, and people are usually listening to them while doing other things like driving or cleaning. So you have someone’s ear a long time with podcasting, so it’s this tool we have. We know it works. Why not use it?

You both obviously have experience in this podcast space, so please, if you don’t mind, share with me your background, each of you, in communications and media and how podcasting has been a part of your lives and your professional careers.

Ashley: Like many of us in ACI, I have a journalist background. I was in the news world and then I wanted something… I guess news kind of freaked me out because you never knew where you were going to be a year into the future, it was kind of stressful. I was kind of ready to settle down somewhere, so I found my job. I have family here in Reno and I came to the Nevada Department of Wildlife where I’m the public information officer, and right when I got here, they were like we have this podcast, and we want you to take it over. So, I started podcasting and they thought I had the news background, so they were like, you know how to do these interviews. But this is a completely different type of interview then I’m used to. It’s long, it’s 30 minutes or more.

I’m supposed to be the agencies communicator, the person who tells the public what we do. What I started to notice is every time I did a podcast, I learned something more about our agency and I have to give the podcast credit. That’s how I’ve been able to do my job as a public information officer, from what I’ve learned through the podcast. Every episode I learned something new. Just like with the ACI podcast.

Tim: I came from a news background. As a young journalist, I just saw myself, you know, beelining straight for the New York Times. That was my goal, to be a writer at the New York Times. And then my my career sidetracked completely, partially because of technology. Initially they trained me to do video at one of my first newspaper jobs, and that led to working in television news. Then from there I was like, well, I’ve already got newspapers, now I’ve got television. Why not have radio too, right? You know, kind of the the media slam. So, I went to work for Chicago Public Radio, which is really where I learned about podcasts. I got to work with “This American Life” and “Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me” and it was very eye opening to me. I learned at that time that podcasting was huge in urban centers and huge in places where people were commuting, and I was like, this is a fantastic tool! It’s storytelling. It’s casual storytelling and people seem to really, really like it.

So, I took a job at the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. During the pandemic, I got really tired of the social backlash and the anger and, you know, people frustrated at having to be at home. So I thought, why not start a podcast? So, we started the “Beaver State Podcast”. At that point in time, a very similar time frame to Ashley’s podcast, and so we’ve kind of grown these together.

You both host your own podcast and now you’re cohosting “The Outdoor Communicators”, the ACI podcast. What is it that you enjoy most about hosting a podcast? What drives you when pursuing a story?

Tim: Ashley kind of nailed it on the head a couple of questions ago. It’s getting to ask those questions. Just letting your curiosity kind of fly. I’m a very curious person and getting to sit down with luminaries and really get at what makes them tick. In our particular podcast (Beaver State Podcast), you’re learning a lot of science. You’re learning a lot of biology, and in order to be good at my job, you’re getting that information through asking a biologist questions in sort of a safe space of a podcast where I can play a little bit dumb and say, “hey, you got to explain that to me. I don’t understand that concept”. It’s very, very valuable and it’s been one of my favorite parts of hosting a podcast.

Ashley: I have to agree with Tim. I love learning and I also love getting to know people within my agency, and now with ACI. I told you how my podcast has helped me do my job here and learning so much, and now we get to learn from other communicators. And that’s also going to benefit all of us. So learning, getting to know people and hearing their stories. I love the podcasts that get really personal, not just about what they do, but when we really get to know them. And one last thing I love about the podcast. I actually have a lot of freedom over the podcast, so I like just being able to come and be myself and talk to people rather than on social media when we’re trying to use the department’s voice.

With all the hundreds of talented people that we have in our ACI ranks, I can only imagine you will not have a shortage of premium content to choose from, will you?

Tim: No, but there’s so many great, you know, again, I call them luminaries. Just people with fantastic ideas, people that are trying new things, we might not share geographical boundaries, but we all do a lot of the same thing even if we’re talking about different wildlife species, or again geography. But man, there are just so many great ideas and I get to hear them during the conference, but it’s like you come home and you get back into the swing of things and, maybe some of those go out the way. I’m not great at taking notes and so being able to continue those conversations is just super valuable because there’s so many great people at ACI.

Ashley: One benefit of the ACI podcast is we have personalities. Sometimes that’s a little harder when, as we all know, working with biologists. But with this ACI podcast, all our guests have been great so far. Super dynamic people.

Tim: That is so true.

Ashley: A communicator’s dream! Every single guest we’ve had.

In theory you could have a podcast every day, but I know that’s not possible.
So how many episodes can we expect in a year, and where can listeners find “The Outdoor Communicators” podcast?

Tim: Again, Ashley and I both do podcasts and we’re busy people. So, what we wanted to do was not take on a bunch more work. We wanted this to be valuable to us as creators, and so we’ve decided to do one episode a month. Each episode is going to be anywhere from a half an hour to 45 minutes. You’ll be able to find it on the ACI website. That’s one place you can find each new episode and the other place you’ll be able to find it, is really anywhere you get your podcasts currently. Could be Apple Podcast, could be Google Play, Podbean- there’s a bunch of services out there.

We are going to be hosted by Libsyn, which is a really good podcast host, and they distribute to all those channels. If you can’t find it on your favorite place to get your podcast, let me know. I can go in through Libsyn and set that up. So, there will be a lot of different places to find it. I’m sure we’ll probably have excerpts on some of our ACI social media as well.

Before we part ways to actually tend to our jobs that pay the bills, is there any last thoughts you would like to share with our audience?

Ashley: I would just say, just listen to one podcast and you’ll be hooked! It really is, like Tim says, it’s just a great way for us to stay connected past the conference. We get such a short amount of time at the conference, and it is my favorite conference I go to out of the year because, like I said before, we’re surrounded by people who are like us, who are fellow communicators. Nothing against our biologists, it’s just the people at ACI are a little more my speed. And I just think people are going to love this podcast.

Tim: One thing I learned in Chicago working with some of the best podcasters in the world was why they’re so popular and why people like podcasts. What I came to learn is that people want to be in a conversation, even if they can’t speak into the conversation, you want to hear it. They want to know what’s going on. Somebody once told me that it’s like sitting on somebody’s shoulder, listening in, and humans really want that. They need that. So, I think that’s one thing that this podcast will hopefully be. I’m hoping Ashley and I will channel a lot of your questions, your interests, the things that you want to know about improving as a communicator because a lot of it is just based on our curiosities and the things we deal with every day. So, we really want to kind of build that, and then you already have that magic that a podcast is, which is just listening in on a good conversation.

I’m excited to see how this podcast evolves over time, and I do appreciate you both joining me today to talk about “The Outdoor Communicators”. This is exciting, and I look forward to following along with you both on this journey.

Tim: Thanks Blake.

Ashley: Thank you Blake.

To watch the full interview, please visit ACI’s YouTube channel or click on the link:

https://youtu.be/jq0bHES60dg?si=LaR54-LdtmfouAFD

“The Outdoor Communicators” is now available at www.aci-net.org as well as all your favorite podcast platforms. If you would like to reach out to Tim and Ashley with topic ideas, or simply give them your feedback, please email them at timothy.a.akimoff@odfw.oregon.gov and azeme@ndow.org.

I hope you find “The Outdoor Communicators” interesting and entertaining. Please share it with your staff, friends, and family.

The post “The Outdoor Communicators”- The Official Podcast of ACI appeared first on Association for Conservation Information.