2024 Pennsylvania Fish & Wildlife Diversity Forum
Moving fish and wildlife conservation forward in the next decade
~Results~
Held March 7-8, 2024
Ramada Inn Conference Center
1450 South Atherton Street, State College, PA 16801
Thank You for Participating!
The
Pennsylvania Game Commission and Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission welcomed
more than 80 conservation partners representing nearly 60 agencies, non-profit
organizations, and academics for a day-and-a-half event to reflect on the 2015-2025
Pennsylvania Wildlife Action Plan and garner recommendations on how the
2025-2035 iteration can further advance at-risk species conservation.
Five plenary presentations by the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies, Fish and Boat Commission, and Game Commission laid a foundation for eliciting participant feedback.
The contributed poster session provided partners the opportunity to share their important work on integrating wildlife health priorities in the Pennsylvania Wildlife Action Plan, environmental DNA analysis revealing infectious diseases in amphibians, a conceptual framework for predicting headwater stream acidification, and snowshoe hare range contraction. [Poster Abstracts]A keynote presentation by New York Times best-selling author Scott Weidensaul highlighted many conservation successes, tied together essential concepts, and inspired bold action into the future.
Seven facilitated topical breakout groups collectively identified over 300 resource concerns and 400 conservation actions. Concerns mentioned most often included habitat modifications, pollution, and research, data collection & management and outreach needs.
All this, and more, is detailed in the 2024 Fish & Wildlife Diversity Forum Report
ADDITIONAL MATERIAL
Contacts: If you have questions, please reach-out to Diana Day, Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission (diday@pa.gov) or Cathy Haffner, Pennsylvania Game Commission (chaffner@pa.gov).
PHOTOGRAPHY USE DISCLAIMER
The
Pennsylvania Game Commission and Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission took
photographs to document the event. The agencies may use images for official purposes in presentations, reports, fact sheets, the Pennsylvania Wildlife Action Plan, on agency websites or other digital platforms; names of individuals appearing in the photograph will not be included. Your participation in this event was your acknowledgement and acceptance of the use of your photo by the Pennsylvania Game Commission and Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission. If you have questions, please see Diana Day or Cathy Haffner.
Partial funding for this project has been provided by the federal State & Tribal Wildlife Grants Program administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service - Northeast Regional Office.