Tennessee Wildlife Federation

Tennessee is the most biologically diverse inland state, yet our wildlife and lands are facing serious threats. These threats, combined with antiquated funding systems, are putting the future of our lands, wildlife, and outdoor economy at risk.

Not only does Tennessee lack funds to address growing threats, like the pervasive and invasive Asian carp or microplastic pollution in our rivers, we don’t even have the resources to adequately implement existing Wildlife Action Plans. State agencies are unable to collect data and implement necessary conservation measures for sensitive species, exacting a severe toll on our birds, animals, and pollinators.

Sadly, Tennessee will soon have even less funding for conservation. State conservation funds are tied to the sale of hunting and fishing licenses and excise taxes on firearms and ammunition. Currently, state wildlife agencies get 60 percent of their funding from these two sources. But, the number of Americans who hunt is declining, threatening the primary source of funding for conservation and upending the entire North American Model of Wildlife Conservation. Recent studies show that only five percent of Americans hunt—half of what it was 50 years ago.

We view the lack of long-term, sustainable funding for conservation in our state as the single greatest threat to our wildlife and wild places. No other threat—from Asian Carp to microplastic pollution—can be neutralized if we don’t first solve this crisis. We are organizationally committed to facing this threat head-on, with all the resources at our disposal.

The board and staff of Tennessee Wildlife Federation engaged in strategic planning to grow our organization and its conservation policy program into one of the best in the country. The resulting plan defines our strategic priorities and identifies the obstacles to accomplishing our mission for the next four years.

To win the necessary policy victories, the Federation is growing policy staff, expanding coalitions, and developing messaging for audiences and decision makers at the state and federal level. We are increasing capacity and expertise to research and track legislation, building relationships with key lawmakers, broadening communications with stakeholders, and increasing our presence among hunters and anglers. We will not only write compelling stories in defense of our wildlife, residents, and wild places, we will also be the microphone as we shout these stories from the mountaintops.

In addition to playing offense on the critical conservation funding issue, the Federation is elevating the litter crisis in our state. Unsightly along our roads and in our communities, litter is even worse for wildlife. The Tennessee River contains more microplastic per gallon than any other river studied in the world. We have big plans to solve the litter crisis through dynamic coalitions, partnerships with businesses and transformative legislation.

Because of growth resulting from our strategic plan, the Federation now has the ability to tackle critical conservation issues, like Asian carp. We are now able to proactively advance new policy and legislation, instead of simply playing defense when issues arise. We’ve added internal capacity, especially within our policy program. In the next year, we are hoping to further grow our policy reach as our seasoned communications team continues to dramatically increase the Federation's reputation. Because of our communications team, the Federation achieved as many media hits in the first eight months of 2019 as all of 2018!

Over our 75-year history, Tennessee Wildlife Federation has shaped Tennessee’s wildlife policy, advanced landmark legislation on air and water quality, helped restore species and their habitats, introduced new generations to the outdoors, and connected hungry families to local venison.

Through programs in conservation policy, engagement and stewardship, TWF’s goal is to ensure the successes of our past remain for future generations. Recent key accomplishments include winning $25 million in federal funding to fight Asian Carp, including in the Southeast, and securing $2.3 million in annual recurring funding for Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency’s water-focused work through the passage of a fuel sales tax re-appropriation.

TWF also lead expert-level working-group discussions and drafted the natural resources and recreation recommendations and content that was ultimately included in Governor Haslam’s TN H2O plan, Tennessee’s first statewide water plan, which has since been adopted by Governor Lee.

Because sportsmen and women are the primary conservationists in Tennessee today, the Federation is continually and actively recruiting and re-activating Tennessee’s next generation of enthusiasts. We introduce over 2,500 youth and their parents annually to the outdoors through our Scholastic Clay Target Program and Hunting & Fishing Academy. We also keep current sportsmen engaged through popular programs like Hunters for the Hungry. Since 1998, our Hunters for the Hungry program has collected more than 1.7 million pounds of venison, providing over 7 million meals to the food insecure through our partnerships with food banks and soup kitchens.