SCI Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that funds and directs worldwide programs dedicated to wildlife conservation and outdoor education. SCI Foundation ensures that the best available science is used in wildlife policy and management and demonstrates the constructive role that hunting and hunters play in the conservation of biodiversity around the world. The organization is First For Wildlife, investing millions of dollars into wildlife conservation and education every year.

The Conservation Department at SCI Foundation partners with academic institutions, community-based support organizations, and conservation non-governmental organizations to complete wildlife research and management projects all over the world. Since 2000, we have put over $70 million in hunter dollars to work on over 100 conservation projects in 30 countries. Some of our programs include:

North America: SCI Foundation is a strong supporter of the North American Model of Wildlife Management and firmly believes that the hunter-conservationist is the key to future conservation efforts in North America. We have supported projects in 23 states and provinces involving a range of species. Recent foci have been on the interactions between hunted species and expanding predator populations, grizzly and black bear populations, and declining mule deer populations in the West and white-tailed deer in the upper Midwest.
Africa: SCI Foundation has a long history of success in Africa. We work to support African states in managing their wildlife resources sustainably for the long-term benefit of their land, their people, and wildlife communities. We are currently supporting research to identify the most accurate and efficient methods to survey African lions and leopards so that these iconic species will continue to be conserved through sustainable use.
Asia: Many central Asian countries are in the early stages of developing a sustainable use conservation model, but SCI Foundation has been present with our partners in the region since 2010. We support building capacity for local community-based conservation throughout the region, including projects in Kazakhstan, Pakistan, and Tajikistan.
Antipoaching: Illegal harvest for meat or body parts is a primary threat to many wildlife species worldwide, especially rhinoceros and elephant in Africa. SCI Foundation has supported antipoaching efforts all over the world through grants, partnerships, and capacity-building efforts.
Matching Grants: The SCI Foundation supports SCI Chapters in their efforts to contribute toward conservation projects in their local areas. If a Chapter supports a research or management project, they can apply for matching funds from the Foundation to increase their impact. In 2018, the Foundation contributed over $30,000 to local conservation efforts through matching grants to the chapters.

The annual African Wildlife Consultative Forum (AWCF) is SCI Foundation's premier activity in Africa, bringing together a diverse group of international stakeholders, senior government delegates, professional hunting associations, policy experts and wildlife biologists. Discussions at this forum center on African wildlife issues and coordinating responses to current events.

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Project Updates

Africa

Tanzania Ruaha Buffalo Disease Study

With SCI Foundation’s help, the project is leading more in-depth research on health, ecology, herd movement, and habitat use of Ruaha’s African buffalos. Nothing was previously known about buffalo home ranges or seasonal movements, except that herds disappear from the park during the wet season and return to congregate at the Great Ruaha River during the dry season. This seasonal movement may overlap with pastoral livestock populations. Read more.

Estimating Lion Abundance in Tanzania

The current methods for estimating lion abundance are imprecise. The goal of the Tanzania Lion Project is to improve survey methods to allow consistent and accurate lion abundance estimation within the Serengeti National Park study area. This project is a game changer, ensuring that management of the African lion is based on science, and helping to put SCI Foundation front and center in the lion research community. Read more.

Uganda Sitatunga Population Size and Ecology

There is little scientific data available on whether the sitatunga prefers dense wetland vegetation or crop-raiding from dry land adjacent to rivers. Equally mysterious are the movements of males and females during the wet and dry seasons.

In order to address the gaps in scientific knowledge and help ensure the sustainability of sitatunga hunting in Uganda, SCI Foundation has recently begun a research program in partnership with the University of Alberta. The Uganda Sitatunga Project aims to utilize radio telemetry, mark-resight population estimation, and genetic analysis to fill the data gap which makes this species so difficult to manage. Read more.

Anti-Poaching Projects in Africa

Wildlife and the habitat that supports it must be valued. Above all, those who live with wildlife every day, must be able to derive financial and/or nutritional benefit from that wildlife if it is to survive. Without the ability to use and benefit from wild flora and fauna, poaching is often seen as the only option in many areas of the world.

Rural communities must be provided alternatives for herding and other practices that do not encourage responsible wildlife management and be rewarded for supporting the efforts of those dedicated to protecting wildlife if anti-poaching efforts are able to succeed in the real world. Read more.

Asia

Kazakhstan Argali Sheep Conservation Initiative

As a part of SCI Foundation’s International Conservation Strategy for Wild Sheep and Goats, this new agreement with Kazakhstan is just the first of what we hope will be many international agreements. SCIF and Wild Sheep Foundation have ongoing conservation efforts in North America, Europe, and Asia. This long-term approach to wild sheep and goat conservation provides a model for future cooperative agreements. Engaging relevant government agency representatives and local stakeholders along with hunters will ensure that a science-based approach to wildlife management can be followed rather than an emotion or politically-based approach. As Wild Sheep Foundation President & CEO Gray N. Thornton once stated, “We are proud to work hand-in-hand with SCIF as conservation partners and teammates to conserve these iconic species not only in North America but around the globe.” Read more.

Ecology of the Eastern Caucusus Tur

This study will provide the first quantitative assessment of Caucasian tur populations in more than 20 years. These data will be used to support a long term, community-based conservation program that includes sustainable harvest. Information about population structure can show a true state of the species and provide data to support current hunting programs that contribute to tur conservation. Read more.

Pakistan Snow Leopard Project

Abundance and Population Characteristics of Tajikistan Argali

SCI Foundation is continuing to support cutting edge work in the southern Pamir Region of eastern Tajikistan, one of the primary strongholds for Argali sheep. This ecosystem stretches from the western tip of China to the northern stretches of Afghanistan and Pakistan. Situated at an elevation between 13,000 and 24,000 feet, this high alpine environment was once part of the Silk Road and through which Marco Polo himself traveled. Marco Polo reported that that their horns were so long local people could build a fence with them. It wasn’t until the new millennium in 2001 that factual surveys and studies of this mythical species could be initiated. Read more.

North America

Vermont Moose Mortality and Recruitment

Safari Club International Foundation (SCI Foundation) recently awarded the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department a $50,000 grant in support of an ongoing three-year study the department is conducting on the state’s moose herd. The organization awards grants to “projects with strong potential to contribute to the sustainable management of natural resources or the advance of constructive wildlife research.” Read more.

Elk Habitat Use In Colorado’s Gunnison Basin

SCI Foundation is proud to team up with the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation and the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Department to uncover previously unknown information about elk habitat usage and movement patterns – information that is starting to help guide elk management decisions for the state wildlife agency. GPS collar data will be turned into ‘Heat Maps’ to provide important occupancy patterns for elk in the Gunnison Basin that will help guide management decisions for the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Department. Long distance movements recorded from the GPS collars are already showing how elk move across federal jurisdictional and game management unit boundaries more than initially thought. Local state and federal managers are taking notice of this and starting to plan differently in terms of long term elk conservation. This study will shed light on how a growing human footprint can destabilize the elk movements, and thus elk hunting opportunities. Read more.

Virginia White Tailed Deer

SCI Foundation is partnering with Virginia Tech to collar bears in the spring of 2018 before the peak fawning period to potentially capture a predation spike. This project will continue to monitor the bear population in the area and will present be a unique opportunity to study the entire carnivore guild. Researchers will also be using novel methods to determine whether predator diet samples represent actual predation or scavenging behavior.

The project will correspond with an upcoming Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries study on does and fawns, completing the predator-prey picture. Ultimately, data will used be used by wildlife managers in the department to update white-tailed deer and predator management plans and set hunting regulations. Read more.

Northeastern California Black Bear

Monitoring Montana Moose Populations

SCI Foundation has partnered with Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks (MFWP) on its moose population monitoring project. Moose populations in the Rocky Mountain West have experienced declines over the past two decades. In Montana, observed drops in harvest rates are causing concern. The objectives of the study are to evaluate the most cost-effective means to monitor the population, assess population status and trends, and measure the external factors influencing population growth. Read more.

Santa Catalina Mountains Desert Bighorn Sheep Project

Western States Bobcat Project

Officially titled, “Estimating Multi-State Bobcat Populations to Inform State Management Decisions throughout the Western U.S.,” funding from SCI Foundation is now being used to organize bobcat data via the Wildlife Ecology Institute’s Western U.S. Bobcat Project conducted by Dr. Tim Hiller. Ultimately the goal of this project is to guide state agencies that plan to continue or begin harvesting bobcats while backing their decisions with hard science. Read more.

South Rockies BC Grizzly Bear Project

Michigan Predator Prey Project

Wild Harvest Initiative

The Wild Harvest Initiative is the first attempt to systematically quantify wild protein harvest on such a large scale and seeks to change the narrative surrounding the importance of modern hunting and fishing. Wild protein harvest is one of the most healthy and ecologically sustainable methods of food procurement, and is an integral part our diet, culture and economy.

This initiative brings together a powerful group of sustainable use supporters. Conservation Visions Inc. is a private conservation organization focused on building boarder coalitions in support of biodiversity and sustainable use. Read more.

Missouri Black Bear Project

In an effort to understand the dynamics of the ongoing black bear recovery, SCIF and our partners are studying bear habitat use and survival, and obtaining accurate population estimates in order to help the Missouri Department of Conservation develop a black bear management plan. Black bears are doing well in Missouri, and we expect that in the near future a limited hunting season will return for Missouri bears for the first time in nearly a century. Read more.

Ya Ha Tinda Elk Project

Wyoming Migration Initiative

SCI Foundation is proud to be a part of this multi-year study by lending support to the Wyoming Migration Initiative (WMI). This project began in 2011 and was intended to examine movements and habitat use in a non-migratory population of mule deer in western Wyoming. What was discovered shocked researchers, as the collared deer were tracked up to 150 miles away from their home range. This officially makes the yearly migration of mule deer the longest in the northern hemisphere. The more we learn, the more local communities can make science-based management decisions to preserve these century-old migrations and manage them through sustainable harvest. Read more.

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Recent Conservation Articles

A Pheasant Reminder

By Randy Gibbs | December 29, 2021

If further evidence was needed that a wildlife conservation battle is never won — at least not permanently — the situation with pheasants in the Dakotas provides it. Pheasant numbers in South Dakota have been declining steadily, with the occasional blip upwards, for the past 15 years. I know this

SCI Opposes CBD Attempt to Shut Down Hunting Access

By SCI Advocacy | December 7, 2021

The Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) has filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services (USFWS). Aiming to take down the recent decision to expand 2.3 million acres across 147 wildlife refuges and national fish hatcheries. The suit cites concerns that lead ammunition and tackle could harm animals such

Safari Club International Foundation (SCIF) Concludes Successful 19th Annual AWCF

By Randy Gibbs | November 30, 2021

(Kasane, Botswana) – Last Month, Safari Club International Foundation (SCIF) concluded its 19th annual African Wildlife Consultative Forum (AWCF), hosted in-person and online with the Botswana Ministry of Environment, Natural Resource Conservation and Tourism at the Cresta Mowana Safari Resort in Kasane. This diverse forum was made up of African

Into the Outdoors Episode Featuring SCIF’s Beyond BOW Program Receives Upper Midwest Emmy

By SCI Advocacy | November 30, 2021

SCI Foundation (SCIF), the Hunter Legacy Fund, and South Dakota Game Fish and Parks recently partnered in support of an Into the Outdoors episode, Into Hunting and Conservation. Into the Outdoors is a youth-focused television series and online hub focused on empowering today’s youth to think critically about planet Earth. Last month, this

African Wildlife Should Belong to Africans

By SCI Advocacy | November 30, 2021

The graphic above speaks volumes: it is undeniable fact that the largest populations of megafauna live and are successful in the countries where they are hunted. To those outside of the hunting world, this may seem counterintuitive. How can hunting a threatened species help save it? Overwhelming scientific data shows

Recap of a Busy Hunting Policy Week

By SCI Advocacy | November 23, 2021

Last week was an important one for American hunters, conservation policy, and African wildlife management. Here’s a full recap: On the 17th, the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works held a confirmation hearing on the nomination of Martha Williams to be the next Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.