By Brook Minx, Safari Club International Foundation President
With our first SCIF board meeting completed in Nashville this past August (where SCI will host our next SCI Convention in February 22-25, 2023), I am excited, as you should be, at the growth we are set up to experience these next two years. In combination with CEO Laird Hamberlin and SCI President Sven Lindquist, we have the right people overseeing the right programs, and motivation is high. All of SCIF is working toward a singular cause: being First For Wildlife.
Our mission is to ensure the future of wildlife through conservation, education and hunting.
That’s what we do. But who is SCI Foundation? Whether board member, employee, volunteer or donor, we are all a group of concerned hunters, committed to creating a more wildlife-rich planet through sustainable-use conservation. As hunters, we love wildlife and want to do everything we can to ensure sustainable-use wildlife conservation is a public priority around the world!
You’ll recall in September we broke down how we’re doing this through SCIF’s First For Wildlife conservation efforts. Just as important as performing the actual scientific work is ensuring people know the work we do matters and what’s at risk if we don’t. Because of this, SCIF has the following education programs core to our overall mission.
SOCIAL MEDIA INFLUENCERS
In today’s information age, the primary source of information for most Americans comes from social media and the people on social media, including influencers. SCIF provides an authentic hunting experience for social influencers who are not currently hunters, so that they can communicate to a broader public about that experience. This experience occurs in a safe and respectful environment where social influencers will learn about all things hunting, the North American Model of Conservation and the value of game meat as a clean and free-range food source. By exposing social influencers to the SCIF conservation and sustainable-use messaging, we amplify our message to millions of people, including hunters and non-hunters alike. In particular, we use social media to expose a broad cross-section of the public to hunting in a positive light, thereby increasing social license to hunt in a time when direct participation in hunting is declining.
SCIF CUSTOM EDUCATION PROGRAM
SCIF spreads awareness of the benefits of hunting to wildlife conservation in North America and around the world. SCIF provides customized educational programs related to conservation, sustainable-use hunting and the North American model of wildlife conservation to educators, wildlife professionals, interested groups and others supporting the wildlife industry. These programs build on SCIF’s history of bringing this material to a variety of audiences such as our American Wilderness Leadership School (AWLS). In contrast to the static AWLS curriculum, these programs are custom designed to meet the unique needs of individual sponsors, using our learning modules and instructors from our SCIF network.
R3
R3 — recruitment, retention and reactivation — efforts have been ongoing for many years in response to the long-term downward trend in hunter numbers. SCIF works with partners at state agencies and other organizations to promote efforts to increase participation in hunting, particularly women and underrepresented groups.
THE INTERNATIONAL WILDLIFE MUSEUM
The museum, located in Tucson, provides a location for youth and adults to learn about wildlife, conservation and hunting.
The future of wildlife is in the hands of hunters. It’s in your hands just as much as it is mine. If not us, who will fund sustainable-use conservation education programs?
Education is a critical element for successful wildlife conservation. With hunting season wrapping up in late December for most of us, we hope if you haven’t already done so, you’ll take someone hunting and get them a little closer to wildlife to understand what hunting is and the role SCIF and hunters play in sustainable-use wildlife conservation. Get involved, and please consider joining me as a First For Wildlife Endowment donor and an SCIF Monthly Giver!
I’m here to help. I hope you will, too!
Yours always in hunting and conservation!
