Wildlife International history

Wildlifers had been meeting annually for many years, but until Aldo Leopold, Arthur Allen, and Herbert Stoddard began to give presentations on wildlife ecology and management in the late 1920’s, the topics discussed focused largely on game breeding.

Wildlife conservation and management became recognized as a formal discipline in the 1930’s.

The subsequent establishment of university programs (beginning with Wisconsin in 1933) and the Cooperative Wildlife Research Units gave life to the policy.

In the summer of 1935, Ted Frison, Director of the Illinois Natural History Survey, wrote to several colleagues encouraging them to meet in Urbana to discuss the problems they shared in achieving conservation.

Two months later in February 1936, the First North American Wildlife Conference was held in Washington, D.C. The Midwesterners brought their idea to a larger audience, and the Society of Wildlife Specialists was formed, with Ralph (Terry) King as its first president.

Founded in 1937, The Wildlife Society is an international network of over 11,000 leaders in wildlife science, management and conservation who are dedicated to excellence in wildlife stewardship.

The first subunit established was the Northeast Section in 1938.

Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the status of the natural world and the measures needed to safeguard it.

The offices of Secretary and Treasurer were eliminated with the establishment of a volunteer Executive Secretary in 1953.

Formal approval for Council to issue resolutions first appeared in bylaw revisions in 1957.

In 1958, The Wildlife Society published the first Wildlife Monograph.

President A. Starker Leopold, in introducing this new publication, stated that WM is for manuscripts considered too long for JWM. In 1960, the Society published the Manual of Game Investigational Techniques.

Launch of WWF at the Royal Society of Arts, London, September 28, 1961.

In 1964 the position of President-Elect was created to allow an indoctrination period for the incoming President.

In 1968 the title changed to Executive Director to more accurately reflect the responsibilities.

In May 1972 the Wildlife Society Bulletin was established as an outlet for wildlife management-related articles.

WWF hires its first scientist, Doctor Thomas E. Lovejoy, as a project administrator, in 1973.

WWF begins awarding the annual $50,000 Getty Prize for outstanding contributions to wildlife conservation in 1974.

WWF in 1975 helps create Corcovado National Park, located on Costa Rica's Osa Peninsula.

In 1976 Prince Bernhard was implicated in a bribery scandal involving the Lockheed Aircraft Corporation.

In 1977, the words “The Wildlife Society” were added to the logo in an L-shaped frame around the symbols.

With critical support from WWF and the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), the IUCN in 1980 publishes the ground-breaking World Conservation Strategy, stating that humanity exists as part of nature and has no future unless nature and natural resources are conserved.

WWF's long-established support of projects in Africa is strengthened by the creation of an Africa program and a formal tie (since discontinued) with the African Wildlife Foundation in 1983.

In a New York Times editorial in 1984, WWF vice president Doctor Thomas E. Lovejoy sets forth the concept of using Third World debt reduction to protect the environment.

WWF in 1985 expands conservation programs in Asia and Africa, showcasing the new Annapurna National Park in Nepal and strengthening projects to protect mountain gorillas in Rwanda.

WWF's wildlife trade arm, TRAFFIC, launches an extensive publicity campaign to combat illegal wildlife trade in 1986.

The WWF’s first successful debt-for-nature swap took place in 1987 in Ecuador.

WWF in 1988 arranges a $3 million debt-for-nature swap in Costa Rica, as well as additional swaps in the Philippines for $2 million and Ecuador for $1 million.

The following year the World Wildlife Fund was founded; the international name was subsequently changed to World Wide Fund for Nature in 1989, although in the United States and Canada it retained the founding name.

A landmark change was member approval of the Policy Director position in 1990.

WWF in 1991 helps create the Enterprise for the Americas Initiative, which to date has gene-rated more than $150 million in conservation and development funding from the proceeds of restructured government-to-government debt in seven Latin American countries.

WWF in 1992 begins creating "conservation trust funds" for a number of high-priority conservation areas.

WWF in 1993 helps create the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) to find solutions which promote responsible stewardship of the world's forests.

Beginning in September 1994, the Society has held its own Annual Conference sponsored each year by a State Chapter.

WWF negotiates a debt-for-nature swap in Madagascar worth $3.2 million in 1996.

WWF in 1997 launches the Living Planet Campaign, a new vision for preserving Earth's biodiversity.

In a pledge developed through the WWF-World Bank Alliance, the president of Brazil in 1998 commits to provide legal protection for 10 percent of the Brazilian rain forest, an area greater than all of the national parks in the contiguous United States combined.

Council created the staff position of Managing Editor in February 1999 in order to establish a permanent editorial office at society headquarters, and oversee production and business aspects of all Society publications.

In 2000, The number of forest acres certified under the principles of the FSC reaches 44 million, including 6.4 million acres in the United States.

Central African nations in 2001 surpass commitments made at the Yaounde Summit.

The Amazon Region Protected Areas (ARPA) program launches in 2002.

WWF and the Chinese government in 2004 release the most comprehensive study ever done of pandas in the wild, showing nearly 50 percent more pandas than previously thought.

WWF in 2005 establishes the Mesoamerican Reef Trust Fund, benefiting Belize, Honduras, Guatemala and Mexico.

In 2006 the position was renamed Conferences and Membership Director.

In 2007, The Wildlife Professional emerged as a magazine designed to provide current information, news, and analysis in a popular format to practicing wildlife professionals.

The greater one-horned rhinos in Manas National Park are making a comeback thanks to joint conservation efforts under the Indian Rhino Vision 2020 initiative.