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Each year, the Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies honors individuals and organizations for their exemplary commitment to conservation stewardship through its prestigious Annual Awards Program. This year, two U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Office of Conservation Investment staff members were honored as Special Recognition Award winners. Richard Aiken, Chief Economist for the Office of Conservation Investment, was recognized for his decades of work coordinating the National Survey of Hunting, Fishing and Wildlife Associated Recreation. A separate Special Recognition Award was presented to the members of The Assessment Group (TAG) for their pivotal role in developing the National Hunting and Shooting Sports R3 Practitioner’s Guide. Craig Kelling, Office of Conservation Investment biologist and TRACS Working Group Chair, is a member of the TAG coalition.
“Congratulations to all of the recipients of these prestigious AFWA awards,” said Matt Filsinger, Deputy Director of the Office of Conservation Investment. “It's exciting to see two of our program staff members recognized at the national level for outstanding work, both efforts play an important role supporting outdoor pursuits and advancing the work of our partner agencies.”
For nearly 40 years, Aiken has been a key figure coordinating The Survey and additional addendum reports. He joined the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 1985, shortly after completing his master’s in Natural Resources Economics at Colorado State University. Conducted approximately every five years, eight surveys have passed through his hands. As the lead economist and co-director on The Survey his strategic thinking, statistical, and economic intellect have helped shaped The Survey into the nation’s definitive wildlife-related recreation database and a crucial source of information on participation rates and economic impacts of outdoor activities across the nation.
The work of TAG, fellow 2024 AFWA Special Recognition awardee, aims to increase access and participation in hunting, target shooting, and other outdoor pursuits. Formed in January 2022, TAG is a working group of experts, representing a cross-section of agencies, conservation and shooting-sports organizations, and representatives from industry. The dedicated TAG coalition of ~40 professionals, including Service biologist Craig Kelling, worked to review, assess, and update the National Hunting and Shooting Sports Action Plan from 2016. This work along with providing evaluation for products and topics in the guide’s action plan allowed the TAG members to take a deep dive into recruitment, retention, and reactivation efforts for hunters and shooting sports enthusiasts across the Nation. These recruitment, retention, and reactivation efforts are collectively known as R3.
Through meticulous research, over 4,000 collective hours of engagement, input from 117 individual stakeholders, and real-world case studies, TAG created a robust R3 Practitioner’s Guide that equips practitioners with the tools needed to navigate the evolving landscape of hunting and shooting sports participation. The web-based Practitioner’s Guide provides best practices, recommendations, and resources, and current R3 strategies. The release of the R3 Practitioner’s Guide will aid R3 community efforts to engage current and future generations of hunting and shooting sports enthusiasts.
Congratulations to both Aiken and the TAG members for their special recognition awards. Both The Survey and R3 Practitioner’s Guide are pivotal resources that inform and empower stakeholders working to increase access to outdoor pursuits. While not all Americans participate in outdoor pursuits like hunting and fishing, they are important activities that connect people to wild animals and wild places.
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