Friends, your many actions, contributions, petitions, votes, and phone calls/emails to your reps in congress have made a difference for wildlife in more ways than you may even know…here is what your blood, sweat and tears helped us accomplish this year! 

FEDERAL POLICY
We gauged our impact by noting a shift in policy with Federal Great Lakes members of Congress. In partnership with Endangered Species Coalition, we launched the Stop Extinction Challenge, and facilitated the following:

19 Meetings with members of Congress or their staffers
58 Lobbying efforts with allied voices
16 Public hearings attended
34 Positive actions from MOC

  • Facilitated meetings with Senator Tammy Duckworth’s office for veterans and scientists.
  • Facilitated meetings with Senator Tammy Baldwin’s office for over 30 allied voices.
  • Met with Senator Joe Donnelly’s office with another constituent in South Bend, Indiana.
  • Met with Congresswoman Debbie Dingell’s staff in Lansing, Michigan.
  • Met with Senator Debbie Stabenow’s office in Lansing, Michigan.
  • Met with wolf and Endangered Species Act (ESA) champions including: Congressman Mark Pocan and Congresswoman Gwen Moore in Wisconsin, and Congresswoman Betty McCollum in Minnesota.

Through these initiatives, we helped stop over 75 attacks on the Endangered Species Act, Omnibus bill, wolf delisting bills, Farm Bill, NDAA bill, and local and state anti-wildlife bills including pro-hounding and pro-wolf poaching bills.

WILDLIFE DAY AT THE CAPITOL
We organized citizens to persuade legislators that wildlife belongs to everyone and that keystone species, like wolves, need special consideration and protections. We brought together wildlife watchers and advocates, ethical hunters, non-consumptive users, scientists, silent sports enthusiasts, farmers and tribal members for wildlife as a unified voice for policy.

In preparation for Wildlife Day, we offered citizen lobby training in both Wisconsin and Michigan, and engaged 12 grassroots organizations on wildlife protections—via participation in strategy calls, strategy meetings, surveys, letters, decision-maker meetings, and outreach to activist members for wildlife day. Through our first annual Wildlife Day at the Capitol, we were able to accomplish the following:

12  Grassroots organizations participated
125  Citizens attended
85  Wisconsin State Senator meetings
83  Wisconsin State Representative meetings
35  Michigan State Senator meetings
36  Michigan State Representative meetings

Wisconsin Wildlife Day Talking Points:
– Wolf management plan of 350 or less
– Game Agency Reform
– Chronic Wasting Disease/Game Farms
– Bear Baiting and Hounding
– Endangered Species Act

Michigan Wildlife Day Talking Points:
– Sandhill Crane Hunt
– Wildlife Killing Contests
– Game Agency Reform
– Value of Wolves/Wolf hunting
– Endangered Species Act

GET OUT THE WILD VOTE  (GOTV)
We partnered with the Endangered Species Coalition and the Native Plant Conservation Campaign to generate voter registrations online. We sent out several alerts to our members, recruited wildlife advocates to sign the pledge, encouraged members to register to vote, update their registrations, help others register to vote, and provided tools to help participants become prepared and educated voters.

2,384  Advocates engaged
976  Text message voter reminders
280  New voter registrations
595  Early voter searches
8  Tabling events (festivals, farmers markets, concerts)

WILDLIFE ART SHOW: OUR VANISHING FUTURE

We invited everyone to come support local, indigenous and professional wildlife photographers and artists and learn more about how they could help keep protections in place for imperiled and endangered species around the US.

The show featured rare and vanishing species, wildlife photography and illustrations by professional, local and indigenous artists, and aimed to educate the public about keeping protections in place for imperiled and endangered species in the Great Lakes region. Entertainment included speaker Bill Greendeer from the Ho-Chunk nation, film showings from Project Coyote and Friends of the Wisconsin Wolf & Wildlife, and special musical guests.

7  Organizations participated
68  Attended
19  New volunteers
17  Artists participated
31  People signed coyote killing contest letter/ESA protections letters
171  Postcards sent to Governor-Elect Tony Evers and Senator Tammy Baldwin

COMMUNITY ORGANIZING
Through a significant increase of outreach via our website, growing social media platforms, and a more consistent presence in the mainstream media, spreading awareness and education regarding threats to imperiled wildlife in Wisconsin and the Great Lakes region became a mainstay of this organization. Over the past year, we were able to begin building upon the following relationships and actions within the wildlife conservation community: 

9  Pro-wildlife resolutions at Conservation Congress
7  Pro-wildlife candidates to run at Conservation Congress
90  New advocates/volunteers
3  Tribal partnerships
41  Grassroots groups added to Great Lakes Wildlife Alliance
213  Tweets to Aaron Rodgers for PSA
88  Tweets to Ricky Gervais for PSA
28  Coalition calls about wolves in the Great Lakes Region, National Wolf call and the wildlife killing contest coalition, in addition to the grassroots call
21  New allied voices (hunters, farmers, teachers, influential grasstops)

Despite the often-discouraging news, we pledge to never stop fighting for the future of wolves and wildlife in Wisconsin and the Great Lakes region. For the new year, we are staying optimistic thanks to active and devoted supporters like you.

From the bottom of our hearts, HOWLS OF THANKS for your continued and unwavering support.