With all the various groups and organisations it’s often hard to tell which one is which, they all sound the same. The Wildlife Society is the National Organisation for Wildlife Biologists. If someone is a certified Wildlife Biologist, it’s the Society who certified them. The org is old school, begun in the days of Leopold when science was first being used to manage wildlife.
The society advocates for science based policy and conservation. They publish peer reviewed studies in their Journal and they also publish position statements on various issues topical to the management of wildlife. I often read their position statements and find myself being convinced as to the validity of whatever stance the Society is taking on a particular issue. I don’t always like it, but mostly I agree with what is being said as their reasoning is based not only the best scientific knowledge available, but also on what is best for the species and the ecology of all the species in that particular habitat.
Wiki says of the society….
Ecology is the primary scientific discipline of the wildlife profession; therefore, the interests of the Society embrace the interactions of all organisms with their natural environments.
The society though of long lineage, is hardly staid in it’s views, they are constantly revising methods and understanding of species. Wildlife management is not a theoretical discipline. Managers adapt, as do species.
The reason I write today is because the Society sent me a membership, and I’m extremely grateful. I’ve no idea why they sent me a membership, certainly not because I’m in any way deserving. I used to read their publications online back when I found ways to bypass the restrictions on readership. I still read the free articles on their web page and especially the position statements as they come out.
The cost of membership at $80 per year was way beyond my means, and now not only can I read the magazines online but they send them to me also. The Society publishes The Wildlife Professional, The Journal of Wildlife Management, and the online Wildlife Society Bulletin, the last two publications are of peer reviewed studies.
If you’ve an area of specific interest the Technical Reviews section of the web page is a fact finding review of all the current studies on a subject and is often a prelude to the Society's position statements. Topics include such things as the impact of oil and gas development on wildlife habitat or the effects of prescribed burns. In reading the Technical Reviews I’ve gained a much more thorough understanding of subjects of interest and I now understand why the biologists of my state conduct studies in the way that they do. Most reviews are readable to the layperson.
In this era where everything is political, many issues related to wildlife are extremely opinionated and often uninformed. When I read reviews from the Wildlife Society I’m reading the educated collective understanding of the largest professional organisation tasked with researching the issue in North America.