CEO Notes – July/August 2025
And just like that — another spring turkey season has come and gone. Whether you harvested a bird or the old toms outsmarted you, we hope you made memories with loved ones and connected with the incredible power of the outdoors; this is just one of the many things for which we work tirelessly.
While we associate the spring with thundering gobbles and time immersed in the greening fields and woods, National Volunteer Week also occurs during the heart of the spring season. For us, we cannot think of a more fitting time to recognize our volunteers, as the memories and recreational opportunities we enjoy each spring are made possible by dedicated individuals who live out our mission.
For over 50 years, volunteers have been the lifeblood of the NWTF, going above and beyond for the conservation of the wild turkey and the preservation of our hunting heritage.
In 1974, volunteers established multiple NWTF state chapters. By 1976, volunteers had formed 18 state chapters. In 1985, the NWTF created its Hunting Heritage Super Fund, a project-funding model that is driven by NWTF volunteers. It works by volunteers in every state raising funds at banquets and then allocating a significant portion of those funds back into meaningful conservation and outreach projects in their respective states and beyond. Today, every state in our nation has an NWTF state chapter that follows this model, and the results have translated into millions of acres of conserved habitat and a multitude of stories of the life-changing power of the outdoors.
Recently, as the NWTF has created landscape-scale initiatives that are centered around the NWTF’s mission and regional conservation/hunting heritage challenges — such as the Forests and Flocks Initiative, the Habitat for the Hatch Initiative and the Waterways for Wildlife Initiative — NWTF volunteers have crossed state boundaries. We are addressing conservation challenges in their backyard and in neighboring states to expand impact.
For instance, the New York State Chapter, the Pennsylvania State Chapter and numerous New England state chapters recently provided significant funding for the Forests and Flocks Initiative, which will bolster the NWTF’s conservation and hunting heritage charge across the entire Northeast. These chapters have followed in the footsteps of the Southeastern NWTF chapters that continue to contribute significantly to our Habitat for the Hatch Initiative. While we are looking at specific, granular projects, our landscape-scale initiatives allow us to see how these projects fit into the larger, regional conservation picture, and our state chapters are making it happen.
Great things are on the horizon for our landscape-scale initiatives and the NWTF state chapters that help bring them to life, and we are excited to share them with you soon.
From the volunteers who changed someone’s life by introducing them to turkey hunting for the first time this spring, to the thousands of volunteers who make the NWTF a conservation powerhouse by helping sustain our natural treasures for future generations, our volunteers are our backbone. And as another spring season comes to a close, we are humbled by their efforts and recognize how their contributions make the spring so memorable.