Conservation of biological diversity: perspectives and the future for the wildlife profession

At its October 1989 meeting, the council of The Wildlife Society (TWS) directed President Jim Teer to appoint an ad hoc committee to address the role of wildlife management in preserving biological diversity (biodiversity). Members were concerned that the profession was viewed as narrowly focused on species for sport harvest. Furthermore, there was a belief that contributions of the wildlife management profession to conservation of biological diversity had not been properly identified and evaluated. The committee was asked to examine how the strategies and policies of wildlife management have protected and currently protect all biological resources as well as produce animals for consumptive and recreational use. In the case of conflicts between these uses, the committee was to suggest philosophical and practical resolutions. The committee was also to produce a conceptual framework emphasizing appropriate principles of biological diversity to provide philosophical guidance to the wildlife management profession at a time when preserving biological diversity is of foremost global concern within the conservation community. The end result of the committee's efforts was a report from which a position statement for The Wildlife Society was developed (see box). This article is a peer-edited, updated summary of the committee report which was the basis for that position statement.