SCWF recently had the opportunity to represent South Carolina at the National Wildlife Federation (NWF) 90th Annual Meeting – the largest and oldest gathering of grassroots conservation leaders in the nation.

The South Carolina Wildlife Federation, previously the SC Game & Fish Association (formed in 1931), has been a state affiliate of the National Wildlife Federation (NWF) since NWF’s inception in 1936. The relationship between NWF and its state affiliates is unique among other conservation organizations because each affiliate functions as a completely separate organization concerning all aspects – finances, programs, policies, board governance, membership, etc. At the same time, NWF relies on the votes of its state affiliates to set policy and elect board members each year during NWF’s Annual Meeting.

This year, Rosemary Martin-Jones (SCWF Board Member & Affiliate Representative) and Sara Green (SCWF Executive Director & Alternate Affiliate Representative) represented SCWF and South Carolina at the recent NWF Annual Meeting held in Providence, RI. They not only voted on NWF resolutions and board members, but also had the opportunity to sit on committees and interact with colleagues at NWF and other state affiliate organizations. This meeting is always such a great opportunity for SCWF to learn from other affiliates, share our successes and brainstorm new ideas. They even got to hang out with Ranger Rick!

Resolutions were passed in different categories to set NWF policy regarding: data center regulatory and legislative safeguards and best practices; preservation of scientific and historical integrity in public lands; and restrictions on pesticide and rodenticide use.

SCWF co-sponsored the rodenticide resolution due to documented high rates of secondary poisoning in apex predators like raptors and mammalian predators from Second-Generation Anticoagulant Rodenticides (SGARs). This issue was recently brought to light in SC by biologists with the Town of Kiawah Island who noticed that their bobcat population declined dramatically due to SGAR poisoning (read more about that here). The newly passed resolution sets NWF policy to support strong federal and state restrictions on second generation anticoagulant rodenticides.