Native American Fish & Wildlife Society (NAFWS)

For nearly 40 years, the Native American Fish & Wildlife Society (nafws), an intertribal non-profit 501(c)(3), has strived to meet the needs of its members and member tribes; directly, through conferences, training, youth education, and indirectly; through ongoing support of, and providing venues for government consultations, discussions, and by participating with innovative projects and initiatives in indian country. These included the 39th annual national conference sponsored by the southeast region and hosted by the miccosukee tribe of indians of Florida at the miccosukee resort and gaming in miami, fl on may 9-12, 2022. We continued to see the effects of covid and travel restrictions, however, our attendance is rebounding with 216 people representing 56 tribes from all 7 nafws regions. In total we hosted 5 regional conferences, 2 regional meetings and the annual national conference with a total of 758 participants from 177 tribal nations.in october, final drafts were submitted for the first official volume on tribal Wildlife management. The textbook is slated for publication by john hopkins university press in october 2022. Nafws will receive all proceeds from the book sales for three years.membership2022 was a great year for nafws membership with an increase in our member tribes from 44 in 2021 to 59. Individual membership nearly tripled in 2022 from 176 individual members in 2021 to 485 individuals in 2022. We attribute the increase in both individual and member tribe membership to the ability to have in person regional conferences, three regional meetings in addition to the national conference, and the growth of our social media presence.

Educationnational summer youth practicum (syp)nafws held the 2022 national syp in estes park at ymca of the rockies and the pingree campus of Colorado state university. Ten students representing 6 tribes and 5 nafws regions took part in this week long practicum.internshipstwo college students participated in our internship program in 2022. Interns assisted with nafws projects, the national syp, and the Alaska tribal climate resilience program.scholarshipsin 2022, we awarded a total of $12,000 in nafws scholarships to nine Native american/alaska Native college students pursing natural resource degrees. Plus, a $4,500 scholarship to the national conservation leadership institutenational conference student poster sessionwe held the second national tribal poster session and professional mixer at our 2022 annual national conference in miami, fl. Thirteen students presented and 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners were awarded.

Trainings, workshops & technical assistancewe offered several training courses throughout the year on topics such as climate resilience, electrofishing, nepa, Wildlife chemical immobilization, threatened and endangered species, grant writing and Wildlife disease sampling. In total we provided training to around 300 participants. Technical assistance varied greatly; however, some examples include, connecting tribes with resources (scientific, funding, partners), meeting with federal agencies to assist them in tribal engagement, conservation law enforcement issues, and policy questions. In total, nafws provided direct technical assistance to 170 tribes. Our largest technical assistance event was the "america the beautiful challenge grant" workshop/webinar 7-part series. We had over 100 participants representing 62 tribes. Nafws is in regular contact with over 400 tribes providing direct response to all field staff inquiries along with dissemination of information including: funding opportunities, training opportunities, networking and nafws updates. Tribal conservation law enforcement officer training robert romero, former u.s. Fish and Wildlife special agent and citizen of the pueblo of laguna continued as nafws' conservation law enforcement officer (cleo) consultant to provide technical assistance for cleo programming and activities. Mr. romero served as the lead of the nafws cleo ad hoc group and coordinator for nafws cleo training. We offered several trainings throughout 2022 for a total of 185 cleos representing 71 tribes.