Measuring the effectiveness of State Wildlife Grants: final report

Call Number:

URL:

Keywords:

Abstract:

The Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies’ (AFWA) Teaming With Wildlife (TWW) Committee formed the Effectiveness Measures Working Group (Working Group) in September 2009 to develop and test a framework and effectiveness measures for the State and Tribal Wildlife Grants Program (SWG). The Working Group included representatives from state fish and wildlife agencies and key conservation partners. This report recommends a framework that includes an agreed-upon set of effectiveness measures that can be used by states to improve performance reporting. The process demonstrated that data on effectiveness measures can be collected in large part by taking advantage of existing datasets, integrated into the project management and reporting cycle currently used, and implemented without burdening states with new and arduous reporting requirements. Because of the severe economic constraints that states are currently facing, it may seem like the wrong time to implement an effectiveness measures framework. However, increased scrutiny on budgets and growing expectations by the public require that states be as efficient and effective as possible or risk losing hard-fought and much-needed funding. This framework will lead to an improved understanding of how the SWG program is on-a path to meet expected outcomes, promote adaptive management, and provide a tool for the broader conservation community to improve its work. Since the capacity to collect and report data on effectiveness will vary among states, implementation of the framework should be voluntary and as efficient and streamlined as possible so resources are not diverted from doing on-the-ground conservation work. Lastly, although it was not feasible to develop a separate set of effectiveness measures for State Wildlife Action Plans (SWAPs), there is a need to assess the plans to determine if they are meeting their intended purpose and if there is a need for improvements. This assessment should be completed prior to the ten-year anniversary of the plans in 2015.

Notes:

ELECTRONIC FILE - Zoology

SWAP (2/19/16) citation:
[AFWA] Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies, Teaming With Wildlife Committee, Effectiveness Measures Working Group. 2011. Measuring the effectiveness of State Wildlife Grants: final report. Washington (DC): Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies; [accessed 2012 Jul 14]. http://www.teaming.com/tool/measuring-effectiveness-state-wildlife-grant....