(From Trans. 66th North American Wildlife Conference)

"Wildlife Conservation in Canada and the United States emerged during the late 19th and early 20th Centuries, recognizably distinct from other forms found worldwide. … The model has endured a test of time that has seen dramatic changes in society and the landscape of North America. … (it) has also become a system of sustainable development of a renewable natural resource that is without parallel in the world."(Geist, Mahoney and Organ) 

The Components of the North American Model

1. Wildlife as public trust resources.
2. Elimination of markets for wildlife.
3. Allocation of Wildlife by Law.
4. Wildlife can only be killed for a legitimate purpose.
5. Wildlife given treaty considerations as an international resource.
6. Science as the proper tool for discharge of wildlife policy.
7. The Democracy of hunting - it belonged to all of us.

The Achievements:

1. The recovery of wildlife that had been decimated.
2. The development of relationship with living wildlife. In 1985 some $55.5 billion spent in the U.S. (about $15,000 per square mile).
3. The development of the profession of wildlife management.
4. Public involvement with wildlife through conservation societies.
5. Americans taxed themselves (PR).
6. North Americans created an extensive system of protected areas.
7. North Americans negotiated international treaties to protect wildlife.
8. North Americans preserved viable populations of large predators.

The Time Perspective:

Thomas Jefferson was our President 200 years ago (1801 - 1809). His explorers Lewis and Clark reported, upon entering Montana (1805), "The whole ‘face of the country' was covered with herds of buffalo, elk, antelope, and deer …"  Half way between then and now Theodore Roosevelt was our President (1901 - 1909), the nation's wildlife had been decimated, and this organization came to life to address its recovery - not as domestic livestock, but as a wild resources belonging to the people - all the people.

References cited:

-Geist, Mahoney and Organ.  Why Hunting Has Defined the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation, Transactions of the 66th North American Wildlife and Natural Resources Conference, 175 - 185
-Toole, K. Ross.  Montana an Uncommon Land,  University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, OK, 1959.