This year, the Federation celebrated 17 individuals and companies from across the state who are conserving our wildlife and wild places.
2023 Conservation Achievement Award Winners
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Outdoor Pursuits
Turkey Hunting: To Decoy or Not to Decoy?
A simple question that all turkey hunters ask themselves. Depending on the outcome of the hunt, we hunters may mull over the “shoulda, coulda, woulda’s” with turkey decoys for days after the hunt.
Tony Campbell: Conservation Starter
As the Tennessee Conservation League’s first employee—and the executive director of the organization for 23 years—Tony Campbell set the groundwork for what would become the Tennessee Wildlife...
Tennessee’s Top 20 Fishing Destinations
Tennessee is lined with countless streams and rivers that run into more than 1,000 lakes. The square mileage of water accounts for a little more than two percent of the state’s total surface area....
Protecting the Hatchie Scenic River
Over the past ten years, economic development interests within the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development (ECD) have conceived and begun to implement a plan to create a...
Elk History in Tennessee
Really? Elk are native to Tennessee? Elk are not only native to Tennessee but were hugely important to the way of life of early residents of the state, even helping to shape its landscape. “Many...
Monarch Butterflies: Here’s What You Can Do
The monarch, known for its bold orange coloring, rules as king of the butterflies. However, that reign is in danger of coming to a tragic end. In 1996, the population of monarch butterflies in North...
Birth Of The Tennessee Conservation League
Adapted from Dr. Marge Davis' "Sportsmen United: The History of the Tennessee Conservation League" The Tennessee Conservation League (now the Tennessee Wildlife Federation) was formed on...
Resisting Federal Overreach: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Proposed Ban on Tailwater Fishing
Sen. Lamar Alexander, with support from Tennessee Wildlife Federation CEO Mike Butler (left), spoke at a spring 2013 press conference related to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers plan to restrict...
A Conservation Success Story: Sandhill Cranes
Tennessee establishes a hunting season for sandhill cranes According to the biologists at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Eastern Population of sandhill cranes have grown to huntable...
The Right to Hunt and Fish: An Amendment to the Tennessee Constitution
All the way back to Ancient Rome, democratic societies have recognized the individual right to hunt and fish. But during the Norman Conquest in England, a landowner could be put to death for hunting...
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Help lead Tennessee's wildlife and habitat conservation movement by making your voice heard.