Many of us know that conserving wildlife extends beyond our borders and spans worldwide to wonderful places, including Africa. I’m pleased to read this news. Colorado Parks and wildlife’s southeast region implemented a great plan to help other African wildlife officers.
I’ve had the pleasure of meeting CPW’s Southeast Regional Director, Dan Prenzlow, at Colorado Sportsman’s Roundtable meetings. He’s a forward-moving man, always striving to improve conservation methods in his area. This year he authorized his crew to gather obsolete items, no longer used by the organization to send to conservation officers in Africa.
It is great to see donations from the United States will be helping officers over there to conserve wildlife for future generations. Read below to learn more.
|
CPW ships boxes of donated conservation items to wildlife officers in Africa COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – In recent weeks, large boxes packed with work pants, boots, shirts, socks, belts, spotting scopes, binoculars, backpacks and much more left the loading dock of the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Southeast Region office bound for Africa. They are part of a nine-state project to donate gear to conservation officers in six African nations, working in cooperation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. State Department and the Wild Tomorrow Fund, a New York-based nonprofit dedicated to protecting threatened and endangered species and the habitats they depend on for survival. Frank McGee, CPW area wildlife manager, brought the idea back from a leadership program last fall at the National Conservation Training Center attended by conservation officers from 30 other state agencies as well as conservation agencies from 12 African nations. “I learned a great deal about the struggles our African counterparts face on a daily basis,” McGee said. “As it is in the United States, conservation of natural resources can be complicated in Africa. In some countries there, things are pretty bleak.” | |
CPW ships boxes of donated conservation items to wildlife officers in AfricaCOLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – In recent weeks, large boxes packed with work pants, boots, shirts, socks, belts, spotting scopes, binoculars, backpacks and much more left the loading dock of the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Southeast Region office bound for Africa. They are part of a nine-state project to donate gear to conservation officers in six African nations, working in cooperation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. State Department and the Wild Tomorrow Fund, a New York-based nonprofit dedicated to protecting threatened and endangered species and the habitats they depend on for survival. Frank McGee, CPW area wildlife manager, brought the idea back from a leadership program last fall at the National Conservation Training Center attended by conservation officers from 30 other state agencies as well as conservation agencies from 12 African nations. “I learned a great deal about the struggles our African counterparts face on a daily basis,” McGee said. “As it is in the United States, conservation of natural resources can be complicated in Africa. In some countries there, things are pretty bleak.” |
One classmate asked if they would accept donations and what, exactly, they needed. It turned out their needs were pretty basic, McGee said. So he got permission from Dan Prenzlow, manager of CPW’s Southeast Region, to gather obsolete law enforcement items to donate to conservation officers in Africa.
“Our agency is dedicated to preserving wildlife and if we can help further that cause in Africa by donating old or obsolete items, I’m all for it,” Prenzlow said.
McGee asked his CPW colleagues to search their storage lockers for gear they no longer use and consider donating it. Soon, the CPW loading dock was stacked high with gear. As shipments from CPW and other state wildlife agencies started landing in Africa, Wild Tomorrow Fund staff reported they were having an immediate impact improving morale.
The International Conservation Chiefs Academy (ICCA) hopes projects like this strengthen global law enforcement relationships to combat illegal wildlife trafficking. The ICCA works with 18 African nations and next year will add seven Southeast Asian countries.
CPW, alongside federal agencies, hosted 42 African conservation officials in Denver as they visited the U.S. in mid-September. Training programs included: adaptive leadership, peer group problem solving sessions, anti-corruption practices, relationship building, wildlife trafficking trends, forensics, evidence and inventory management, working across cultural differences and more.
“Colorado Parks and Wildlife is committed to conserving our wildlife resources here at home, and contributing to the global fight against wildlife trafficking,” Prenzlow said. “The criminals who illegally trade in wildlife and wildlife parts operate across borders. So it is imperative that agencies like Colorado Parks and Wildlife cooperate across borders to fight them and catch them.”
CPW is an enterprise agency, relying primarily on license sales, state parks fees and registration fees to support its operations, including: 41 state parks and more than 350 wildlife areas covering approximately 900,000 acres, management of fishing and hunting, wildlife watching, camping, motorized and non-motorized trails, boating and outdoor education. CPW’s work contributes approximately $6 billion in total economic impact annually throughout Colorado.
