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Pioneering Grant Program Now In Its Third Decade
Wildlife Department Celebrates 20-Plus Years of Dedicated Research
and Survey Funding for Nongame Species
By Jena Donnell, Communication and Education Specialist
PIONEERING GRANT PROGRAM

NOW IN ITS THIRD DECADE

WILDLIFE DEPARTMENT CELEBRATES 20-PLUS YEARS OF DEDICATED
RESEARCH AND SURVEY FUNDING FOR NONGAME SPECIES

JARED WOOD

On July 6, 2022, this appeared on the Oklahoma By Jena Donnell, Communication and Education Specialist
Department of Wildlife Conservation’s social
media feeds: “Don’t mind us — we’re just The Wildlife Department made a splash last summer when it announced on
sliding into your feed to let you know the social media the launch of two of its latest research and survey grant proj-
Wildlife Department has kicked off two
alligator research projects at Red Slough ects, focused on the small population of American alligators in and around
Wildlife Management Area with our partners
at Southeastern Oklahoma State University Red Slough Wildlife Management Area. The landmark work will provide the
and Southwestern Adventist University. Department with its first official assessments of the state’s alligator population.
For the next two years, we’ll be studying
the native population, tracking individuals, It also marked a 20-year milestone in the Department’s fish and wildlife conser-
and developing a long-term management
plan for the species. Courtesy Jared Wood, vation history.
Southwestern Adventist University. Trail camera “The Wildlife Department has a rich heritage of conservation, but we haven’t
videos from the project can be found on the
Wildlife Department’s YouTube channel @ always had a dedicated funding source for conserving or assessing the state’s
outdooroklahomaodwc.”
alligator population or other species that aren’t hunted or fished,” said Kurt
Kuklinski, research supervisor for the Wildlife Department. “That type of com-
mitted funding has only been available for the last 20 years.”
States have traditionally funded conservation by way of federal Wildlife and
Sport Fish Restoration Program grants that originated with the popular Pittman-
Robertson Act of 1937 and the Dingell-Johnson Act of 1950. These measures
established a funding model that pairs a federal excise tax on most outdoors-re-

30 OUTDOOR OKLAHOMA