Conservation Leader to Speak at Shared Community Forum

“To Preserve, Protect, Perpetuate and Manage”

Contact: Idaho Fish and Game 208-334-3746

The public is invited to attend a presentation by Shane Mahoney to the Idaho Environmental Forum and the City Club of Boise, Thursday, July 18.  Refreshments will be offered at 5 p.m. and the presentation begins at 6 p.m. at the Washington Group Plaza Auditorium, 720 East Park Blvd. Boise. 

Mahoney is an accomplished research biologist, outdoors writer and speaker, and has become an international leader in conservation and sustainability.  An avid hunter and angler, Shane delivered the keynote address at last summer’s Idaho Wildlife Summit, reconnecting the participants with their passion for wildlife and democracy and bringing many to tears.  His message is one of humans as part of the landscape and also of citizens as part of a democracy.  Having a thorough understanding of the history of conservation in North America, and by observing conservation crises across the globe, Mahoney says that to be concerned about wildlife is more than a hobby or special interest – it is a responsibility of being a citizen.

Wildlife conservation is a messy business in a democracy.  Nine out of ten Idahoans say wildlife issues are important to them, and their views are as diverse and abundant as Idaho’s wildlife itself.  But Mahoney knows first-hand – as a Newfoundlander whose community was devastated by the 1992 cod fishery collapse – that taking it for granted is foolish.

“I’d much sooner have a world filled with people who are so vitally concerned with wildlife that they fight all the time about it, than a world in which nobody gives a damn,” said Mahoney. 

Idahoans can – and will – fight over wolves, over sage-grouse, over salmon recovery — in short, we will always fight over how we conserve and manage our wildlife which, as Mahoney says, is part of living in a democracy and being an engaged citizen. 

Here’s a chance to put differences aside for an evening and together be inspired by Mahoney.  During the Question and Answer session, Mahoney will be joined by Virgil Moore, Director of Idaho Fish and Game.

The Idaho Environmental Forum and the City Club of Boise are hosting the event.  For more information contact: ief@idahoenvironmentalforum.org, or call 208-321-2389.  To register, visit http://www.idahoenvironmentalforum.org/2013/130718/130718_form.php.