The CIC has taken a further step in building its presence and influence in North American conservation, with Director General Arno von Wimpffen and Shane Mahoney, President of the CIC Policy and Law Division, attending the 116th Annual Meeting of the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (AFWA) in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, from 14 to 18 September 2026.
AFWA, a member of the CIC, represents the state, provincial and federal agencies responsible for managing fish and wildlife across the United States and Canada. Its annual meeting brings together the leadership of these agencies with the continent’s principal conservation organisations, making it one of the most important gatherings in the North American wildlife management calendar. The CIC delegation was warmly welcomed by AFWA’s leadership, including Ron Regan and Paul Johansen.
A presentation to AFWA’s Executive Committee
At the invitation of AFWA, the Director General addressed the Association’s Executive Committee, presenting the CIC’s work and its role as an international bridge between the science, policy and practice of sustainable use. The intervention was well received and prompted a lively exchange on the shared challenges facing wildlife agencies on both sides of the Atlantic. Mr von Wimpffen also extended an invitation to AFWA’s member agencies to join the CIC’s 73rd General Assembly in Hamburg in 2027.
The visit forms part of the CIC’s North American strategy, developed under the leadership of Shane Mahoney, which seeks to deepen the Council’s engagement with the institutions that underpin the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation. Alongside the AFWA programme, the delegation held meetings with several of the CIC’s partner organisations, including the Wild Sheep Foundation, the Wildlife Management Institute and The Wildlife Society.
A Lifetime Achievement Award
At the meeting’s Gala Dinner, Shane Mahoney was honoured with a Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of his decades of work in wildlife conservation and sustainable use. Mr Mahoney has supported the CIC for many years and, as President of its Policy and Law Division, leads the Council’s North American strategy. He is also the founder of the Wild Harvest Initiative, the pioneering project, of which the CIC is a partner, that quantifies the ecological, economic and cultural value of wild-harvested food from hunting, fishing and foraging.
“This award is a fitting recognition of Shane’s outstanding contribution to conservation through sustainable use,” said Arno von Wimpffen. “The CIC is proud and grateful to have him at the heart of our work.”
Lessons across the Atlantic
North America’s state and provincial agencies operate the most extensively documented system of user-funded wildlife management in the world, in which hunters and anglers finance conservation through licences and excise duties on equipment. As European policymakers debate the future of wildlife management, from the recovery of large carnivores to the economics of game meat and the role of rural communities, the North American experience offers a body of evidence that Europe can draw upon.
The Wild Harvest Initiative is central to that exchange. By measuring what wild harvest contributes to food security, local economies and cultural heritage, it provides the kind of data that European debates on sustainable use too often lack. The CIC’s closer relationship with AFWA and its partners ensures that this evidence, and the institutional experience behind it, is brought into the Council’s work with governments, the European institutions and international bodies such as CITES and the IUCN.
The CIC will continue to build on the relationships strengthened in Lancaster in the run-up to the 73rd General Assembly in Hamburg.
