The Wildlife Professional - Spring 2010 2009

What is a “Member Magazine?”

With this first issue of 2010, The Wildlife Professional begins its fourth year of publication as the member magazine of The Wildlife Society. Having moved past the wobbly first steps of a start-up, it has hit its stride as an award-winning quarterly that has nearly doubled in size to about 80 pages and a dozen articles per issue. This growth reflects the Society’s growth in membership—which hit 9,100 by late 2009 and is rising steadily. To my mind, the two are intimately linked.

Credit: Ruxandra Giura

At its best, a professional society’s member magazine conveys relevant information, synthesizes news, sparks ideas, generates debate, celebrates members’ contributions to their profession, and informs them about the society’s efforts on their behalf. Equally important, it helps members feel connected to—and valued by—the society they support.

The evolution of The Wildlife Professional reflects our efforts to meet these goals. Responding to your feedback, we’ve added new features including science summaries from The Journal of Wildlife Management and other TWS publications, “Field Notes” that describe hands-on management techniques, society pages about student chapters and working groups, profiles of mentors who help launch careers, and guest editorials from leaders in the profession. We’ve also begun to publish packages of articles built around a common theme, such as the recent package on wildlife education (Winter 2009) and the articles on forest management in this issue. Such packages allow us to explore a subject from multiple angles in ways that we hope help inform your work.

The Wildlife Professional is unique as a member magazine because most of its articles come from TWS members themselves—biologists, managers, researchers, and others who generously share their field experiences and scientific findings. With its variety of writing styles, rich illustrations, and scientific citations, this “hybrid” between a journal and a popular magazine is meant to appeal to our diverse membership as well as to policymakers, NGOs, and others concerned about wildlife management and conservation.

Our success depends upon you, and so far you’ve surpassed all hopes or expectations. The coming year promises to be our best yet, with members contributing articles on issues such as wildlife toxicology, feral horses, wetlands restoration, and wildlife management on tribal lands. TWS members are also helping to create our first stand-alone “special publication,” to be mailed separately this fall. Focusing on the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation, this offering will help educate Society members and the public about a cornerstone of wildlife stewardship.

We’d welcome your letters about what we’ve done, and your suggestions about subjects that you’d like us to cover in the future. Send your comments to editor@wildlife.org. Through your feedback and contributions, this member magazine will become as diverse and lively as the membership itself. Your growth ensures our growth. We’ll try to keep up with you.