From the Desk of Dan Ashe

Blog by Dan Ashe, AZA President; John Cruden, Principal, Beveridge & Diamond, P.C.; and Catherine Novelli, President, Listening for America. Elephants are amazing animals and perhaps our most enduring mental image of Africa—large, untamed, inexhaustible. That image can also distract us from the unpleasant historical and current realities of colonization and exploitation of Africa and Africans, including African elephants. Evidence of this is like air, it’s all around us.... Read More

Sadly, today marks the 28 th day of the federal government shutdown, the longest in our nation’s history. This morning’s Washington Post includes an editorial entitled, “Surprise! We need the federal government.” As a 22-year career employee of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), I managed the organization through shutdowns in 1995 (5 days), 1996 (21 days), and in 2013 (16 days).  This past Tuesday (January 15), I was asked to testify before Congress, as... Read More

Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said, “Politics is human beings; it’s addition rather than subtraction.” In general, we become stronger as we add others to our community or coalition, and weaker when we subtract or exclude participants. However, how do we work with others, especially when their fundamental values may differ from ours? Should we work with them at all? Many in our community are voicing their opinions on these topics after seeing, or hearing about... Read More

I’ve spent my entire 37-year career in the field of conservation. I can count many accomplishments, but few make me prouder than those opportunities when I’ve been able to support the protection of places, great and small, but especially the areas that stand apart as ecosystems unto themselves — like the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument. These are amazing places, increasingly rare in a world where human populations are... Read More