Midwest Fish & Wildlife Conference

Header photo courtesy of Explore St Louis. Other website photos courtesy of local host teams.

About The Organization

The Conservation Enhancement Fund (“CEF”), is a Kansas not-for-profit corporation, organized for charitable, educational and scientific purposes and to assist the Midwest states in planning and hosting the annual Midwest Fish & Wildlife Conference (“Conference”), a scientific/educational conference hosted on a rotating basis by state members of Midwest Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies. The current rotation schedule for the Conference is as follows beginning in 2019: Ohio, Illinois, Minnesota, Iowa, Kansas, South Dakota, Missouri, Indiana, Michigan, Nebraska, and Wisconsin.

Officers:

Pete Hildreth (IA), President
Brian Clark (KY), First Vice President
Shannon Lott (MI), Second Vice President
Amanda Wuestefeld (IN) , Past President
Kendra Wecker (OH), Member
Tim McCoy (NE), Member

About The Conference

The conference attracts up to 1,000 biologists and students from state, federal, and tribal natural resources agencies and universities from the Midwest, Great Plains and Canadian provinces for the purposes of sharing technical presentations, poster displays, plenary sessions, and networking opportunities for wildlife professionals. Attendees include professionals in the field of fisheries and wildlife, including; directors, assistant directors, program managers, wildlife and fisheries biologists, as well as college students.

85TH MIDWEST FISH & WILDLIFE CONFERENCE January 19-22 St. Louis, Missouri. The Road to Resiliency - from surviving to thriving in conservation. See you there.

Please Join Us! January 25-28, 2026

The 86th Midwest Fish & Wildlife Conference will be hosted by the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, and is scheduled to be held January 25-28, 2026 in Fort Wayne, Indiana at the Hilton Fort Wayne at the Grand Wayne Convention Center (1020 Calhoun St, Fort Wayne, IN 46802). We hope to see you there!