State fish and agencies (SFWAs) are faced with a multitude of challenges related to wildlife conflict management. On behalf of the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies, Southwick Associates partnered with the Wildlife Management Institute to dive into the issue of feral swine specifically (2022) and wildlife conflict management generally (2023). Both projects were funded through the Multi-State Conservation Grant awarded by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies. Subject manager experts from SFWAs were surveyed and important insights were gained, including:  

• Feral swine represent a danger to wild and domestic systems and present a significant challenge to SFWAs. Laws and regulations vary state-by-state, which can provide management challenges. States should consider more uniform classifications, regulations, harvest, and disease surveillance. 

• Regarding wildlife conflict generally, results showed that statutory authorities, budgets, spending, and species vary tremendously across the states.  

• Overall, 95% of responding states used game and fish funds to respond to conflict issues. Only 36% used general tax revenues and only 10% indicated they received private donations. Wildlife conflict is essentially a mandate without a stable funding source. 

• With the continued decline in hunting license sales, the inability of agencies to fully capture their Federal Aid allocation is a possibility. This has the potential to create a situation where a smaller license-based fund is increasingly paying for wildlife conflict activities that cannot be avoided. 

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