The california department of fish and wildlife (cdfw) will continue to strategically evaluate, prioritize, andimplement research projects through the human dimensions of wildlife conservation (HD) unit

The U.S. Department of the Interior Fish and Wildlife Service awarded the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) $433,822 under the Wildlife Restoration and Basic Hunter Education and Safety program (CFDA 15.611) for the period July 1, 2025 through June 30, 2026. Through this Formula Grant, CDFW's Human Dimensions of Wildlife Conservation (HD) Unit will conduct strategic research and evaluation activities designed to understand stakeholder perceptions of wildlife conservation issues. The HD Unit will employ robust social science methodologies—including survey instruments, focus groups, interviews, content analyses, and experiments—to gather defensible data from CDFW staff, key stakeholders, and the general public.

The products delivered through this award will directly inform CDFW's conservation and management strategies by identifying effective approaches to increase meaningful public engagement, investment, and broad support for wildlife conservation initiatives. Research findings from the HD Unit will address priority and contentious wildlife conservation issues, enabling CDFW to implement data-driven strategies for wildlife restoration and habitat management while promoting stakeholder participation in state conservation efforts.

The HD unit works tounderstand how stakeholders (cdfw staff, key stakeholders, the public) perceive wildlife conservation issuesusing robust and defensible social science methodologies (e.g. survey instruments, focus groups, interviews, content analyses, experiments). The HD unit applies this research to address priority and contentious wildlifeconservation issues and to determine how cdfw can most effectively increase meaningful public engagement, investment, and broad support for conservation and management activities.