Endemic and emerging infectious and non-infectious diseases negatively impact wildlife and fish populations managed for recreation and conservation

These diseases are frequently zoonotic and transboundary requiring significant local, state, regional and federal coordination. The ability to rapidly detect, characterize, and respond to emerging pathogens and disease outbreaks is essential to minimize disease spread among wildlife populations, reduce impacts on population viability, and prevent spillover to livestock and humans. In california, this ability depends on in-state capacity and regional collaborations for wildlife disease surveillance, novel pathogen diagnostics and characterization, epidemiologic investigation, data information management, health management planning and outbreak response. California is the most ecologically diverse state with the highest degree of species endemism of any state, 13 different ecoregions, and 4 biomes (1). Add increasing threats from climate change induced high-severity wildfires, drought, and oceanic anomalies, and IT comes as no surprise that californias wildlife and habitats face unremitting pressure from urbanization, habitat loss and fragmentation, and land conversion for livestock and agriculture. These pressures not only increase the likelihood of emerging and epidemic diseases in californias wildlife, but also facilitate contact between people, domestic animals, and wildlife, increasing the likelihood of zoonotic spillover, and the need for rapid disease surveillance and effective wildlife health programs using a one health framework both within california and neighboring states.as covid-19 becomes an endemic disease in people, spillovers of sars-COV-2 into potential wildlife reservoirs (6, 7, 8) will continue with unknown consequences. Sars-COV-2 is but one zoonotic pathogen with such potential, many more exist. With the highest diversity of people, wildlife, and agriculture in the U.S., california is a particularly important focus for novel spillovers of zoonotic pathogens into wildlife reservoirs and the emergence or RE-emergence of zoonotic disease from wildlife reservoirs. This project will develop and operationalize a framework to address critical needs and correct long-standing capacity and cross-sectoral collaboration challenges to enhance capacity to manage wildlife health and disease facilitate inclusion of wildlife health into species, taxa, and ecosystem management planning and improve public trust. We will develop and pilot this framework in california then expand to support wildlife health programs regionally, to achieve the USFWS zoonotic disease initiatives (ZDI) stated purpose to increase readiness for wildlife agencies to protect against future pandemics and encourage them to coordinate their efforts across jurisdictions in a seamless manner. By conducting a systematic needs assessment and demonstrating proof of concept while providing important zoonotic disease surveillance data and enhancing current wildlife disease detection capabilities, we will articulate a clear vision to policy makers and legislators about what is needed to sustain a comprehensive wildlife health program with the appropriate organizational, funding, and technical capacity to address californias many needs. Without support to radically RE-envision wildlife health capacity in california, cdfw will continue to lack the organizational, diagnostic, and funding capacity to rapidly detect, respond to and manage emerging wildlife and zoonotic disease issues. Although this project will initially focus on california, the framework will be scalable, with the eventual goal of supporting nevada, arizona, and other western states and tribes.