Where Did It All Begin?

Since CMPS is a part of The Wildlife Society (TWS), to learn about the beginning of CMPS one needs to go back to formation of TWS as without TWS, there would be no CMPS. A brief summary of the beginnings of TWS is necessary to see where and how CMPS came to be. 

On December 5-7, 1935, in Urbana, Illinois, The First North Central States Fish and Game Conference, sponsored by the Illinois Natural History Survey was held. At that meeting, a group of persons interested in wildlife management expressed the need for a journal for the rapidly expanding profession of wildlife management. Also, informal discussions also included the possibility of formation of a professional society. On February 3, 1936 some of those same persons later attended the North American Wildlife Conference in Washington, D.C. They presented their ideas at an informal dinner gathering and a committee was appointed to “consider the general desirability, and the present advisability, of the formation of an association of those interested from a professional point of view in wildlife management and research”. In three days the committee presented its report on February 6. W. L. McAtee presided over the meeting and stated: the need exists and the time is ripe for inauguration of a professional society, which should, however, continue to cooperate with the General Wildlife Federation and other organizations with similar objectives. The group then named themselves TheSociety of Wildlife Specialists. Officers were elected and a constitution was adopted. In addition to elected officers, the governing board included a regional Advisory Board of 13 members, geographically distributed but no information was found on who these members were or their location.

The following year, on February 27, 1937, at a meeting in St. Louis, MO, after a lot of discussion on the need and advisability of a new organization, the name was changed to The Wildlife Society, and members agreed to publish a journal called The Journal of Wildlife Management.

Regional or geographic segregation of membership with appropriate representation to the Council has been a feature of the administrative structure of the Society since its origin. Initially six regions were established. Most of the States in the current CMPS were included in Region 4, as were Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and possibly Alberta and the Northwest Territories since records simply indicate that Canadian Provinces were incorporated into the US region adjacent to each Province’s border.

In 1946, Canada became a separate Region, Region 7, so the Canadian provinces adjacent to Region 4 left Region 4.

In 1955, a committee was appointed to revisit alignment of the Regions but no committee report could be located. However the CMPS historical Review states that in 1966 Regional boundaries were changed, and the Great Plains (Region 4) now included Nebraska, South and North Dakota, Kansas, Manitoba, Northwest Territory and Saskatchewan. Region 7, which had been the Canadian Region, was dropped with the Canadian Provinces moving back to the US Regions along the border. Region 7 was now the Inter-Mountain Region and included Colorado, Wyoming and Utah. Apparently this reorganization was when Montana left Region 4, never to return. A letter from TWS indicated that these changes occurred in 1968 rather than 1966 so you can take your pick as to which year this occurred. 

In 1971 Regions were changed to Administrative Sections and the former Regions 4 and 7 became Administrative Section 4, so Colorado, Wyoming and Utah rejoined former Region 4 members.

The original constitution of TWS authorized the establishment of sections by petition of ten or more members in any designated area within the boundaries of Regions, but could transgress regional boundaries when convenience so requires. Thus there could be more than one Section in a Region. At that time regulations required that sections must adopt bylaws that need be approved by Council, that annual reports would be made to the Society, and that all section members must also be bona fide members of the parent organization. In this manner the section became an integral and functional part of the Society at a level where it could best promote community interest in the organization. The Northeast Section was the first to be authorized by Council in 1938. On February 20, 1954, as part of the Forester’s Day program at Colorado A & M, Lee Yeager, Representative for Region 4, called a meeting to discuss the Wildlife Society, its objectives, and the possibility of forming a Section within Region 4. Twenty-four people attended this meeting and Smoky Till moved that a definite organization for Region 4 be formed. The motion passed 23 to 1 and CMPS was thus formed. On October 28, 1954, Region 4 Representative Yeager wrote that Region 4 was too large and proposed that CMPS be composed of Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska and Wyoming. In March of 1955, a formal petition was submitted to Council forming CMPS, and the petition was accepted by Council in April, 1955.

Also in April of 1955, a brief business meeting of CMPS was held and a recommendation to hold an annual “convention” for the purpose of giving papers and carrying on other Section business. A committee was appointed to study this proposal, and in August, 1956, the first CMPS Summer Conference was held in Colorado. In 1962 South Dakota officially joined CMPS while Kansas “unofficially” withdrew.