Annual Meeting - CMPS TWS

Advocacy

Held jointly with the Nebraska Chapter of The Wildlife Society at Kearney, NE, February 25 - 27. The 2025 CMPS annual business meeting was hybrid and available to CMPS members.  The meeting featured student chapter presentations, a plenary session on wetland advocacy, contributed talks, a student-professional lunch, a poster session, socials including trivia, workshop on TWS Certification, and a banquet including awards presentations and an auction.

2025 Annual Meeting Agenda

2024 Annual Meeting

Conservation Across Scales

Held jointly with the South Dakota Chapter of The Wildlife Society at Rapid City, SD, March 20 - 22.  The 2024 meeting featured special sessions on conservation across scales, a social with poster session, quiz bowl, committee meetings and TWS Certification workshop, annual business meetings, research paper presentations, a silent auction, and a panel discussion on Women of Wildlife.

2024 Annual Meeting Agenda

2023 Annual Meeting

Tails and Trails: Wildlife - Human Dynamics in a Changing West

Held jointly with the Colorado Chapter of The Wildlife Society and the Utah Chapter of The Wildlife Society at Grand Junction, CO, March 8 - 10.  This agenda was packed with workshops the first day including topics of avian field biologist, safety in the field, mapping wildlife movements with QGIS, TWS certification, federal employment, Women in Wildlife panel, and wildlife acoustics.  There were two evening receptions and the banquet with auction.  There was a symposium on cross-boundary wildlife management, contributed papers, poster sessions, and a popular student-professional networking breakfast.  Business meetings included CMPS, CO, UT, and Colorado Chapter TWS  Student Chapters and there were internal meetings for BLM biologists and the Raptor Working Group.

2023 Annual Meeting Proceedings

2022 Annual Meeting

Held jointly with the Kansas Natural Resources Conference and the Kansas Chapter of The Wildlife Society on February 3-4.  The conference included meetings on TWS certification, bat group, invasive species, and CMPS business meeting.  There were poster sessions, a student dinner on professional development, socials, a quiz bowl, auction, awards, and oral presentations on fisheries; aquatic species and habitats; forestry, wetlands, and land management; mammals; and prairie chickens and grasslands.

2022 Annual Meeting Proceedings

2021 Annual Meeting

Integrating Technology into Wildlife Management and Research

Virtual Meeting hosted with Utah Chapter of The Wildlife Society.  Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this was a virtual, two day conference on March 16-17.  The meeting included presentations, breakout sessions and discussions, plenary sessions related to technology in wildlife management and research, and business meetings.

2021 Annual Meeting Proceedings

2020 Annual Meeting

Virtual Conference from Wyoming

A huge thank you to the Wyoming Chapter of The Wildlife Society for hosting the 2020 joint Annual Meeting of WY-TWS and CMPS. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this was a virtual, one day, free conference – for the first time in our Section’s and WY Chapter’s history! Special thanks to Daly Edmunds and Jerod Merkle (WY-TWS Board) for orchestrating our seamless Zoom conference – 4 poignant presentations, Chapter and Section business meetings, and a fun version of our traditional Quiz Bowl! The virtual platform allowed us to invite prominent, accomplished, and impactful speakers from across North America. Sincere thanks to presenters Wini Kessler, Selma Glasscock, Joshua Rapp Learn, Vivianna Ruiz Guiterrez, and Tony Goldberg for their perspectives. We also presented annual awards and announced Board election results. 

2019 Annual Meeting

Connecting Landscapes for Wildlife

Heartfelt thanks to the North Dakota Chapter of The Wildlife Society for hosting the CMPS Annual Meeting August 22-24 in Bismarck, ND. The theme of “Connecting Landscapes for Wildlife” was a relevant and timely topic for all CMPS states. The meeting included a poster session and social, a plenary session, presentations in three categories (prairie potholes, human dimensions, and grasslands), and a CMPS Annual Business Meeting luncheon. Participants also enjoyed a quiz bowl social, banquet, awards presentations, and lively fundraiser. The meeting concluded with a wonderful field trip into the heart of North Dakota’s prairie potholes region.

2019 Annual Meeting Agenda

2018 Annual Meeting

Grassland Ecology: Conservation in an Altered Landscape

Genuine thanks to the Nebraska Chapter of The Wildlife Society (NETWS) for hosting the 2018 Annual Meeting of the Central Mountains and Plains Section in Kearney, NE.  The meeting included oral presentations, a student poster competition, business meetings, a field trip to the Rowe Sanctuary, a quiz bowl competition, an awards banquet, and a fund-raising auction.  Prescribed Fire was the topic of a student-professional workshop hosted by NETWS in cooperation with the Great Plains Fire Science Exchange.  A total of 125 participants enjoyed the three-day event.

2018 Annual Meeting Agenda

2017 Annual Meeting

Precision Conservation: The Interface of Wildlife, Agriculture, and People

Sincere thanks to the South Dakota Chapter of The Wildlife Society for hosting the CMPS Annual Meeting February 27-March 1 in Oacoma, SD.  This meeting offered the opportunity for stewardship and networking between wildlife professionals from all aspects of management throughout South Dakota and surrounding states.  The theme addressed a broad array of wildlife management issues that are contemporary and relevant to all wildlife professionals, and provided the ability to talk about wildlife through social, agricultural, and legislative viewpoints.  The agenda was full of engaging talks on various recent and ongoing wildlife research projects and, of course, was a great opportunity for our many professionals to catch up with friends and former co-workers.  A silent and live auction and raffle generated considerable funds for both organizations, and provided a good bit of laughs for those who attended.  We hope to use the positive feedback and lessons learned from the 2017 joint CMPS and SDTWS meeting to model other jointly-held meeting in the future to maximize opportunities to Society members.

2017 Annual Meeting Agenda

2016 Annual Meeting

Seeing Wildlife through the Trees: Challenges and Conservation of Forests and Wildlife

Many thanks to the Colorado Chapter of The Wildlife Society for hosting the CMPS Annual Meeting “on the mountain” August 8-11 in Steamboat Springs, CO. We appreciate the efforts of the planning committee, and the generosity of the meeting sponsors and those who donated items to the fundraising auction. Over 100 wildlife professionals and students attended the meeting to enjoy two workshops, a diversity of presentations and posters, several outstanding field trips, the CMPS Annual Business Meeting luncheon, and some lively social events.

2016 Annual Meeting Proceedings

2015 Annual Meeting

Grassland Strongholds: Biodiversity and Management

Thanks to the Kansas Chapter of The Wildlife Society and Kansas State University for co-hosting the CMPS Annual Meeting August 10-13 in Manhattan, KS. The meeting was a big success! There were 99 registrants who enjoyed two days of paper and poster sessions; a day of workshops on R and FRAGSTATS; three evening socials; and field trips to notable, local tallgrass prairie landscapes.

2015 Annual Meeting Proceedings

2014 Annual Meeting

Manifesting the Destiny of Wildlife and Habitat Science, Stewardship, and Solvency

Thanks to the Wyoming Chapter of The Wildlife Society for co-hosting the CMPS Annual Meeting August 25-28 in Sheridan, Wyoming. The meeting featured birding trips in the mornings, student and professional oral presentations, special sessions on big game nutrition, poster session, quiz bowl, mini workshops, workshops (designing and constructing VHF and GPS transmitters), field trips (necropsy techniques, habitat projects), and evening socials including a banquet with live music and auctions.  

2014 Annual Meeting Proceedings

2013 Annual Meeting