My name is David Fernandez, I'm legislative specialist for the Arizona Game and Fish Department.

Welcome to our webcast and thank you for joining us.

My name is David Fernandez, I'm legislative specialist for the Arizona Game and Fish Department,

and I'll be providing with a brief overview of our current effort to identify a dedicated source of funding for outreach and education efforts.

This webcast marks the opening of our first public comment period.

We'll be accepting ideas through a dedicated email address,

ideas at a z-G-F-d.gov that you'll see referred to in several upcoming slides and this presentation will be available on our website at the conclusion.

So, first question, why are we doing this?

The department is undertaking this effort at Commission Direction.

The commission understands that it's increasingly important for the public to understand and support the

department's mission to conserve and protect wildlife in Arizona. Wildlife

management's not done in a vacuum. The public has a great deal of influence on

operations and priorities.

And an informed public can understand how the department operates, why it does the things that it does,

and even offer constructive insight, like we're asking for you to do now.

When the public's informed, they can advocate for conservation.

Though people appreciate wildlife in many ways and generally agree that it enhances their quality of life.

Many don't understand the need for wildlife management or what the department does to fulfill its responsibility to manage over 800 species of wildlife in the state.

In initial surveys prior to the launch of the Department's Conserve and Protect campaign in 2015,

only a quarter of individuals surveyed correctly identified the Arizona Game and Fish Department as managing and conserving Arizona's wildlife,

and a not insignificant number of those didn't get our name quite right either.

More troublesome, inaccurate or intentionally misleading information can have disastrous

...