There was no nomination for President of AWMS for 2021, but I was pleased to accept the role of Acting President. This year has been especially challenging for researchers, practitioners, students and stakeholders as the COVID-19 impacts continued – but I’d like to start with some thanks to those who have kept AWMS going over the last year, especially the committee members.

Several committee members are departing us, and leaving room for new people to join. Terry Korn has held the public officer position for (many) years now, and I want to especially thank him for his diligence in submitting the necessary paper work and chasing signatures. Wendy Ruscoe has kindly offered to take over as the public officer – thank you Wendy.

We will also see departing from the committee Oliver Orgill, Bronwyn Fancourt, Andrew Bengsen and John-Michael Stuart – thank you all for your time and service to AWMS.

This year I noted how young the current Committee is, and I reflected how it felt like a changing of the guard with fewer grey hairs around – I see this as an opportunity to both build on the foundations laid and to shape AWMS into an organisation that can survive and thrive in today’s fast social media driven world with escalating wildlife management issues.

Some initiatives/achievements this year included the distribution of a members survey because we are keen to hear your thoughts on the future direction of AWMS – the results of which we will distribute after the conference. We added a new page to the website listing public enquiries. This is in part because I think there is much more scope for AWMS to be a more active public advocate for appropriate wildlife management. The position statements go some way to achieving this, but they are static documents, don’t cover all the issues and they become dated very quickly. 

The committee provides a way for members to influence the future direction of AWMS and to make a positive impact to wildlife management through awards, bringing people together at conferences, and through the different public outreach options AWMS engages in. For the last two years the committee has been functioning on a slightly reduced capacity, and the lack of face-to-face conferences has hindered the last minute round-up of candidates, we would really like some more New Zealand representatives.

With that – I’d like to say thanks again to the committee this year, and I wish all the best to AWMS members for your ongoing support.

Regards,

Thomas Newsome

(short  version of the president's report, the long version will be published in the 2021 AGM minutes in the first newsletter of 2022)

from the editor

I know that when December arrives means time for the annual conference and summer holidays. This year the 34th AWMS conference was meant to be in Canberra but when things got a bit out of control due to COVID-19 and with lockdowns across Australia we had to switch to the virtual world (our second virtual conference). Thanks again Konnie and the local organising committee for organising a fantastic conference this year.  We have received feedback from members and social media followers, letting us know that they enjoyed the conference. 

In this issue you will find a postdoc opportunity in the jobs board and a public enquiry (please check that you meet all the requirements), the new office bearers that were elected during the conference and some papers that were published this year.

2021 Conference