From Big Six to a Bigger Impact

Shortly after the National Wild Turkey Federation launched its bold, 10-year Save the Habitat. Save the Hunt. initiative in 2012, the organization’s conservation staff outlined priority areas and focal landscapes across the country to deliver on-the-ground conservation efforts for the ambitious, 4-million-acre goal of conserved or enhanced acres. These landscapes were later grouped into six different regions based on shared conservation needs and coined as the NWTF’s America’s Big Six of Wildlife Conservation.

Since the launch of America’s Big Six, they have been featured in the media, on videos, posters and in NWTF publications, until this issue of Turkey Call. Save the Habitat. Save the Hunt. was a mission-delivery powerhouse, and allowed the NWTF to reach monumental milestones, including conserving and enhancing more than 5 million acres of wildlife habitat, recruiting over 1.5 million hunters and opening 700,000-plus acres to public hunting access.

However, as part of the NWTF’s strategic plan, the organization is stepping into a more focused, outcomes-driven era: landscape-scale mission delivery that unifies wild turkey and habitat conservation, hunting heritage, policy, partnerships and fundraising under one cohesive approach.

“The Big Six was exactly the right thing when it was launched in 2014,” said Tom Spezze, NWTF national director of conservation programs. “And it became the platform for building landscape-scale, initiative-based conservation delivery.”

In the early part of the 2020s, the NWTF introduced the concept of a “conservation evolution,” a shift from project-by-project implementation toward coordinated, regional strategies.

“We were adapting to what COVID-19 did to us by moving away from smaller-scale to landscape-scale work, moving our staff into more of an influencer position and less as the implementer,” Spezze said.

Today, NWTF’s landscape-scale initiatives are intentionally inclusive of more than just impacting a specific acre, considering conservation, policy, hunting heritage, education and more, all based on regional priorities.

The model is built around five initiatives that encompass the country — each with a clear mission-delivery focus and regional character.

“We’ve landed on five initiatives based on what would provide the greatest outcomes,” Spezze said.

• In 2022, the NWTF launched its Waterways for Wildlife Initiative in the Great Plains to address the health of waterways, adjacent riparian areas and the wildlife that depend on both.
• In 2023, the NWTF set its Habitat for the Hatch Initiative in motion in the Southeast, working to boost turkey numbers by positively impacting 1 million acres of critical nesting and brood-rearing habitat across public and private lands by 2033.
• In 2024, the NWTF unveiled its Forests and Flocks Initiative in the Northeast to focus on the annual-cycle needs of the wild turkey and ensure birds make it through the winter in healthy condition. Moreover, the initiative is also focused on boosting regional support for hunting and increasing the organization’s voice against recurring proposed legislation that is in opposition to the NWTF’s mission.
• In 2025, the NWTF announced its new Roots to Roost Initiative in the Midwest to restore and enhance critical wildlife habitat on public and private land across Midwestern states. In a region where nearly 90% of the land is privately owned, a major component of the Roots to Roost Initiative is providing targeted programs for landowners, such as trainings, technical assistance and innovative tools like online learning modules for educating landowners, resource professionals and habitat managers.
• In 2026, the organization is excited to launch its new Western initiative, which will allow NWTF initiatives to encompass the entire country.

This regional specificity is a framework for national impact, not individual silos. By grounding its work in state and federal wildlife action plans and cross-boundary priorities, the NWTF is helping agencies and conservation partners meet their goals.

“Our impact multiplies when our efforts span multiple states,” Spezze said. “For instance, in the case of Waterways for Wildlife, instead of getting in the room with partners and just talking with Wyoming and Colorado, for example, we talk with every agency between Canada and Mexico about the same initiative.”

NWTF initiatives do not work without the organization’s volunteers. Their dedication and hard work are the strength of the organization, from contributing funds to an initiative, to implementing individual projects that contribute to initiative goals.

NWTF state chapters continue to provide vital funding, support and direction to the respective initiatives that state chapters fall within. For instance, NWTF state chapters in the Northeast have contributed substantially to the Forests and Flocks initiative, for both on-the-ground conservation and for establishing an NWTF endowed professorship in the Northeast. The same can be said for state chapters across all initiatives. Initiatives have become a rallying point to unite across boundaries.

“The key to the success of this landscape-scale, initiative-based conservation change is when all of our volunteers are talking about it,” Spezze said. “You didn’t hear about state Super Fund dollars going across state lines five years ago (in most parts of the country). Now, more state chapters are directing Super Fund dollars to initiative work while continuing to support state-level priorities. It’s the best of both worlds; we are working in our backyard while also working to improve the entire neighborhood.”

Sunsetting the NWTF’s America’s Big Six of Wildlife Conservation does not diminish its impact; it celebrates it. For more than a decade, NWTF’s Big Six regions were a staple of our conservation approach. Today, the NWTF’s all-encompassing mission work has been finetuned and tailored to each region of the country with added components to amplify the impact. These new landscape initiatives will carry our organization into the next decade and beyond.