From Foundations to Frontiers: What the 2025 Symposium Theme Means for the Wild Turkey
The 13th National Wild Turkey Symposium is happening right now in Kansas City, Missouri, uniting the brightest minds in wild turkey ecology and management. Co-hosted by the National Wild Turkey Federation, the Missouri Department of Conservation and the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks, the gathering continues a decades-long tradition of collaboration among state, federal and private researchers, land managers and dedicated conservationists.
This year’s theme, Wild Turkey Science and Management: From Foundations to Frontier, highlights a powerful duality: honoring the historic research that built today’s conservation successes while advancing the next generation of ideas and technologies needed for tomorrow’s challenges.
The Wild Turkey Symposium has served as the premiere event for wild turkey research since the inaugural meeting in 1959. At that time, wild turkey populations were just beginning to rebound from historic lows, and research was urgently needed to guide restoration efforts. Studies from early symposia helped define everything from trap-and-transfer techniques to habitat requirements and population survey methods. This foundational knowledge fueled one of North America’s greatest wildlife recovery stories.
From those early days through subsequent symposia held every three to five years, the event has remained a touchstone for sharing new science, comparing management approaches and adapting strategies to conserve one of the continent’s most iconic game birds.
While past research built the framework for turkey recovery, today’s wildlife professionals are navigating new, and increasingly complex, frontiers. Declines in productivity, changing predator dynamics, habitat fragmentation, disease concerns and broad-scale environmental shifts all underscore the need for innovation.
With a room full of the best and brightest wild turkey researchers, biologist and habitat managers, this year’s symposium is already building off the momentum built over the decades. Over the next few days, luminaries in wild turkey research will present their work, covering topics ranging from genetics, disease ecology and predation to human dimensions, hunting and new/emerging tools.
As landscapes and wildlife pressures evolve, so must research and conservation. Wild turkeys occupy an ecological crossroads shaped by habitat quality, weather, predators, land use, recreational pressures and more. Without continual research, wildlife agencies and partners lose the ability to diagnose issues, measure change or craft effective, science-based management solutions.
From the foundations laid in 1959 to the frontiers being explored today, the symposium embodies the core belief that science drives conservation. And as wild turkey enthusiasts, researchers and land managers gather once again, their shared commitment continues to shape the future of this remarkable species for generations to come.