The Wildlife Code is built on commitment to Montana and its wildlife. Connection to protecting wildlife did not begin with an awareness gained by moving to Montana or later in life. It didn’t begin with an agenda, or an organizational affiliation. Protecting wildlife began with love and respect for wildlife and wild places. Passion for Montana’s native wild species and landscapes, especially for the restoration and protection of vulnerable and endangered species, created an unshakeable promise to protect Montana’s wildlife and conserve our wild places.

That commitment was evident when the President of our Board of Directors spent her time as a college kid working in our national parks for the opportunity to be witness our wildlife and wild places. To this date Montana’s national parks are her favorite places on earth. Her passion has been carried forward through years of hiking, backpacking, and time spent in remote areas across Montana, including a recent backpack trip into the Jewel Basin.

Collectively, our Board of Directors brings years of experience working with state and federal government, public policy, including service as a lawmaker. Throughout that time, none of us treated wildlife and wildlife policy as partisan—and we still don’t. Wildlife should never have been politicized. If we want to protect it, decisions must be grounded in best available science, stewardship, conservation and laws that uphold those values —not ideology or shifting political agendas.

So, make no doubt our passion, values, ethics and commitment run as deep and expansively as Montana’s wild rivers. The Wildlife Code is based with deep ties to the state. Our leadership is present, accountable, and engaged here, not from a distance or through nominal ties. Place matters. So does authentic, lived connection to the landscapes and wildlife at the center of this work.

We are not a single-issue organization, and we are not built around narrow or predetermined outcomes. We are intentionally structured around policy, accountability, and solutions at the state and federal level that protect our wildlife and wild places. Wildlife governance can be complex, and meaningful progress requires engaging the full framework of law, regulation, oversight, accountability and enforcement, not focusing on tactics or narrowly tailored goals. We know that difference must remain within the lane of policy, not the personal; that approach matters, governance and policy are ongoing, and our work must be based accordingly.

We do not align with or operate on extremism. Regardless of where extreme views originate or why, extremism harms the protection of wildlife, damages credibility, and erodes public trust. We are grounded in commitment to science-based decision-making, functional public institutions, transparency, accountability and solutions that result in meaningful protection.

We also believe this work demands integrity. That includes being transparent about leadership, accountable in how we operate, and focused on advancing outcomes, not competing narratives and talking points.

The Wildlife Code moves wildlife management and policy that is grounded in protecting wildlife, guided by the best available science, and accountable to the people and places we serve. We will continue to collaborate with those who are committed to the same standards and values. We will remain focused on working toward outcomes because in the end, results speak louder than rhetoric.