What Conservation Impact Has the NWTF Reported?

The National Wild Turkey Federation (NWTF) reports its conservation impact through cumulative program figures published on its website: more than 22 million acres of wildlife habitat conserved or enhanced, more than 1.5 million hunters recruited since 2012, and more than 700,000 acres opened for hunting since 2012. It also states that 89% of expenses are invested in mission-related activities. These are the organization's own reported totals, not independently verified figures, so they are best read as NWTF's account of its cumulative work since its founding in 1973.

The headline numbers

Two things are worth noting when using these numbers. First, the habitat figure is cumulative and undated, while the hunter recruitment and access figures are tied to 2012, the start of the "Save the Habitat. Save the Hunt." initiative. Second, "conserved or enhanced" and "opened for hunting" are broad categories; the site does not break them down by method, state, or permanence, so the totals should not be compared directly with acreage figures from other organizations that use narrower definitions.

What the "Save the Habitat. Save the Hunt." initiative commits to

The site describes this initiative as mobilizing science, fundraising, and volunteers toward a $1.2 billion goal to conserve and enhance more than 4 million acres of essential wildlife habitat, recruit at least 1.5 million hunters, and open access to 500,000 acres for hunting. The reported outcomes above (1.5M+ hunters, 700K+ acres opened) track against those targets, which makes the initiative the clearest frame for interpreting the numbers.

Program examples behind the totals

The reported figures come from specific, named projects rather than a single program:

• Research Grants Program — the NWTF reports funding six new research projects for 2026, continuing a grant program that supports wild turkey science.
• Cherokee National Forest — a continuing decades-long conservation partnership on the Tennessee national forest.
• State-level allocations — for example, NWTF Alabama reports allocating $431,256 for conservation, access, research, and related work.
• Montana's Bitterroot Valley — a conservation project profiled on the site.
• Convention and Sport Show — reported as drawing 94K annual attendees and 500+ exhibitors, which supports the fundraising and volunteer base behind the mission.

How to use these figures

If you are evaluating the NWTF for a donation, membership, or partnership, treat the 22M+, 1.5M+, and 700K+ figures as the organization's self-reported cumulative results and check them against the specific project pages (state allocations, research grants, individual conservation projects) if you need detail on where money went. If you are comparing organizations, ask each one for the same three things: the definition of "conserved or enhanced," the start date of the count, and whether acres are permanently protected or managed under agreement. The NWTF site provides the first two only partially, so a direct comparison requires requesting the underlying project data.