ADCNR's Outreach Prepares Public for Outdoor Adventures

By DAVID RAINER, Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources

Although more dog days of late summer are still ahead, it won't be long before an abundant adventures will be available in Alabama's great outdoors. The Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources' (ADCNR) Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries (WFF) Division is providing a wealth of information and opportunities to help prepare everyone for the best experience possible once fall arrives. ()

Justin Grider, WFF's R3 Assistant Chief, said every program on www.outdooralabama.com/Academy has a full slate of learning opportunities for outdoors activities and a link to On-Demand Learning. R3 is designed to promote recruitment, retention and reactivation.

"If you go to the Outdoor Alabama Academy webpage, you'll find all the programs for fishing, firearms, hunting and trapping," Grider said. "The new On-Demand Learning hub is recorded webinars or actual classes you can go in and take online. As more webinars are recorded, they will be posted on that hub."

One On-Demand series that will begin soon is the "Discover Alabama's Public Lands" virtual workshops. These will provide participants a look at all that is available to hunters, anglers and adventurers on land that provides access to all citizens. Access is one of the largest hurdles for people who want to pursue outdoor opportunities. The workshops will be held each Thursday from 6-7:15 p.m. starting August 27 and ending October 1, 2026. The workshops are free but registration is required.

"That series will obviously focus on public land in Alabama with context," Grider said. "There are five different workshops, each a different topic. The series starts in north Alabama and works its way all the way down to the Gulf. This should be valuable for anybody who is interested in access. It's a great chance to learn what opportunities are public - where you can go, where you can hunt, where you can hike, where you can fish, those sorts of things. The classes will also provide historical contexts about those places. Not only will they know where they can go, but they can also develop a deeper appreciation for the locations so they can be advocates and stewards for those places."

Grider said the public lands classes follow a series done this past spring called "Homegrown Habitats," which focused on habitat management for private landowners big and small.

"We specifically centered that class around wild turkeys in partnership with the National Wild Turkey Federation, so people could learn about gallinaceous species, birds that live on the ground - turkeys, grouse and quail," he said. "The series explains how when you manage for gallinaceous species, it has a positive impact on everything else, from pollinators to deer, other wildlife including nongame species. Isabelle Bracell, Assistant R3 Coordinator, has done a great job administering and supporting this outreach effort." Both series can be found at www.outdooralabama.com/OnlineLearningHub.

New outreach features include webinars for fishing and hunting workshops, which have not been available before.

"Instead of having to go to an in-person class, if you have a really busy schedule, you and the family can join the webinar after dinner and learn the basics on how to fish and interact with fishing experts," Grider said. "If you want to do an in-person class, we still have those. These are all opportunities to build skills at people's convenience.

"We're doing that in conjunction with some of the hunting workshops. We'll have opportunities focused on species as well as other outdoor recreation. We're excited about collaborating with our private lands biologists and species-specific biologists, a group overseen by Courtenay Conring, Assistant Chief of the Wildlife Section."