Presented as opening remarks for the 2025 Texas Chapter of The Wildlife Society Conference plenary session “Conservation Conflict – Working It Out,” this presentation frames conflict as one of the central challenges facing modern wildlife conservation, while arguing that it does not have to define the future of the field. Leo Miranda-Castro calls for conservation professionals to “remove the profit from conservation conflict” by replacing adversarial approaches with voluntary collaboration, trust-building, and practical innovation. The presentation uses the familiar contrast between the Northern Spotted Owl and the Louisiana Black Bear in the summer of 1990 to show how different approaches under the Endangered Species Act can produce dramatically different outcomes for species, landowners, and communities.
The presentation introduces Conservation Without Conflict as both a concept and a coalition organized around collaboration with working forests, farms, ranches, military lands, and other industries with a land management footprint. Its message is especially directed toward the next generation of wildlife professionals: lasting conservation will require talking less and listening more, getting to know stakeholders as people, identifying and replacing disincentives, simplifying incentives, and finding innovation within existing law. Miranda-Castro closes by challenging conservation leaders to shift the paradigm, take risks, and build trust across sectors, echoing the idea that Conservation Without Conflict is the future of conservation in America.
