White Mountain Apache Wildlife and Recreation Program

The White Mountain Apache Wildlife and Recreation Program fulfills the dual role of performing all wildlife conservation and management and serving as a self-sustaining business enterprise based on the Tribe’s recreation/tourism industry. The program’s effective wildlife management techniques have allowed the Tribe to gain management control over its wildlife and recreation resources and to better manage them in accordance with Apache values. The conservation management and regulatory component of the Wildlife and Outdoor Recreation Division consists of the Fish and Wildlife Management Department and the Law Enforcement Department; the Division’s enterprise component consists of two profit centers–the Outdoor Recreation Department and the tribe’s Trophy Hunting Program. The program has successfully linked effective conservation with enterprise profitability in a mutually beneficial relationship.