Background

What is an Outdoor Expo?

Outdoor Expos are large statewide or regional events with a hands-on educational focus. They help introduce thousands of families and young people to outdoor activities. Through interaction, they cultivate a better understanding and appreciation for wildlife conservation and its importance in preserving our outdoor recreation heritage.Equally important, Outdoor Expos provide an outstanding way for wildlife agencies, organizations and recreation businesses to join as a community in passing on skills and conservation concepts important to preserving our hunting, fishing and wildlife-watching heritage.

An Outdoor Expo is also an outstanding way to market a positive image of the hunter and angler by demonstrating how these groups can help others learn about and participate in outdoor skills and natural resource conservation.

This campaign is an effort to help establish and support Outdoor Expos nationwide. It began in the 1990s when Expos were developed as hands-on educational events for families and young people.

These pioneering events, first in Texas and then Wyoming, attracted the attention of Weatherby Foundation International which saw them as an ideal way to carry out its mission to “educate the non-hunting public on the beneficial role of ethical sport hunting and its contribution to wildlife conservation.”

In 2000, the Foundation cooperated with the Wyoming Game and Fish Department and Texas Parks and Wildlife in producing and distributing an “Outdoor Expo Planning Guide” to all 50 state wildlife agencies.

Since then, the Weatherby Foundation has provided financial support and sponsorship to eight states and has been a catalyst for start-up of Expos in four of these states.

In January of 2003, the Weatherby Foundation expanded its Outdoor Expo Campaign by hiring Dave Lockman as project leader. Lockman is a retired 31-year veteran of the Wyoming Game and Fish Department and founder/organizer/leader of the Wyoming Hunting and Fishing Heritage Expo.