WHAT THE EVIDENCE SAYS
Twenty-four representatives from 18 state, tribal, federal and nongovernmental organizations generated 50 possible interventions and grouped them into 12 themes. Audience understanding, outreach and engagement received the most priority votes, ahead of active deer-population management and interagency coordination, and the authors used the results to build a theory of change.
WHY IT MATTERS / OUR READ
Wildlife disease management can fail at the implementation layer even when the biological problem is well characterized. The exercise puts trust, audience segmentation and behavior alongside surveillance and population tools rather than treating communication as an afterthought.
CAVEATS / UNCERTAINTY
This is expert elicitation and a decision framework, not a field trial showing that engagement reduces CWD prevalence. Workshops occurred in 2022, priorities reflect the participating organizations, and causal links in the theory of change remain to be tested.
SOURCE
Journal of Wildlife Management
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