Wild Turkey Conservationist Honored

© By Othmar Vohringer

James Earl Kennamer, Ph.D. (photo: courtesy of NWTF) was selected as the 2008 Alumni Fellow for MSU’s College of Forest Resources, an award given to those who have earned special distinction in their professional field.

Kennamer is currently the Senior Vice President of Conservation Programs for the National Wild Turkey Federation (NWTF). During his nearly 30 years of service with the NWTF, Kennamer has worked with a wide range of conservation and sportsmen’s groups among them the U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance
as well as government agencies to ensure a robust wild turkey populations. Through those efforts, he is considered a leading architect of the wild turkey expansion from 1.3 million in the early 1970s to more than 7 million today.
Dr. James Earl Kennamer has been fascinated by wild turkeys since he saw his first wild turkey gobbler killed by his father 53 years ago on Fort Benning military base in Alabama. Six years later, he followed in his dad’s footsteps and bagged his first turkey. Then, in 1980, Kennamer left his tenured position as a wildlife professor at Auburn University to help the NWTF get off the ground. Since then, he has played an instrumental role in wild turkey restoration.

Tags: Wild Turkey Conservationist Honored, Wild Turkey Federation, U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance, James Earl Kennammer