Darling dreamed of a federation promoting conservation interests, encouraging social diversity, and demanding action from Congress. His dream became reality in 1936 when he convinced President Franklin Roosevelt to convene more than 2,000 hunters, anglers and conservationists from across the country to the first North American Wildlife Conference in Washington, DC.

1. national wildlife federation
In the early 1900s, there was no nationwide constituency to support conservation. Many people
cared about wildlife conservation, but nobody was organized in any fashion to advocate or
influence policy decisions. In the words of NWF founder Ding Darling, "Wildlife doesn't vote and
neither do conservationists…"