Key actions and decisions affecting management of Arizona’s wildlife and outdoor recreational opportunities don’t occur just within our state. Forces are also at play from outside the state – at regional, national and international levels. These reports discuss some of the issues and provides a broad overview of representative accomplishments and activities for the year.

Whether you are an experienced, occasional or new angler, the Arizona Urban Fishing Program offers great fishing opportunities that you are sure to enjoy. There are 21 city park lakes currently participating in the Program, a partnership between the Arizona Game and Fish Department and 11 cities across the state. To ensure fishermen have a good chance of catching fish, plenty of ready-to-catch fish are stocked over a 10-month period from mid September through June; every two weeks! More than 4 million Arizona residents live within a 20-minute drive of a heavily stocked Urban Fishing Program lake. Close by and convenient, all the parks offer parking, restrooms and other amenities to make your fishing trip and park visit enjoyable.

Wildlife 20/20 provides broad strategic guidance for all department programs. It is intended to be a living document that conveys policy direction that the Arizona Game and Fish Commission has provided to the department to guide its work into the future. It will be complemented by additional plans designed to provide more specific direction, as needed.

This document contains laws related to wildlife in Arizona, from statehood in 1912 through 1962. This is a supplement to “Bringing Back the Game: Arizona Wildlife Management, 1912–1962,” a book of wildlife management history published by the Arizona Game and Fish Department in 2012.

Included are those bills passed by the Arizona State Legislature between 1912 and 1962, signed by the governor and incorporated as “Game and Fish Law” under the Arizona Revised Statutes. Other initiatives, referenda, and statutes pertaining to wildlife (including predatory and noxious animals) are also included, thereby providing an accessible resource for those interested in the history of Arizona’s wildlife laws.

This document is neither exhaustive nor complete. Some bills that are arcane or repetitive, or that served a housekeeping purpose, are not included. Some legislation is summarized with annotations by the author and not presented verbatim. The purpose is illustrative only and not intended to either replace the actual laws, or be taken as current law.

This strategic plan identifies the management direction that the Arizona Game and Fish Commission has provided to the Department for the next six years. The plan discusses the most important issues facing the Department, including the recruitment and retention of hunters, anglers and shooting sports participants, and explains how the Department plans to respond to those issues.

Prior strategic plans focused on just one of the programmatic areas for which the Department is responsible; for example, Wildlife 2006 was solely a wildlife strategic plan. In contrast, Wildlife 2012 provides strategic guidance for all programs within the Arizona Game and Fish Department. It emphasizes wildlife management, which is the Department’s primary focus. However, Wildlife 2012 also addresses off-highway vehicle and watercraft recreation beyond their impacts to wildlife resources, as well as the administration of the Department.