MICHIGAN OUTDOOR NEWS
Victor Skinner
The Michigan Wildlife Council is gearing up its 2026 campaign to educate about the benefits of hunting and fishing for conservation following a survey highlighting progress over the last decade.
“We’re already seeing the indicators pointing in the right direction,” Dan Cooke, MWC member and founder of outdoor recreation media company Expedition Detroit, told Michigan Outdoor News.
Cooke, who was reappointed to the eight-member council by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in March, said the MWC is “fine tuning marketing materials for a broader appeal” in 2026 with the message “hunting and fishing is not just for people living up north, it’s really a statewide legacy they can be part of, and their kids can be part of.”
Lawmakers created the council in 2013 with a $1surcharge on all Michigan hunting and fishing licenses to educate the public in the role hunters and anglers play in conservation, and the benefits of hunting and fishing.
In recent years, the council has focused on license fees and federal excise taxes paid by hunters and anglers that provides the bulk of the budget for the Michigan DNR, as well as the economic benefits that creates: $3.9 billion from fishing, $8.9 billion from hunting, and 171,000 jobs.
The MWC initially worked with Lansing-based Gud Marketing to target mostly urban areas in southeast Michigan and Grand Rapids with billboards, social media advertisements, streaming radio, and other messaging.
Last year, the MWC shifted its marketing efforts to Chicago-based Fusion92, and its messaging to focus more on preserving the state’s proud outdoor legacy, Cooke said.
“We still have that (financial) component in there, … but we’ve kind of broadened it more to protecting Michigan’s outdoor legacy,” he said.
“Our billboards and social media kind of reflect that change,” MWC Chair Jason Garvon told Michigan Outdoor News. “I think the new campaign is a very authentic campaign. We’re featuring real hunters and fishers … in real hunting and fishing situations.”
“We’ve moved into Snapchat which was new for us, within the last year,” he said. “I think we’re expanding, going into TikTok a little bit.”
A council survey of 1,120 Michiganders conducted by Virginia-based Responsive Management in November and December shows the MWC is making an impact.
“On the national level, approval of hunting has declined from a high of 81% in 2021 to 73% in 2025. In Michigan, however, a multifaceted communications campaign by the Michigan Wildlife Council in partnership with marketing agency Fusion92, has helped to maintain approval of hunting from at least three-quarters of the public since 2021 – in other words, unlike the national trend, approval of hunting in Michigan has remained stable,” according to a recent Responsive Management report. “Michiganders’ approval of fishing, another major area of focus of the Council’s public outreach, has also stayed consistent over the same period.”
The survey showed public approval of hunting at 82% among residents who saw or heard MWC messages within the previous six months, compared to 70% approval for those who hadn’t. The same percentages for fishing were 91% compared to 79%.
The survey also showed 75% of Michiganders agree hunting is important to wildlife management, and 64% agree that hunters and anglers are concerned about protecting wildlife, according to the report.
“These results highlight the impact of proactive communications that help people better understand how hunting and fishing support Michigan’s natural resources, economy, and outdoor traditions,” the report read. “At a time when many states are facing challenges maintaining public support for hunting and fishing, Michigan’s experience demonstrates the power of strategic outreach based on a solid foundation of data.”
A mid-campaign performance report from Fusion 92 reviewed in February also illustrates the MWC’s reach, with over 20 million impressions on Meta platforms, 10 million from online video, 5.4 million from YouTube specifically, 3 million from Snapchat, and 2.8 million impressions through streaming platforms.
Funding for the council has remained fairly consistent at roughly $1.4 million generated by the $1 license surcharge, though legislation pending in Lansing could boost that figure.
While the urban areas targeted by the campaign remain largely the same, the MWC has worked to better update the folks funding it through the Mike Avery Outdoors podcast and other avenues.
The MWC is also “allowing the whole council to review things early on in the process” and “reaching out a bit more broadly with some of the info,” Garvon added.
“We’re handling things a little more with Fusion 92, a little more collaborative with the entire council,” he said.
Fusion 92 is now crafting the creative components of the MWC’s 2026 campaign, with a plan expected for review in May to launch in the fall.
“We’re kind of in that spot before we launch the next big campaign,” Garvon said.