Dennie Mann wins TWS’ Special Recognition Award

Dennie Mann has won The Wildlife Society’s 2025 Special Recognition Service Award for half a century of leadership in wildlife conservation.

The Special Recognition Service Award honors a person or group who has made an outstanding contribution over the short or long term to the wildlife profession, wildlife conservation management or science.

Mann began his career in 1973 as a goose hunt manager with the South Dakota Department of Game, Fish and Parks.

Over the following decades, Mann worked with fish and wildlife in South Dakota and Wyoming for both federal and state agencies. For Mann, wildlife protection was often direct—he served as a law enforcement officer in Murdo, South Dakota, for about 13 years from 1981 to 1994. 

In subsequent years, he worked on projects like prescribed fire, land acquisition for the South Dakota Department of Game, Fish and Parks and invasive species control.

“Dennie has been a leader in wildlife conservation over the last 35 years as an employee of [the South Dakota Department of Game, Fish and Parks] and continues to be involved with various organizations after retirement to provide leadership and support for wildlife and habitat conservation worldwide,” said a group of several of Mann’s colleagues and friends in their nomination letter for him.

Mann and his wife have also volunteered with organizations like Ducks Unlimited, the South Dakota Conservation Officers Association, the Mule Deer Foundation, the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation and Safari Club International. Although he’s retired, he continues much of this volunteer work today. “The value of wildlife professionals volunteering cannot be overstated, and your time invested is returned many times over with the professional contacts that you make and the opportunities that you create,” Mann said.

In TWS, Mann has served three terms as president of the South Dakota chapter in 2009, 2023 and 2024—he’s the only member who has served as president of that chapter more than once.

“I am very proud to be part of The Wildlife Society and [to be] considered for this award,” Mann said. “There is no greater honor than working for wildlife with the best professionals in agencies and organizations throughout North America.”