Dan Forster joined the ATA as its director of government relations in October 2016. He is a certified wildlife biologist who directed the Georgia Department of Natural Resources’ Wildlife Resources Division in recent years. Forster brings nearly 30 years of agency experience to his ATA position.
Forster worked as a biologist and supervisor within the Game Management Section for the Wildlife Resources Division before serving 12 years as its director. During that time, he also served as president of the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies and chairman of the Council to Advance Hunting and Shooting Sports.
As part of ATA’s office of government relations, Forster works with state wildlife agency directors and other partners to implement policies, strengthen relationships and R3 (recruitment, retention and reactivation) programming, and develop plans to expand archery and bowhunting in the United States. In addition to being an ATA liaison to wildlife agencies, he works with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Internal Revenue Service and others to enhance oversight and redistribution of federal excise taxes paid on archery equipment.
Forster is passionate about all types of hunting and has been an avid bowhunter more than 35 years. His fondness for college football and white-tailed deer hunting grew as he studied the whitetail’s reproductive behavior and attended University of Georgia Bulldog football games while pursuing his formal education.
Forster is a native of Georgia and lives in Social Circle, Georgia, with his wife, Jennifer; daughter, Lanier; and son, Trent.
During college, Forster became a “Double Dawg” by earning a bachelor’s degree in forest resources, and a master’s degree in wildlife biology from the University of Georgia.