U.S. Senators Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) and Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) introduced legislation that will dedicate $1.4 billion annually to proactive, locally-led efforts to recover thousands of at-risk wildlife species, while creating jobs and prioritizing the outdoor recreation economy.
Recovering America’s Wildlife Act will help protect thousands of at-risk species including the Red Knot Piping Plover, American Kestral, and the Broadwinged Hawk that call the Delaware River watershed their home. This piece of historic wildlife legislation will support collaborative efforts in every state, territory, and Tribal nation to restore habitat and prevent extinction. State fish and wildlife agencies will be at the helm of working toward restoration efforts.
More about the Recovering America’s Wildlife Act (thanks to our member organization, National Wildlife Federation for this roundup and their leadership on this success!)
The Recovering America’s Wildlife Act dedicates nearly $1.4 billion annually to prevent vulnerable species from declining to the point where they need the protections of the federal Endangered Species Act while providing a significant new source of funding for species that already are federally protected.
Representatives Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.) and Congressman Jeff Fortenberry (R-Neb.) reintroduced an updated version of the Recovering America’s Wildlife Act in the House in April.
Last session’s House bill had 185 bipartisan co-sponsors and passed out of the House Natural Resources Committee with an overwhelming 26-6 vote. A version of the bill passed the House as part of the infrastructure package, H.R. 2 Moving Forward Act. In the 115th Congress, the House bill had 116 co-sponsors, with a nearly even split between Democrats and Republicans.
The state-led wildlife recovery efforts funded by this bill will be guided by the Congressionally-mandated State Wildlife Action Plans, which identify specific, science-based strategies to restore the populations of species of greatest conservation need. These plans identify more than 12,000 species that need conservation assistance.
Tribal nations would receive $97.5 million annually to fund proactive wildlife conservation efforts by Tribal wildlife programs and on Tribal lands.
The bill requires at least 15 percent of the funding to be spent on threatened and endangered species. States with the most federally-listed endangered and threatened species, such as Hawaii, will receive significantly more funding from this version of the Recovering America’s Wildlife Act.
The bill complements the highly successful Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration Act (Pittman-Robertson) and Federal Aid in Sport Fish Restoration Act (Dingell-Johnson), which facilitated the recovery of a range of species including large mammals, game birds, and sportfish that once faced extinction.
A 2018 report, Reversing America’s Wildlife Crisis: Securing the Future of Our Fish and Wildlife, found that one-third of America’s wildlife species are at increased risk of extinction. More than 150 U.S. species have already gone extinct and an additional 500 species have not been seen in recent decades and are regarded as possibly extinct.