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About Us

The Lower Great Lakes Fish and Wildlife Conservation Office (LGLFWCO), opened in August 1991, was established by the Great Lakes Fish and Wildlife Restoration Act of 1990 to support and encourage the restoration, protection, maintenance, and enhancement of the fishery resources of the international (lower) Great Lakes. Located in Amherst, NY, the LGLFWCO seeks to provide quality technical assistance to resource management agencies and the public for the protection, restoration, and enhancement of interjurisdictional and international natural resources. The Great Lakes Fish and Wildlife Restoration Act, reauthorized in 1998, guides the activities of the office and outlines the following goals for the Great Lakes basin:

• Restore and maintain self-sustaining fishery resource populations

• Minimize the impacts of contaminants on fish and wildlife populations

• Protect, maintain, and where degraded and destroyed, restore fish and wildlife habitat, including the enhancement and creation of wetlands that result in a net gain of those habitats

• Stop illegal activities adversely impacting fish and wildlife resource

• Restore threatened and endangered species to viable, self-sustaining levels

• Protect, manage, and conserve migratory birds
  

The LGLFWCO supervises the activities of the Allegheny National Fish Hatchery (ANFH).  By working together, the LGLFWCO and the ANFH are recognized as the Lower Great Lakes Fish and Wildlife Conservation Complex (Complex).  This Complex creates a unique opportunity to provide technical assistance and  leadership in the lower Great Lakes.  As part of the Fisheries and Habitat Conservation Program of the Northeast Region of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), the Complex also seeks to accomplish priorities set forth by this Program.

Geographically, the bi-national significance of the lower Great Lakes also offers unique opportunities and challenges to reach beyond traditional state and federal partners to Canadian provincial and federal government agencies. The LGLFWCO recognizes the value and necessity of partnership, and hopes that by working together, we can foster a healthy diversity of fish and wildlife and their habitats in the Lower Great Lakes.