Partners

Why Voluntary Habitat Restoration Matters

The Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program provides technical and financial assistance to landowners interested in restoring and enhancing wildlife habitat on their land. Projects are custom-designed to meet landowners’ needs.

Since the program’s start in 1987, some 50,000 landowners have worked with Partners staff to complete 60,000 habitat restoration projects on 6 million acres. 

Partners projects are voluntary. Participating landowners continue to own and manage their land to serve their needs while they improve conditions for wildlife.

The health of the country’s fish and wildlife populations depends on private landowners, who manage more than two-thirds of the country’s land.

Many Partners for Fish and Wildlife projects take place on working landscapes such as forests, farms and ranches. Our goal is to keep those lands working while improving their health as wildlife habitat.

We focus our efforts on areas of conservation concern, such upland forests, wetlands, native prairies, marshes, rivers and streams. We design projects to benefit federal trust species   including migratory birds, endangered, threatened and at-risk species.

Get Started 

All private landowners interested in restoring wildlife habitat on their land are eligible to participate. Current partners include farmers, ranchers, forest landowners, recreational landowners, corporations, local governments and universities.

Priority goes to projects judged likely to provide habitat for rare, threatened and endangered species. Projects have a minimum duration of 10 years. In addition to private landowners, we also partner with other federal agencies, state agencies and non-governmental organizations to complete projects on private lands.

Participating landowners do not forfeit any property rights and are not required to allow public access.

A phone call or email is all it takes to get started. Contact your state coordinator to schedule an initial site visit and learn how Partners for Fish and Wildlife can help you.

Services

Our locally based field biologists provide personalized attention and work one-on-one with private landowners to:

• Plan, implement, and monitor projects
• Identify other partners
• Identify funding sources
• Provide permitting guidance, as needed.

Project work may include livestock exclusion fencing/alternate water supply construction, streambank stabilization, restoration of in-stream aquatic habitats, longleaf or shortleaf pine planting, prescribed burning, native grass and forb planting, wetland restoration/enhancement or riparian reforestation.