What We Do
The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration (WSFR) Program provides oversight and/or administrative support for multiple grant programs, conserving wildlife and habitats and connecting people with nature.
Management and Conservation
We provide the National Survey of Fishing, Hunting, and Wildlife-Associated Recreation reports which result from interviews with U.S. residents about their fishing, hunting, and wildlife watching.
We are responsible for the national policy formulation, compliance assurance, systems, training, and operations for all Service financial assistance programs and activities. Our mission is to deliver excellent financial assistance services that meet and exceed expectations and contribute to the success of the Service's mission. We are responsible for administrative operations of the Service's financial assistance program.
We maintain the Service’s financial assistance policy framework, providing business guidance & tools to support program compliance. We establish financial assistance internal controls & conduct internal controls reviews, ensuring the Service meets our Federal awarding agency compliance responsibilities. We manage the Service-administered audit of WSFR state recipients, and track WSFR biannual administrative audit corrective action plans.
We provide financial assistance systems support to all Service staff that manage grants and cooperative agreements. Using GrantSolutions (a financial assistance management software platform), we enable Federal agencies to manage grants and cooperative agreements through the entire award life cycle including pre-award, award, post-award, and closeout. GrantSolutions supports the entire grant lifecycle and interfaces with most major government-wide systems (i.e. Grants.gov, SAM.gov, etc.). We are responsible for delivering national training on grants and cooperative agreements, including developing training strategies, approaches, and materials needed to deliver that training. We deliver both Service-wide and WSFR-specific financial assistance training.
Our Programs
WSFR works with states, insular areas, and the District of Columbia to conserve, protect, and enhance fish, wildlife, their habitats, and the hunting, sport fishing and recreational boating opportunities they provide. Grant programs are funded through a combination of manufacturer excise taxes on firearms, ammunition, archery equipment, fishing equipment, and a portion of boating fuel, and annual apportionments through legislation. We provide national leadership, oversight, or administrative support for the following grant programs:
- Wildlife Restoration
- Sport Fish Restoration
- Clean Vessel Act
- Boating Infrastructure
- National Coastal Wetlands Conservation
- State Wildlife Grants
- Tribal Wildlife Grants
- Multistate Conservation
Through WSFR, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service also administers the Theodore Roosevelt Genius Prize and Advisory Council. The Council is a Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) group. The legislation also establishes five Boards to assist in implementing the prize competitions for the following five areas of concern: 1) preventing wildlife poaching and trafficking, 2) promoting wildlife conservation, 3) managing invasive species invasive species
An invasive species is any plant or animal that has spread or been introduced into a new area where they are, or could, cause harm to the environment, economy, or human, animal, or plant health. Their unwelcome presence can destroy ecosystems and cost millions of dollars.
Learn more about invasive species , 4) protecting endangered species, and 5) managing nonlethal human-wildlife conflict.