Today, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service completed the final step to create the Boating Infrastructure Grant Program, commonly known as the BIG Program, by publishing the program guidelines in the Federal Register.
Congress created the BIG program in 1998, to address the need for more tie-up facilities for the approximately 600,000 boats in the United States that are 26-feet or more in length. The BIG Program uses excise taxes paid by boaters and anglers under the Sport Fish Restoration Program to provide matching grant funding to each State to install tie-up facilities for transient recreational boats. By publishing the final guidance for the BIG Program, the Service is making $32 million available for distribution to the States for qualified projects through 2003.
"The Service believes this program will bring Americans closer to our natural resources. Americans with strong ties to our natural resources exercise greater care for our environment," said Acting Service Director Marshall Jones. "For years, 71 million boaters and the Service have cooperated to protect our environment and create enjoyable outdoor experiences. The BIG Program will strengthen this relationship and provide more opportunities for Americans to go boating."
Among the benefits the BIG program will have for boaters from coast to coast:
New facilities to enhance access to recreational, historic, cultural, natural, and scenic resources;
Safe harbors protecting boaters from inclement weather;
Protect our aquatic environment by funding the installation of pumpout facilities that prevent pollutants from entering our waterways.
Equal access to both the water and shore for large and small boats, allowing boaters to access points of interest nationwide; and
Strengthened local ties with the boating community.
The Service has used Sport Fish Restoration funds to create access for smaller, trailerable boats since the 1980s. While the Service, in cooperation with State agencies, will continue to fund boating access projects, the BIG program will address the needs of large, nontrailerable boats.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal Federal agency responsible for conserving, protecting and enhancing fish, wildlife and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. The Service manages the 93-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System which encompasses more than 530 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands and other special management areas. It also operates 66 national fish hatcheries, 64 fishery resource offices and 78 ecological services field stations. The Service enforces Federal wildlife laws, manages migratory bird populations, restores nationally significant fisheries, conserves and restores wildlife habitat such as wetlands, and helps foreign governments with their conservation efforts. It also oversees the Federal Aid program that distributes hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes on fishing and hunting equipment to state fish and wildlife agencies each year.
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