President George W. Bush is requesting more than $1.3 billion - a $30.9 million increase - for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services 2006 budget. The request represents the Administrations continuing commitment to conserve Americas wildlife and natural resources and to support conservation partnerships in communities across the country.
A key feature of the budget request is increased funding for a suite of grant and cost sharing programs that emphasize local initiative and partnerships. These programs provide a foundation for cooperative effort to protect endangered and at-risk species; engage local communities, organizations, and citizens in conservation; foster innovation; and achieve conservation goals while maintaining working landscapes. The budget also includes increases for wildlife refuges, hatcheries and the migratory bird program to help round out a budget that will allow the Service and its partners to continue conservation efforts.
Interior Secretary Gale Norton said, "The Service will contribute significantly to the successful achievement of the Departments strategic goals for resource protection, recreation, serving communities and management excellence, while supporting resource use through collaborative environmental consultation."
New funding for grant programs in the 2006 budget to support Cooperative Conservation includes:
- An increase of nearly $5 million for a total of $74 million for the State and Tribal Wildlife Grants Fund that aids wildlife conservation on State and Tribal lands.
- An increase of nearly $12.5 million for a total of nearly $50 million for the North American Wetlands Conservation Fund, which provides matching grants to private or public organizations and individuals to carry out wetlands conservation projects that benefit waterfowl resources in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
- An increase of $18.3 million for a total of $40 million for Landowner Incentive Grants that provide State and Tribal fish and wildlife agencies funds needed to establish or expand habitat protection and restoration programs on private land for "at risk" species.
- An increase of $3.1 million for a total of $10 million for Private Stewardship Grant programs that provide cost-share grants to landowners for conservation actions to benefit Federally listed, proposed or candidate or other at-risk species.
- The request includes $80 million for the Cooperative Endangered Species Conservation Fund to help States support a wide array of conservation projects for candidate, proposed and listed species.
The Service operations account is funded at $985.6 million, a net increase of $22.6 million over 2005. The centerpiece of the operations increases are the Service components of the Secretarys Cooperative Conservation Program:
- A net programmatic increase of nearly $4.2 million for a total of more than $52 million for the successful Partners for Fish and Wildlife program. This program works with private landowners on a voluntary basis to restore habitat on private land. By eliminating a number of one time projects, this total includes a requested increase of $12.0 million for national priorities as well as an increase of $5.3 million for restoration work in the Klamath Basin.
- A net programmatic increase of $3.0 million for a total of $14.9 million for the Coastal program for on-the-ground conservation of wetlands and tidal lands. Alaska, the Great Lakes and southeastern tidal marshes will be a significant focus of this program in 2006.
- Increases of $7.7 million for a total of $12 million for the National Wildlife Refuge System's Challenge Cost Share program, which provides grants that match Federal and private funds for conservation projects on refuges.
- A programmatic increase of nearly $2.6 million, for a total of $12.9 million, to implement the North American Waterfowl Management Plan to manage waterfowl and diverse migratory bird species by supporting the existing 15 Joint Ventures and up to six new joint ventures including Central Hardwoods, Northern Great Plains, Rio Grande, Appalachian, East Gulf Coastal Plain and Central Texas/Oklahoma. This successful and highly cooperative program protects and restores vital habitats for diverse migratory bird species across North America.
Additional Service highlights of the Presidents 2006 budget proposal for operations include:
- $394 million for the National Wildlife Refuge System, a net programmatic increase of $7.9 million. This includes programmatic increases of $2.1 million for refuge law enforcement and $2.0 million for 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 eradication activities as well as the Challenge Cost Share increase discussed above.
- $41.6 million for the Migratory Bird Management program, a nearly $6.0 million programmatic increase. This includes the Joint Ventures discussed above. This increase will go to monitoring the Nations waterfowl population. In addition, the budget requests $1.5 million through the Construction program to replace one aircraft in the aging fleet of waterfowl survey planes.
- $140.1 million for the Endangered Species program, a net decrease of $3.1 million. However, there are requested increases of $2.2 million for listing; $1.2 million for consultations, and $3.0 million for recovery, including a focus project for tamarisk control. This listing increase will address litigation-driven workloads and should also provide additional funding to address other high-priority actions that are not the subject of litigation.
- $58.0 million for the National Fish Hatchery System. Included within this total are programmatic operations increases of $2.3 million and modest maintenance increases funded by eliminating a one time project.
- Full funding for fixed costs of $19.7 million which will allow the Service to maintain capacity and achieve planned performance goals.
The 2006 budget proposes a strategic realignment of the Environmental Contaminants program, refocusing efforts on restoration activities and emphasizing cooperation with Interiors Natural Resource Damage Assessment and Restoration program.
The 2006 Presidents Budget Request will be made available in a few weeks at http://budget.fws.gov.
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 95-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System, which encompasses 545 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands and other special management areas. It also operates 69 national fish hatcheries, 63 Fish and Wildlife Management offices and 81 ecological services field stations. The agency enforces federal wildlife laws, administers the Endangered Species Act, 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 Assistance program, which distributes hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes on fishing and hunting equipment to state fish and wildlife agencies.
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For more information about the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service,
visit our homepage at http://www.fws.gov
