We Need Your Help

In June the House of Representatives passed an FY10 Interior Appropriations bill that included a $40 million increase for the State and Tribal Wildlife Grants and a reduction in the nonfederal match requirement from 50% to 25%. Last week the Senate passed a bill that included a $5 million increase and no change in the match requirement. The two bills are now headed to a conference committee. State Wildlife Grants are the principal source of funding dedicated to implement State Wildlife Action Plans in every state and territory. Currently states receive an average of just over $1 million annually per state and territory to implement conservation actions to conserve and monitor more than 10,000 species known to be at risk. This level of funding is inadequate for these congressionally-mandated plans.

We need your help to inform members of the Senate the importance of the State and Tribal Wildlife Grants Program. Please take a few minutes to call or email members of the Senate in your state and ask them to support State Wildlife Action Plan Implementation. You can reach your member of the Senate by calling (202) 224-3121 and asking to speak to your representative. A list of US Senators and information on emailing your Senator is available at www.senate.gov.

Suggested Talking Points

1. The Obama administration recommended and the House of Representatives approved $115 million for the State and Tribal Wildlife Grants program in the FY10 Interior, Environment and Related Agencies Appropriations Act (HR2996). The House also decreased the nonfederal match requirement from 50% to 25% for implementation projects as a no cost way to aid states during the economic downturn.

2. The Senate approved $80 million for the State and Tribal Wildlife Grants in the FY10 Interior, Environment and Related Agencies Appropriations Act. The Senate did not change the nonfederal match requirement.

3. Please help to increase funding for the State and Tribal Wildlife Grants program to a level that more closely matches the House amount and reduce the nonfederal match requirement to 25% for implementation of congressionally-required State Wildlife Action Plans.

4. Full implementation of State Wildlife Action Plans are our best hope to recovering listed species and preventing more than 10,000 at-risk species from being listed in the future.