"Millions Invested in State Wildlife Conservation: A Nationwide Effort to Protect Species and Habitats"

In the past week, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has announced the distribution of more than $55 million to state fish and wildlife agencies through the State Wildlife Grant Program. This funding aims to protect and manage species of conservation need, promote wildlife recovery, and conserve habitats nationwide. Since 2000, the program has invested over $1.34 billion in partner agency efforts addressing various conservation needs including research, wildlife surveys, species restoration, and habitat management.

Paul Souza, Acting Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, emphasized that the program supports conservation actions aimed at preventing new federal listings of threatened and endangered species, recovering already listed species, and ensuring healthy populations of each state's priority wildlife species for future generations.

In Pennsylvania, the 2025-26 migratory game bird seasons have been set with two significant changes to waterfowl seasons. The regular season daily bag limit for Canada geese in the Atlantic Population Zone has decreased from three to one due to declining breeding pair estimates in northern Quebec. Additionally, for northern pintail, there will be a flat daily bag limit of three. These changes were announced on May 27th.

The Arizona Game and Fish Department is currently accepting applications for 2025 hunt permit-tags issued through the draw process for deer, turkey, javelina, bighorn sheep, bison, and sandhill crane. The deadline for applications is 11:59 p.m. Arizona time on Tuesday, June 3, 2025. New for fall 2025 are one-horned bighorn sheep ram seasons specifically for Pioneer license holders, which are residents aged 70 and older who have lived in Arizona for at least 25 years.

Meanwhile, the South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks is seeking comments on its Draft Wildlife Action Plan, as announced on May 16th. These state wildlife action plans represent each state's highest conservation priorities and are developed based on input from state leadership, agency partners, and the public, creating a nationwide system of conservation priorities.

These developments come against the backdrop of concerning reports from February about mass firings of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service employees, which wildlife conservation groups warned could impact the agency's ability to protect and manage America's 573 national wildlife refuges.