Species with the Greatest Conservation Need

1
Species with the Greatest Conservation Need

• Both game, sportfish and endangered species have
  had funding mechanisms
• Many other species are currently in decline or
  at risk
• These other wildlife species have had unmet
  conservation needs

2
Congressional DirectivesAuthorizing Legislation

• Wildlife Conservation and Restoration Program in
  FY2001
• State Wildlife Grants Program in FY2002-03
• State fish and wildlife agencies must submit Plan
  by October 1, 2005

3
Funding History and Future

• States were provided 50 million in FY2001
  (WCRP), 80 million in FY2002 (SWG) and 60
  million in FY2003 (SWG) on an apportioned basis
• This initiative is widely supported

4
The Programmatic Glue is Partnership

• FWS administers the program and receives the
  State Strategies
• States access funds and develop and implement
  Strategies
• Other State Federal agencies should be Strategy
  development and implementation partners

STATE
5
State Comprehensive Wildlife Conservation
Strategies/Plans

• What are they?

6
The Strategies/Plans

• The Purpose of the Strategy is to provide
  direction for wildlife conservation at a State
  level with a focus on species with the greatest
  conservation need. The Strategy should consider
  the broad range of wildlife in each State and
  their associated habitats within the ecosystem.
• 8 Elements are Required to be Contained within
  the State Comprehensive Wildlife Conservation
  Strategies.

7
Opportunities Provided by the Strategies

• Authorizes partnerships
• Leads to wiser and more efficient use of agency
  resources
• Increases complementary nature of programs, and
  reduces duplication of efforts
• Improves public understanding support

8
State Comprehensive Wildlife Conservation
Strategies/Plans

• What are they?
• How are they created?

9
The Creation of the Strategies

• The State Fish and Wildlife Agency has the lead
  under direction from Congress
• Agencies and organizations with common or related
  goals for species in need or their habitats are
  approached to be partners

10
Guidance for Strategy/Plan Development

• Congress provided the States with a description
  of the 8 elements required to be included in
  Strategies/Plans
• A Guiding Principles document was provided to
  each State in 2002 by an IAFWA Work Group to
  assist with Strategy Development

11
The Eight Required Elements

• Info on the distribution and abundance of
  wildlife
• Descriptions of locations and condition of key
  habitats
• Descriptions of problems and research/survey
  needs
• Descriptions of the conservation actions proposed

• Plans for monitoring species habitats
• Descriptions of procedures to revise the Plan
• Plans for coordinating the development,
  implementation, review and revision of the Plan
• Procedures for gaining public input

12
First Element

• Information on the distribution of species of
  wildlife including low and declining populations
  as the State fish and wildlife agency deems
  appropriate, that are indicative of the diversity
  and health of the States wildlife

13
Second Element

• Descriptions of locations and relative
  conditions of key habitats and community types
  essential to the conservation of these species

14
Third Element

• Descriptions of problems which may adversely
  affect the species or their habitats, and
  priority research and survey efforts needed to
  identify factors which may assist in restoration

15
Fourth Element

• Descriptions of conservation actions proposed to
  conserve the identified species and habitats and
  priorities for implementing such action

16
Fifth Element

• Proposed plans for monitoring the species and
  their habitats, for monitoring the effectiveness
  of the conservation actions, and for adapting
  these conservation actions to respond to new
  information or changing conditions

17
Sixth Element

• Descriptions of procedures to review the State
  Comprehensive Wildlife Conservation Strategy or
  Plan at intervals not to exceed ten years

18
Seventh Element

• Plans for coordinating the development,
  implementation, review, and revision of the State
  Strategy/Plan with appropriate Federal, State,
  and local agencies and Indian tribes

19
Recognize and Use Existing Plans

• Incorporate existing, relevant plans.
• Involve staff who prepared those plans.
• Do the same with the plans of conservation
  partners and other agencies

20
Conservation Plans . variety of types and
purposes

• State Fish and Game Agency Plans
• National Forest Plans
• National Wildlife Refuge Plans (USFWS)
• BLM Resource Management Plans
• Ecoregional Plans (TNC)
• National Biodiversity Strategy Action Plans
  (Convention on Biological Diversity)

21
Eighth Element

• Provisions to provide an opportunity for public
  participation in the development of the State
  Comprehensive Wildlife Conservation
  Strategy/Plan

22
Opportunity Knocks

• The collaborative actions taken by partnering
  agencies and organizations should be more
  strategic and holistic, and less reactionary and
  stop-gap
• Each agency and organization should be able to
  accomplish more of its own objectives by sharing
  expertise and working in partnership with others

Note that 17.5 billion was spent on Open Space
Preservation in the U.S. over last 3 years
23
State Comprehensive Wildlife Conservation
Strategies/Plans

• What are they?
• How are they created?
• How will they be used?

24
Partners Will Already Have Identified These Items

• Species in decline agreed upon
• Identification of critical habitats and their
  condition has been crafted
• Description of problems and specific research and
  survey information gaps are known
• Collaborative development of list of priority
  conservation actions

25
But what Distinguishes the Comprehensive
Wildlife Conservation Strategies/Plans from All
Other Plans?

• Addresses a broad range of fish and wildlife
  species (aquatic and terrestrial) and associated
  habitats across jurisdictions within a State
• Combines landscape/ecosystem/habitat-based
  approaches and smaller-scale approaches in
  collaboration with a variety of partners to
  sustain wildlife populations and their habitats

26
Efficiencies to be Gained

• Achieve more agency and organizational goals with
  fewer in-house resources
• Establish new and improved relationships with
  partners with long term benefits to wildlife
• Attain greater public support due to more common
  shared goal-setting and implementation
• Improve the sharing of wildlife conservation
  information with partners to evaluate progress

27
How Might All of This Work?
Setting Priorities (The Strategy/Plan)

• Annual (regular) group meetings
• Regular role commitment and confirmation by
  partners
• Sharing species and habitat monitoring information

Developing Strategies
Measuring Success
Taking Conservation Action
28
Wildlife and Habitats Forever