What We Do
About
The State Wildlife Grant (SWG) Program provides Federal grant funds to State fish and wildlife agencies for developing and implementing programs that benefit wildlife and their habitats, including species that are not hunted or fished.
Grant funds may be used to address a variety of conservation needs--such as research, fish and wildlife surveys, species restoration, habitat management, and monitoring—that are identified within a State’s Wildlife Action Plan. These funds may also be used to update, revise, or modify a State’s Plan.
Source of Funds
Congress appropriates funds for the SWG Program on an annual basis. Funds are apportioned to States, Commonwealths, and U.S. Territories (States) based on a formula that considers each State’s population and total geographical area.
Grants
Grant funds are disbursed to States for approved grants at a maximum Federal share of 75% for planning grants and 65% for Plan implementation grants. Congress also allocates a portion of appropriated funds to the Competitive SWG Program.
Identified and described in the Wildlife Action Plans, “species of greatest conservation need” include many species experiencing significant population declines. Threats to these species are described in the Plans, including such factors as habitat loss and fragmentation, competition from non-native species, and stressors related to climate change climate change
Climate change includes both global warming driven by human-induced emissions of greenhouse gases and the resulting large-scale shifts in weather patterns. Though there have been previous periods of climatic change, since the mid-20th century humans have had an unprecedented impact on Earth's climate system and caused change on a global scale.
Learn more about climate change . The Plans identify these species’ habitats, as well as actions needed to restore and maintain viable populations of these species.
The Plans also outline the methods to be used to monitor species populations and to measure the effectiveness of States’ conservation actions, enabling grantees and their partners to utilize an adaptive management approach to conservation of these priority species.
SWG Program funds administered by the Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration Program provide a unique resource, helping States focus on targeted species in a proactive fashion, to help identify and reverse species population declines before restoration becomes more difficult and costly.