St. Petersburg - Wednesday June 15, 2022: The U.S. House of Representatives has passed the Recovering America’s Wildlife Act, a bill to prevent wildlife extinctions by funding locally-led conservation efforts. If it becomes law, Florida will receive around $28.6 million to help 690 species of concern, including gopher tortoise, Florida panther and nesting shorebirds.
“This is the most important piece of wildlife legislation in the past fifty years,” said Amanda Moore, Gulf Director, National Wildlife Federation. “Wildlife in Florida and across the country are in crisis and this bold, bipartisan bill will tackle the problem at scale without new taxes or regulations. The aye votes from Representatives Castor, Cherfilus-McCormick, Crist, Demings, Deutch, Frankel, Lawson, Murphy, Salazar, Soto, Wasserman Schultz, and Wilson will be a proud part of their legacy.”
Funding from the Recovering America’s Wildlife Act will be used to implement the Congressionally-mandated state wildlife action plans, which identify more than 12,000 wildlife and plants that need conservation assistance nationwide.
“The bipartisan passage of the Recovering America’s Wildlife Act affirms that there is consensus across the political spectrum that we can, and we must, prevent extinctions from our backyards to the backcountry,” said Collin O’Mara, president and CEO of the National Wildlife Federation. “Inaction is the ally of extinction, and the time to act is now.”
The bill will also dedicate $97.5 million annually to fund proactive wildlife conservation efforts led by Native American Tribes. The nation’s 574 federally recognized Tribes manage tens of millions of acres of land nationwide with limited federal funding for conservation efforts.
“Tribes have thousands of years of traditional knowledge and a vested interest in solving the biggest challenges facing our fish and wildlife. The missing piece of the puzzle is adequate, sustained resources to build tribal capacity and support their conservation efforts,” explains Gloria Tom, Director of the Navajo Nation’s Fish and Wildlife Department. “The Recovering America’s Wildlife Act would be an unprecedented step in providing those resources and rectifying historic funding inequity and injustice.”
The bill has strong bipartisan support in the Senate, with 35 cosponsors including Senator Marco Rubio. The Senate bill would be paid for out of federal environmental penalties.
“Florida is known for its native fish and wildlife, but we stand on the brink of losing iconic species such as the panther,” said Preston Robertson, President, Florida Wildlife Federation. “This bill, if made law, will inject much-needed funding towards ensuring sustainability of our natural resources for future generations.”
“I grew up in north central Florida seeing gopher tortoises dig burrows and monarch fly by on their migration. I want all children to experience what I did as a child. Senator Marco Rubio and Senator Rick Scott should to do everything they can to champion this historic legislation so get it over the finish line this summer,” said Melissa Hill, Gulf Program Director, National Wildlife Federation.
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