Gainesville, Fla., Jan. 14, 2015 – Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced that 115 high-impact projects across all 50 states, including Florida, will receive more than $370 million as part of the new Regional Conservation Partnership Program, administered by USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service .  

The program’s public-private partnership enables companies, communities and other non-government entities to further conservation, restoration, and sustainable use of soil, water, wildlife on a regional scale. Partners provide matching funding, with the total budget to be spent in five years. 

“Be a Hero!” by getting decals that help with the research, rescue, rehabilitation and management of Florida’s endangered manatees and sea turtles.

People can receive a Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) manatee or sea turtle decal, and show their support for saving these iconic Florida species, with a donation of $5.

Rescues of manatees and sea turtles that are injured, ill or otherwise in distress are one of the many FWC conservation activities supported by decal donations.

The new editions of the decals are originally designed works of art, and available now at local tax collectors’ offices across the state and at MyFWC.com.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) requests the public’s help in locating three species of rare birds during their breeding seasons. The southeastern American kestrel, the burrowing owl and the painted bunting are rare and declining species that are often overlooked by traditional monitoring programs such as the North American Breeding Bird Survey.

The new issue of The Wildlife Society's Wildlife Policy News is now available.  Get it here.

In March, the President released his request for FY 2015 federal budget levels. Over the next several weeks, Congress will consider this request and develop spending bills to fund the government in FY 2015.
 
The majority of wildlife and natural resources conservation programs received stable or increased funding in the President's budget, with increases to the overall budgets of the Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Land Management, and U.S. Geological Survey. However, a few critical programs did not. For example, the State and Tribal Wildlife Grants program (SWG) would see a 15% decrease in funding from the FY14 level of $58.7 million to only $50 million under the President's budget. This key program has, for ten years, provided states and tribes the resources to support and implement wildlife conservation programs to keep non-game species off of the endangered species list.