FY25 Fish & Wildlife Research Appropriations Request Letter

June 6th, 2024

The Honorable Jeff Merkley The Honorable Lisa Murkowski
Chairman Ranking Member

Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, Subcommittee on Interior, Environment,
and Related Agencies and Related Agencies

Senate Appropriations Committee Senate Appropriations Committee
Washington, DC 20510 Washington, DC 20510

The Honorable Mike Simpson The Honorable Chellie Pingree
Chairman Ranking Member

Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, Subcommittee on Interior, Environment
and Related Agencies and Related Agencies

House Appropriations Committee House Appropriations Committee
Washington, DC 20515 Washington, DC 20515

Dear Chairman Merkley, Ranking Member Murkowski, Chairman Simpson, and Ranking

Member Pingree:

The undersigned fish and wildlife conservation organizations and professional societies are
writing with regard to Fiscal Year 2025 appropriations for several Department of the Interior and
Department of Agriculture/U.S. Forest Service programmatic areas related to fish and wildlife
science and management. Our groups strongly believe the identified agencies/bureaus and
programs warrant stable funding for FY2025 to meet the scientific and management
responsibilities for fish and wildlife and their habitat, which in turn benefit the American people.

USGS Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Units

The USGS Cooperative Research Units (CRU) program includes 43 units in 41 states that
facilitate cooperation between the USGS, state fish and wildlife agencies, a host university, the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Wildlife Management Institute to advance fish and
wildlife conservation, graduate education, and technical assistance.

We are requesting the President’s Budget request of $29.773 million in FY2025 for the USGS
Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit (CRU) program with consideration for an increase
to $36 million given the current demand for the program. This higher level represents funds
necessary for basic programmatic needs: 1) current scientist staffing levels at existing CRUs; and
2) ensuring staff salaries meet current inflationary costs, filling existing and anticipated
vacancies, and filling positions at newly established units to meet federal commitments to
cooperators. The estimated CRU total program needs are $41 million factoring in vehicle and
equipment needs, administrative support, and other programmatic costs. Understanding current
fiscal constraints and budget caps, we look forward to working with your Subcommittees in
support of increasing this program’s budget in the coming years to address vacancies and other
CRU program needs required to meet this important program’s scientific obligations to the states
and other cooperators.

The Honorable Jeff Merkley
The Honorable Lisa Murkowski
The Honorable Mike Simpson
The Honorable Chellie Pingree

USGS Fish and Wildlife Research – Ecosystem Missions Area
Our community supports several USGS programs housed under the Ecosystem Missions Area
and dedicated to fish and wildlife research. These important programs ensure our federal land
and water managers, policy makers and other users have the scientific information needed to
make informed fish and wildlife management decisions. The science and decision support tools
USGS delivers are innovative and decision-relevant and touch down in a myriad of ways for our
community from national strategic fire assessments to ungulate migrations in the Western United
States. We encourage the Subcommittees to support stable to increased funding for these budget
lines including the Species Management Research Program ($66.85 million); Land Management
Research Program ($60.551 million); and Biological Threats and Invasive Species Research
Program ($45.466 million). We also support stable funding for the new Ecosystems Change
Research Program and National and Regional Climate Adaptation Science Centers, two budget
programs originating from the former Climate Adaptation Science Center and Land Change
Science Program.

BLM Wildlife Habitat Management Program

BLM’s Wildlife Habitat Management Program sub-activity supports BLM’s wildlife, sage
grouse conservation, threatened and endangered species, and plant conservation and restoration
programs. The Wildlife Program is critical to BLM’s ability to work collaboratively with State,
Tribal and Federal partners to identify important habitat connectivity areas and to implement
conservation actions to restore and conserve habitat connectivity areas and migration corridors
on and across public lands. A portion of these funds (about $3 million annually) are expended on
research, and much of the funding supports the staff who work with external entities to build and
advance partnerships, including those that lead to potential research projects. Unfortunately,
funding for the Wildlife Program, the backbone of BLM’s wildlife habitat management efforts,
has declined by 50% since 2021. The sub-activity is severely underfunded, and we recommend
providing an additional $18 million to BLM’s Wildlife Habitat Management sub-account,
specifically for the Wildlife Program.

BLM Resource Management Planning Assessment, Inventory and Monitoring (AIM) Program

Our community strongly supports the research and development programs of the Bureau of Land
Management including the BLM Resource Management Planning Assessment, Inventory and
Monitoring (AIM) Program sub-activity and requests $12.4 million for this program. The AIM
Program is built around strategies designed to reach across programs, jurisdictions, stakeholders,
and agencies to provide a framework for consistent data and information valuable to decision
makers. AIM data and analysis products address the health of upland rangelands, rivers and
streams, wetlands, and riparian areas and how they are changing over time. AIM indicators

The Honorable Jeff Merkley
The Honorable Lisa Murkowski
The Honorable Mike Simpso
The Honorable Chellie Pingree

provide information about soil health, fish and wildlife habitat, water quality, site stability,
biodiversity, plant invasions, and fire risk. This program has been important in ongoing DOI and
BLM partnership efforts including sage-grouse conservation and monitoring within other priority
habitats.

FWS Science Applications

Our community strongly supports $37.9 million for U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Science
Applications with funding dedicated to two sub-activities: Science Partnership Activities ($27.3
million) and Service Science ($10.6 million). The Service’s Science Applications Program
addresses landscape-scale conservation science and data management in a non-regulatory context
and provides valuable resources for states and partners to identify knowledge gaps around such
issues as reducing wildfires, controlling invasive species, and increasing coastal resilience.
Further, the program assists with the development of state-supported regional landscape designs
and capacity for regional landscape conservation planning, as well as Comprehensive
Conservation Plans and step-down management plans. These efforts collectively support
landscape scale conservation; conservation of species of greatest conservation need; resilience to
climate fluctuations; more effective restoration of ecosystem processes; and, the facilitation of
more effective partnerships.

USFS Forest and Rangeland Research

For FY2025, our organizations support $315.6 million for U.S. Forest Service Forest and
Rangeland Research to continue research-focused investments in forest health, wildfire
resilience, timber management, and wood products innovations. The USFS’s research directly
informs management actions taken by the agency, states, tribes, and other land managers to
sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of the nation's forests and grasslands. Funding for
this program enables the USFS to invest more in studying wildfire risk management projects
such as hazardous fuels treatments and other forest health projects that improve resilience. This
work is conducted at five geographically based research stations, the Forest Products Laboratory,
the International Institute of Tropical Forestry, 81 Experimental Forest and Ranges, Urban Field
Stations, and in the agency’s Washington D.C. headquarters. Scientific research priorities,
including improving the understanding of a changing climate and identifying adaptation and
resiliency strategies, will address data gaps and provide forest owners and managers with better
tools for managing for the future. The USFS Forest and Rangeland Research Program is the
world's largest forest research organization, and we look forward to working with the

Subcommittees to ensure its status as a national and global leader.
The Honorable Jeff Merkley
The Honorable Lisa Murkowski
The Honorable Mike Simpson
The Honorable Chellie Pingree

Thank you for your kind consideration of these requests. We look forward to working with you
and your colleagues to ensure funding for USGS, BLM, FWS and USFS programs within the
FY25 Senate and House Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations bills
remains stable and able to address the challenges ahead for fish and wildlife.

Sincerely,

AFFTA Fisheries Fund
American Fly Fishing Trade Association
American Woodcock Society
Angler Action Foundation
Archery Trade Association
Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies
Backcountry Hunters & Anglers
Bass Anglers Sportsman Society (B.A.S.S.)
Bonefish & Tarpon Trust
Boone and Crockett Club
Council to Advance Hunting and the Shooting Sports
Ducks Unlimited
Fly Fishers International
Houston Safari Club
Izaak Walton League of America
Masters of Foxhounds Association
Mule Deer Foundation
National Alliance of Forest Owners
National Bobwhite & Grassland Initiative
National Deer Association
National Wild Turkey Federation
National Wildlife Federation
New York State Conservation Council
North American Falconers Association
North American Grouse Partnership
Orion: The Hunter’s Institute
Pheasants Forever
Pope and Young Club
Quail Forever
Ruffed Grouse Society
Sportsmen’s Alliance
Tall Timbers
The Wildlife Society
Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership
The Honorable Jeff Merkley
The Honorable Lisa Murkowski
The Honorable Mike Simpson
The Honorable Chellie Pingree
Trout Unlimited
Union Sportsmen’s Alliance
Whitetails Unlimited
Wildlife Management Institute