The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is a bureau within the Department of the Interior. Their mission is to work with others to conserve, protect and enhance fish, wildlife and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. Their programs are among the oldest in the world dedicated to natural resource conservation. You can trace their history back to 1871 and the U.S. Commission on Fish and Fisheries in the Department of Commerce and the Division of Economic Orinthology and Mammology in the Department of Agriculture.
Objectives
- Assist in the development and application of an environmental stewardship ethic for our society, based on ecological principles, scientific knowledge of fish and wildlife, and a sense of moral responsibility.
- Guide the conservation, development, and management of the Nation’s fish and wildlife resources.
- Administer a national program to provide the public opportunities to understand, appreciate, and wisely use fish and wildlife resources.
Functions. Here are a few of the ways they try to meet our mission:
- Enforce federal wildlife laws,
- Protect endangered species,
- Manage migratory birds,
- Restore nationally significant fisheries,
- Conserve and restore wildlife habitat such as wetlands,
- Help foreign governments with their international conservation efforts, and
- Distribute hundreds of millions of dollars, through our Wildlife Sport Fish and Restoration program, in excise taxes on fishing and hunting equipment to State fish and wildlife agencies.
