RALEIGH — A Senate panel on Thursday advanced the most significant wildlife conservation bill in a half-century – a big win for wildlife conservation throughout North Carolina. The U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works committee’s 15-5 vote paves the way for the passage of the Recovering America’s Wildlife Act to prevent extinctions and safeguard species.
“This legislation is a historic game-changer for chronically underfunded wildlife programs,” said Tim Gestwicki, CEO of the North Carolina Wildlife Federation. “Today’s strong bipartisan vote brings it one tremendous step closer to becoming law. This was the last step before it goes to the Senate floor for a final vote.”
Nearly 500 local North Carolina species of concern would benefit from the bill and its dedicated funding to support their recovery and habitats, including the Carolina northern flying squirrel, gopher frog, Appalachian cottontail, bog turtle and zigzag salamander.
“Our efforts on wildlife conservation will contribute to the success of these at-risk species and their habitats,” Gestwicki said. “North Carolinians can be extremely proud that both of our Senators were among the first to champion this bill, which is the most important piece of wildlife legislation in half a century.”
Along with Senators Thom Tillis and Richard Burr, nine of North Carolina’s House representatives – Republicans David Rouzer, Patrick McHenry, Richard Hudson, Greg Murphy and Democrats Deborah Ross, David Price, Kathy Manning, G.K. Butterfield and Alma Adams – are among the 171 bipartisan supporters currently co-sponsoring RAWA in the House.
From the mountains to the coast of North Carolina, there are approximately 1,500 species of wildlife and 6,000 plants. The North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission has identified nearly 500 wildlife species in need of conservation action, including restoring habitat, removing invasive species, addressing wildlife diseases, reducing water pollution or mitigating climate change.
The Recovering America’s Wildlife Act would:
Invest $1.4 billion in dedicated annual funding for proactive, collaborative efforts by the states, Tribes and territories to recover at-risk wildlife species
Focus efforts on the 12,000 species of wildlife and plants, identified by state, Tribal and territorial wildlife managers, in need of conservation assistance in their federally approved State Wildlife Action Plans
Devote $97.5 million each year to Tribal nations’ proactive wildlife conservation efforts on tens of millions of acres of land
Provide a one-time investment in funding that will focus specifically on addressing the backlog of endangered species recovery work
Spend at least 15 percent of the resources on recovering threatened and endangered species