AMERICAN FISHERIES SOCIETY ● THE WILDLIFE SOCIETY

06 April 2022

Senator Tom Carper, Chair
Senate Environment and Public Works Committee
410 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510

Senator Shelley Moore Capito, Ranking Member
Senate Environment and Public Works Committee
456 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510

Dear Chairman Carper and Ranking Member Capito,

The Wildlife Society and the American Fisheries Society thank you and your colleagues for your consideration of theRecovering America’s Wildlife Act (S. 2372)– groundbreaking legislation that would empower our nation’s fish and wildlife professionals to proactively and cost-effectively conserve at-risk species.

Our organizations would like to express sincere support for the amendment in the nature of a substitute submitted by Chairman Carper. We appreciate the collective efforts of you and your staff to reach bipartisan language that will allow state, tribal, and federal fish and wildlife professionals to hold our nation’s fish and wildlife in the public trust for generations to come.

The Wildlife Society and the American Fisheries Society are dedicated to development of natural resource professionals, advancing science, and conserving fish and wildlife. With your support of the Recovering America’s Wildlife Act, our nation’s natural resources professionals will be able to work in partnership with stakeholders to meet the needs of at-risk species before costly emergency action is required. For species that have already reached the point of Endangered Species Act listing, newly targeted funds will provide much-needed resources to help species recover.

We strongly encourage the committee to favorably consider this legislation in order to provide fish and wildlife professionals with a stable and predictable funding source to combat the growing biodiversity crisis and maintain native species for the enjoyment of all Americans. If you have any questions in the lead up to Thursday’s markup, please do not hesitate to reach out to Drue Winters, Policy Director at AFS ([email protected]) or Caroline Murphy, Government Relations Manager at TWS ([email protected]).

Sincerely,

Douglas J. Austen, Ph.D.
Executive Director
American Fisheries Society

Gordon R. Batcheller, CWB®
President
The Wildlife Society

Founded in 1937, TWS and its network of affiliated chapters and sections represents more than 15,000 professional wildlife biologists, managers, and educators dedicated to excellence in wildlife stewardship. TWS’ mission is to inspire, empower, and enable wildlife professionals to sustain wildlife populations and habitat through science-based management and conservation.
wildlife.org

Founded in 1870, the American Fisheries Society (AFS) is the world’s oldest and largest fisheries science society. The AFS mission is to improve the conservation and sustainability of fishery resources and aquatic ecosystems by advancing fisheries and aquatic science and promoting the development of fisheries professionals. With its renowned journals, books and conferences, AFS is the leading source of fisheries science and management information in North America and around the world.
www.aka-wood.com