WALL, S.D. - Today, on Endangered Species Day, the Department of the Interior announced a $62.5 million investment from the Inflation Reduction Act to help plan for endangered species recovery efforts that will be implemented over the next several years to benefit more than 300 species currently listed under the Endangered Species Act (ESA).
The President's Investing in America agenda is enabling the Department of the Interior to play a leading role in the transition to a clean energy economy, advancing key habitat restoration, land resilience and water projects, and environmental justice.
"Communities across the country are dealing with a crisis of extinction with climate change and habitat loss pushing more species to the brink," said Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland. "Through President Biden's Investing in America agenda we now have new resources to advance proactive, collaborative and innovative measures in an effort to save America's wildlife and plant species. The funding announced today will support the scientific excellence behind the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's stewardship efforts and bolster resources so the Service can continue to support recovery planning for hundreds of endangered and threatened species."
"This infusion of Inflation Reduction Act funding will allow us to hire additional biologists so we can ensure recovery plans are in place to provide the roadmaps for on-the-ground implementation actions that are necessary to recover species and remove them from the Endangered Species list," said Service Director Martha Williams. "America's fish, wildlife and plant resources belong to all of us, and ensuring the recovery of threatened and endangered species is a shared responsibility."
Biologists will initially focus efforts on recovery planning for 32 threatened and endangered species
