Operations & Maintenance Funding For The National Wildlife Refuge System

The vast majority of the funding of the National Wildlife Refuge System comes from the Operations and Maintenance (O&M) fund, which is allocated through the Congressional appropriations process. 

There are 568 units of the National Wildlife Refuge System, spanning across all 50 states, most territories, and into the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, for a total of 850 million acres. For fiscal year 2023, Congress appropriated $541 million to O&M. However, we estimate the actual funding need to be approximately $1.5 billion.

The Funding Process: 

In a typical year, the appropriations cycle begins with the President’s Budget Request in February and ends when Congress finalizes their bills and the President signs it into law by September 30th, the last day of the fiscal year. In recent years, however, this process has not run as smoothly as we might like, and funding for the National Wildlife Refuge System has floundered under the weight of tight budgets, sliding deadlines, and lack of agreement in Washington, D.C. on the best way to fund public lands. 

Nearly all the funding that the Refuge System receives is through the Operations and Maintenance (O&M) portion of the federal budget. Other smaller contributions to national wildlife refuges come through legislation like the federal transportation bill, Great American Outdoors Act funding, supplemental funding from things like hurricane or fire relief, and grant funding through certain federal programs like the Migratory Bird Conservation Fund which provides wetland restoration funding and refuge expansion dollars through Federal Migratory Bird Hunting and Conservation Stamps, or Duck Stamps. The O&M fund is critical to the success of national wildlife refuges, as all staffing, equipment, facility maintenance, etc. is paid for out of this fund. 

What is Congress funding? 

The benefits of funding the National Wildlife Refuge System are almost immeasurable. Adequate funding means restoration of vulnerable habitat, protection against poaching, well-regulated access to activities like hiking, fishing, and hunting, the management of invasive species, and so much more.

This funding also supports transportation-related issues across national wildlife refuges like trail and road maintenance, consistent signage, and railways. Improvements in transportation funding result in a better experience for visitors and a safer environment for species on national wildlife refuges.

Across the more than 850 million acres of the National Refuge System are over 300 threatened or endangered species and thousands of other unique species that rely on the efforts of the Refuge System to prosper. Protecting these species and their habitats provides the American public with $33 billion in clean water and other environmental benefits, in addition to a major return on investment. Every dollar appropriated to the Refuge System returns an average of $4.87 to local economies along with 41,000 jobs and $3.2 billion in economic output each year. 

A Path Forward 

The National Wildlife Refuge System needs a significant increase in funding to effectively fulfill its conservation mission, provide opportunities for wildlife dependent recreation, and connect communities to nature. The small funding increases the Refuge System has received year-to-year have not kept pace with inflation, growing management responsibilities, increasing threats to habitat and species from climate change, development threats, and more. The Refuge Association is committed to growing awareness of the needs of the Refuge System and, along with our partners, building champions in Congress to fight for this incredible set of public lands.

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