Teaming With Wildlife: Seeking State-level Funding

Seeking State-Level Funding

A growing number of states have secured significant new funding mechanisms for wildlife conservation through legislative and ballot initiatives. The state wildlife action plans can be the catalyst your state needs to share in this success.

General Resources

Introduction to State-Level Wildlife Funding Initiatives
Wildlife Funding Mechanisms Handout -- A look at the pros and cons of 4 popular mechanisms and excerpts from legislative text.
Investing in Wildlife: Executive Summary and Full Report -- This report summarizes the results of an 18 month project that examining 15 case studies of state wildlife funding campaigns.
How-To Guide on Broadening Agency Constituencies -- A 1999 Management Assistance Team report by Cheryl Kolus and Don Zimmerman of Colorado State University highlighting several successful state-level wildlife funding initiatives and lessons learned.
Conservation Funding Memo From the Trust for Public Land -- This memo describes technical assistance that TPL is offering to states considering wildlife funding initatives. For more information about how The Nature Conservancy and Trust for Public Land are supporting state-level wildlife funding contact: Andy Tuck at TNC or Will Abberger at TPL.
Passing The Buck -- A 1999 report from the Izaak Walton League of America detailing how state fish and wildlife agencies receive only a meager share of tax revenues generated by wildlife-associated recreation.
Odyssey of Survival -- A detailed history of the Arkansas Conservation Sales Tax which passed in 1996 and now provides more than $21M/yr.
State Wildlife Diversity Program Funding -- A 1998 Survey of funding levels and sources for wildlife diversity conservation in each state wildlife agency.

Sample Legislation

Funding Studies Resulting From Legislative Requests

In these states governors or legislatures established task forces or committees to develop funding proposals. This promising model provides implicit legislative support and can allow for extensive agency input in the process:

Funding Conservation for New Mexico - A funding study completed in 2005 which includes the resolution requesting it. This initiative is presently in the New Mexico legislature.
Iowa Study Committee Website - This committee recently released a report with recommended funding alternatives to the legislature, available on their website.
Vermont Fish and Wildlife Funding Task Force - The task force recently released a preliminary set of funding alternatives. The Vermont Wildlife Partnership--effectively their Teaming with Wildlife Coalition--has developed a set of Guiding Principles to encourage the task force to choose a broad based mechanism providing at least $4 million per year.
Minnesota Conservation Legacy Council -- Established by Governor Pawlenty, the Conservation Legacy Council recently issued a report recommending a sales tax increase for wildlife--essentially an endorsement of the GO Minnesota campaign already underway.

Presentations From the 2006 Sate Funding Workshop

Feasibility Research - By Tim Raphael of the Trust for Public Land
Florida Funding Initiatives - By Tim Breault of the Florida Fish and Wildlfie Conservation Commission
Coalition Building in New Jersey - By Joanna Wolaver of the New Jersey Audubon Society
Presentations from Andy Tuck of The Nature Conservancy: Polling and Messaging, Campaign Structure and Budgeting, Direct Mail Examples and Lobbying Guidelines

For Further Reading

Land Vote 2006: The latest in a series of reports on the success of the land conservation community in passing 75% of their ballot initiatives, totaling $41 billion since 1996.
Book: Conservation Finance Handbook: How Communities are Paying for Parks and Land Conservation, Kim Hooper and Ernest Cook, The Trust for Public Land, 2004.
Book: A Field Guide to Conservation Finance, Story Clark, Island Press, 2007.