WSFR money being used on Texas

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recently announced the nationwide distribution of more than $1.1 billion in revenues generated by Pittman-Robertson Wildlife Restoration and Dingell-Johnson Sport Fish Restoration Acts. All four states in the Service’s Southwest Region have the opportunity to share in this distribution of conservation funding.

Texas: The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department recently used WSFR dollars at the Sea Center Texas, at Lake Jackson; CCA Marine Development Center, Corpus Christi; and the Perry R. Bass Marine Fisheries Research Station in Palacios, Texas, where scientists research and raise red drum, spotted seatrout and southern flounder—sport fish species important to the economy and coastal ecology. The red drum population in Texas bays has rebounded to near-record highs. Red drum are stocked in nine bays along the Texas coast.

The WSFR Program has facilitated impressive conservation partnerships since 1937. Over these intervening 79 years, more than $18 billion has been generated for the betterment of wildlife, fisheries and boating access. Fishing and hunting license revenues paid to state fish and game agencies by hunters and anglers are used in part to match the conservation funding coming from WSFR, approximately $5 billion to date.

This conservation funding goes to where it is needed—on the ground or in the water—for projects that directly benefit fish and wildlife or improve access to outdoor endeavors. The four states are eligible to use the following amount of funds in 2016: Arizona $25,896,359; New Mexico $20,830,305; Oklahoma $23,945,446; Texas $52,684,507.