Time:  1:00 – 4:00 pm

Organizers: Dennis Riecke (Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks), Scott Smith (Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources)

Cost: Free

Max Attendance: TBD

Description:

The purpose of this workshop  will be to consider those questions in the workshop title from several angles. The idea will be to have an overview of RAWA (and how we got here)  which will be followed by presentations from several state agencies. The state agency presentations will focus on plans for utilizing the funding or potential strategies for securing the necessary matching funds. These presentations will be followed by a panel discussion (ideally with representation from all SD states) to explore into some of the ideas presented, and to consider new alternatives. Additionally, it is hoped that this workshop might provide people with some insight into how the passage of RAWA may impact their jobs and/or their organizations. The potential for passage of the Recovering America’s Wildlife Act (RAWA) in the 2023 Congress could be a major event for state fish and wildlife agencies. It would essentially be a Wildlife and Sportfish Restoration-sized funding source for Species of Greatest Conservation Need (SCGN) as listed in State Wildlife Action Plans. This poses opportunities and challenges for the recipient agencies, namely how will they plan to utilize the funds and how will they meet the (anticipated) 25% non-federal match requirements?