Wildlife Diversity Project: California Wildlife Action Plan

In 2000, Congress enacted the State Wildlife Grants Program to support state programs that broadly benefit wildlife and habitats but particularly “species of greatest conservation need.” As a requirement for receiving funding under this program, state wildlife agencies must submit a comprehensive wildlife conservation strategy to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service by October 2005.

Developing California Wildlife: Conservation Challenges, the state’s wildlife conservation strategy, was truly a partnership between the California Department of Fish and Game and the Wildlife Health Center at the University of California, Davis. The Wildlife Health Center managed scoping meetings, expert consultations, conservation workshops, and prepared the report. Fish and Game provided guidance, technical analyses, and critical review and editing.

California Wildlife: Conservation Challenges is directed at answering three primary questions:

* What are the species and habitats of greatest conservation need?
* What are the major stressors affecting California’s native wildlife and habitats?
* What are the actions needed to restore and conserve California’s wildlife, thereby reducing the likelihood that more species will approach the condition of threatened or endangered?

California Wildlife: Conservation Challenges (the comprehensive wildlife conservation strategy) is now available in final form as of September 2007.

Click here to see press coverage of this report.