Key Hearing for Recovering America's Wildlife Act

PHOTO: U.S. Senators Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) and Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) testify in a hearing before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee on their bipartisan legislation, the Recovering America’s Wildlife Act, December 8, 2021.

Dear Friend,

I want my grandchildren to experience the same wonder I had as a child catching leopard frogs and watching fireflies light up the dark. I want to pass on to them the full complement of our natural heritage—as well as traditions like hunting, fishing, and wildlife viewing.

That’s why I am leading the bipartisan effort in the Senate to pass the Recovering America’s Wildlife Act, or RAWA for short, which would invest in proactive, on-the-ground conservation work led by states, territories, and Tribal nations. Today, my legislation received an important hearing before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. You can read my opening statement here.

Consistent funding support has long been the missing piece preventing states and Tribes from scaling up the types of projects that have proven effective recovering wildlife and plant species to healthy levels. The Recovering America’s Wildlife Act will allow us to finally change this paradigm and save thousands of imperiled species of plants and animals.

PHOTO: U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich visits Santa Ana Pueblo to see the wildlife conservation and habitat restoration work of the Pueblo’s Natural Resources Department, September 10, 2021.

Earlier this year, I visited Santa Ana Pueblo to see firsthand how the Natural Resources Department is working to restore habitat and conserve wildlife on the Pueblo’s lands. You can learn more about what the new support from the RAWA would mean for state and Tribal wildlife agencies like Santa Ana’s in this great story from MeatEater. I also encourage you to listen to this interview I did about RAWA with Hal Herring on the Backcountry Hunters & Anglers Podcast.

I’m proud of the broad and bipartisan coalition of sportsmen and sportswomen, conservationists, scientists, states, Tribes, and wildlife advocates who are calling on Congress to pass RAWA into law. I will do everything I can to steer this bill across the finish line. It’s absolutely critical for us to act if we want to sustain the long-term health of fish and wildlife habitat all across America.

We need to get this done.

Sincerely,

MARTIN HEINRICH
United States Senator