House Appropriations Committee draft report directs federal agencies to use state fish and wildlife data as principal source to inform agency decision making

The House Appropriations Committee directed federal agencies today (July 31, 2013) in a draft report to use state fish and wildlife data as a principal source to inform agency decision making. That request, in a draft report accompanying the House’s Appropriations Bill for Interior and the Environment, is in line with previous testimony before the committee provided by the Western Governors' Association (WGA).

The committee's draft report highlights the opportunity to save federal funds by maximizing the use of state data and analysis regarding wildlife, and directs agencies to avoid duplicative analysis of raw data previously prepared by the states, who are the primary managers for wildlife within their borders. More broadly, the draft report says that data and analyses from states should be used in land use, land planning, and related natural resource decisions by the Department of the Interior and its bureaus, as well as the U.S. Forest Service.

This recognition of the states’ role as the preeminent authority on wildlife comes after a similar request from WGA Executive Director Jim Ogsbury during April testimony before the committee. Following Ogsbury’s testimony, four House members (Rep. Herrera Beutler, WA; Rep. Gosar, AZ; Rep. Lummis, WY; and Rep. Daines, MT) and one senator (Sen. Tester, MT) requested for such language to be included.

The draft report, in part, says:

"The Committee is concerned that the agencies are not maximizing the opportunity to save funds on data management, analysis and accessibility that is possible by coordinating with State wildlife agencies, since the State agencies retain primary jurisdiction over most wildlife on Federal, State and private lands. The Committee directs the Federal agencies to cooperatively engage with State wildlife agencies to ensure that they use State fish and wildlife data and analyses as a principal source to inform their land use, land planning and related natural resource decisions. The agencies should not duplicate analysis of raw data previously prepared by the States. Federal agencies should also provide their data to State wildlife managers to ensure that the most complete data is available to be incorporated into all decision support systems."

Learn more on Page 13 of the report.