Policies and Initiatives BNGA Supports
Recovering America’s Wildlife Act
Recovering America’s Wildlife Act (RAWA) will dedicate $97.5 million annually to Tribes and $1.3 billion annually to states to assist with wildlife conservation. Tribes own and influence the management of a natural resource base of nearly 140 million acres, including more than 730,000 acres of lakes and reservoirs, over 10,000 miles of streams and rivers, and over 18 million acres of forested lands. Tribal lands provide vital habitat for more than 525 federally-listed threatened and endangered plants and animals, many of which are both biologically and culturally significant to tribes.
Read BNGA’s resolution of support for RAWA here.
North American Grasslands Conservation Act
The North American Grasslands Conservation Act (NAGCA) would conserve and restore North America’s native grasslands and sagebrush shrub-steppe while supporting Tribal Nations, ranchers, farmers, sportsmen and women, and rural communities. Annually, at least 10% of the total NAGCA program budget would be set aside to provide grants to Tribes and Tribal organizations.
A 2021 Plowprint Report by World Wildlife Fund found that from 2018-2019 alone an estimated 2.6 million acres of grassland across the US and Canadian Great Plains were plowed-up, primarily to make way for row crop agriculture. An investment in North America’s grassland and sagebrush shrub-steppe ecosystems through NAGCA will drive voluntary, science-based efforts to conserve these ecosystems while supporting working lands conservation in order to sequester carbon and prevent further loss of grassland and sagebrush wildlife. North America’s grasslands are some of the most threatened habitats on the planet.
Read BNGA’s resolution of support for NAGCA here.
The Central Grasslands Roadmap
We support the vision, priorities and guidance set forth in the Central Grasslands Roadmap as outlined in its Executive Summary. We are committed to collaborating with the Roadmap coalition to ensure that our way of life and one of the most important ecosystems on the planet, remains intact. Our fish and wildlife, water, climate, food supply, and way of life are dependent on healthy grasslands. By working together and committing to mutually beneficial actions we can conserve essential habitat for future generations with Indigenous communities, ranchers, and producers at the center of the solutions, and provide sustainable economic opportunities where those are needed most.
Read BNGA’s letter of support for the Central Grasslands Roadmap here.