The Congress finds and declares the following:

(1) Fish and wildlife are of ecological, educational, esthetic, cultural, recreational, economic, and scientific value to the Nation.

(2) The improved conservation and management of fish and wildlife, particularly nongame fish and wildlife, will assist in restoring and maintaining fish and wildlife and in assuring a productive and more esthetically pleasing environment for all citizens.

(3) Many citizens, particularly those residing in urban areas, have insufficient opportunity to participate in recreational and other programs designed to foster human interaction with fish and wildlife and thereby are unable to have a greater appreciation and awareness of the environment.

(4) Historically, fish and wildlife conservation programs have been focused on the more recreationally and commercially important species within any particular ecosystem. As a consequence such programs have been largely financed by hunting and fishing license rev­enues or excise taxes on certain hunting and fishing equipment. These traditional financing mechanisms are neither adequate nor fully appropriate to meet the conservation needs of nongame fish and wildlife.

(5) Each State should be encouraged to develop, revise, and implement, in consultation with appropriate Federal, State, and local and regional agencies, a plan for the conservation of fish and wildlife, particularly those species which are indigenous to the State.

It is the purpose of this chapter—

(1) to provide financial and technical assistance to the States for the development, revision, and implementation of conservation plans and programs for nongame fish and wildlife; and

(2) to encourage all Federal departments and agencies to utilize their statutory and administrative authority, to the maximum extent practicable and consistent with each agency’s statutory responsibilities, to conserve and to promote conservation of nongame fish and wildlife and their habitats, in furtherance of the provisions of this chapter.

(Pub. L. 96–366, § 2, Sept. 29, 1980, 94 Stat. 1322.)