---
kind: "section"
citation: "16 U.S.C. § 2901"
title: "16"
title_heading: "Conservation"
number: "2901"
heading: "Congressional findings and declaration of purpose"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/16/2901"
units:
  - "Chapter 49 — Fish and Wildlife Conservation"
---

# §2901. Congressional findings and declaration of purpose

- (a) **Findings—** The Congress finds and declares the following:
  - (1) [Fish and wildlife](/usc/16/2902.md?p=5) are of ecological, educational, esthetic, cultural, recreational, economic, and scientific value to the Nation.
  - (2) The improved [conservation](/usc/16/2902.md?p=3) and management of [fish and wildlife](/usc/16/2902.md?p=5), particularly [nongame fish and wildlife](/usc/16/2902.md?p=6), will assist in restoring and maintaining [fish and wildlife](/usc/16/2902.md?p=5) and in assuring a productive and more esthetically pleasing environment for all citizens.
  - (3) Many citizens, particularly those residing in [urban areas](/usc/16/544.md?p=s), have insufficient opportunity to participate in recreational and other programs designed to foster human interaction with [fish and wildlife](/usc/16/2902.md?p=5) and thereby are unable to have a greater appreciation and awareness of the environment.
  - (4) Historically, [fish and wildlife](/usc/16/2902.md?p=5) [conservation](/usc/16/2902.md?p=3) 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](/usc/16/2902.md?p=3) needs of [nongame fish and wildlife](/usc/16/2902.md?p=6).
  - (5) Each [State](/usc/16/2902.md?p=8) should be encouraged to develop, revise, and implement, in consultation with appropriate Federal, [State](/usc/16/2902.md?p=8), and local and regional agencies, a plan for the [conservation](/usc/16/2902.md?p=3) of [fish and wildlife](/usc/16/2902.md?p=5), particularly those species which are indigenous to the [State](/usc/16/2902.md?p=8).
- (b) **Purpose—** It is the purpose of this chapter—
  - (1) to provide financial and technical assistance to the [States](/usc/16/544.md?p=r) for the development, revision, and implementation of [conservation plans](/usc/16/2902.md?p=2) and programs for [nongame fish and wildlife](/usc/16/2902.md?p=6); 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](/usc/16/2902.md?p=3) and to promote [conservation](/usc/16/2902.md?p=3) of [nongame fish and wildlife](/usc/16/2902.md?p=6) and their habitats, in furtherance of the provisions of this chapter.

## Source credit

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

## Notes

### Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

### Short Title

Pub. L. 96–366, § 1, Sept. 29, 1980, 94 Stat. 1322, provided: “That this Act [enacting this chapter] may be cited as the ‘Fish and Wildlife Conservation Act of 1980’.”