Field Tours
Facility Tours
We invite state fish and wildlife agency representatives to meet craftspeople and see manufacturing facilities in the industries whose excise taxes fund conservation. Join us in a tacklemaker’s workshop, walk a gunmaker’s factory floor, see a bowyer at work, or visit another of our many partners.
Restoring species
In the 1970s, populations of the Atlantic striped bass collapsed along the East Coast. State and federal agencies, supported by $57.6 million from excise taxes, helped populations recover in the 1990s. Abundant stripers now create $6.6 billion in economic impact through sport fishing. This is just one of more than 200 species of fish managed with Sport Fish Restoration funds.
Maintaining beautiful places
Our country is home to some of the most breathtaking scenery on Earth, and healthy habitats sustain our fish, wildlife, and plants. State agencies use excise tax funds to provide public access and habitat management on over 36 million acres of land in the United States, including thousands of Wildlife Management Areas and many other places for hunting, fishing and boating.
Managing wildlife
In the 1870s, West Virginia’s last native elk disappeared, but in 2015 the state’s Division of Natural Resources reintroduced the species, using more than $6 million from excise taxes to conserve a 10,852-acre property for elk, and to research, tag and transplant the animals. Elk are just one of 500 mammals and birds studied and managed with Wildlife Restoration funds.
Teaching tomorrow’s leaders
At the Green Mountain Conservation Camps in Vermont, children learn fishing, archery, shooting, hiking, and canoeing. Game wardens, foresters, and biologists teach them to appreciate fish and wildlife. Excise taxes support this camp, along with more than 2.5 million students who receive hunting or aquatic education across the country every year.
Together, industry, state and federal partners make conservation happen
Since 1937, the excise taxes on firearms and ammunition in the Wildlife Restoration Act have been used by state fish and wildlife agencies for public hunting access, hunter education, wildlife research, and new facilities where hunters and shooting athletes can hone their skills.
Since 1950, the excise taxes on fishing equipment and motorboat fuel in the Sport Fish Restoration Act have been used by state fish and wildlife agencies for public boating and fishing access, fish hatcheries and stocking programs, water quality monitoring, sport fish research and aquatic education.
Since 1972, the excise taxes on archery equipment in the Wildlife Restoration Act have been used by state fish and wildlife agencies for public hunting access, hunter education, wildlife research, and new facilities where archers can hone their skills.
Since 1984, the motorboat fuel tax and excise taxes on electric motors, imported yachts, and certain other marine items in the Sport Fish Restoration Act have been used by state fish and wildlife agencies for public boating and fishing access, fish research, aquatic education, pump out stations for recreational boaters and other boating infrastructure.
For more than 80 years, state agencies have worked with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to conserve wildlife and fisheries and connect people with nature. Across the country, state agencies are on the front lines of conservation, and they use Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration funds as an indispensable part of their budget.