Advancing and Coordinating State-Level Action on Reversing America’s Wildlife Crisis

This report examines the implementation challenges and opportunities associated with State Wildlife Action Plans (SWAPs), a cornerstone of U.S. conservation policy developed to identify and protect Species of Greatest Conservation Need (SGCN). SWAPs face a persistent funding gap, which is estimated at $1.6 billion needed annually, with only $78 million available. There are also inconsistencies in stakeholder engagement, plan structure, and implementation capacity that limit the efficacy of conservation strategies. In response to these challenges, the National Wildlife Federation (NWF) has advocated for the Recovering America’s Wildlife Act (RAWA) to provide sustained funding for state and tribal conservation efforts.

To inform these efforts, we conducted a comprehensive landscape and SWOT analysis of the most recent SWAP revisions, focusing on conservation action sections across states and territories. Our analysis evaluated reporting frameworks, conservation strategies, stakeholder engagement, and stakeholder diversity. Our findings revealed substantial variability in plan design, with some states adopting standardized frameworks such as the Conservation Measures Partnership (CMP) classification system, while others utilized unique approaches, limiting cross-state comparability and evaluation of effectiveness.

We concluded that NWF should support the development of decision-support tools, promote greater standardization and regional coordination, and prioritize research on underrepresented species. Collectively, these strategies can enhance the effectiveness, consistency, and resilience of SWAP implementation, positioning SWAPs as a more powerful tool to address accelerating biodiversity loss nationwide.