Federal grant programs / Department of the Interior

Wildlife Restoration and Basic Hunter Education and Safety (15.611)

Also known as (Pittman-Robertson Wildlife Restoration Program)

• Awarded, FY 2021 to 2025$4.8 billion
• Grant awards2,635
• Typical award$499,267
• Awarded in FY 2025$1.0 billion
• Size rank96 of 1824
• Type of assistanceFormula grants

Key findings

• Annual funding rose from $683 million in fiscal 2021 to $1.0 billion in fiscal 2025.
• It is the 96th largest of 1,824 federal grant programs by five-year awards.
• The 20 largest recipients received 59% of the money.
• Awards went to recipients in 55 states and territories.

What the program funds

The Pittman-Robertson Wildlife Restoration Act provides grants to State, Commonwealth, and territorial fish and wildlife agencies for projects to restore, conserve, manage, and enhance wild birds and mammals and their habitat. Projects also include providing public use and access to wildlife resources; hunter education and safety; the development and management of shooting ranges, and the promotion of hunting and recreational shooting.

From the federal Assistance Listing. Read the full listing on SAM.gov.

Open opportunities

No opportunity under this program is open or forecast on Grants.gov right now. Programs often post once a year, so the funding history below shows what to expect.

Rules from the program listing

Who can apply

State governments, U.S. Territories, and Commonwealths Participation is limited to State, Territory, or Commonwealth agencies (excluding the District of Columbia) with lead management responsibility for fish and wildlife resources in the United States of America. These entities must pass laws (assent legislation) for the conservation of fish and wildlife. The law(s) must require that revenue from hunting and fishing licenses be only used for the administration of the fish and wildlife agency.

What the money can and cannot pay for

Program funds the selection of projects for restoration, rehabilitation, and improvement of wildlife habitat; wildlife management research; wildlife population surveys and inventories; land acquisition; coordinating, developing, operating, and maintaining facilities, acquiring land for, expanding, or constructing public target ranges (up to 10 percent); provisions for public use of wildlife resources, and public relations activities as well as provides training in the safe handling and use of firearms and archery equipment, hunter responsibilities, ethics, and survival; construction, operation, and maintenance of public target ranges; recruiting, retaining, and reactivating hunters and recreational shooters; and basic wildlife management and identification. Yes. Ineligible activities include law enforcement, activities conducted for the primary purpose of producing income, and activities, projects, or programs that promote or encourage opposition to the regulated taking of fish, hunting, or the trapping of wildlife (see 50 CFR 80.54).;

Matching requirements

This program has no statutory formula. Eligible State agencies (including Puerto Rico) may be paid up to seventy-five percent (75%) of project costs through the program. States are required to provide the remaining twenty-five percent (25%) of the project costs from a non-Federal source, which can include license fees. In accordance with an October 12, 2022 Policy Advisory Notice from the Department of the Interior (Reference No. 2023-001) and 48 U.S.C. 1469(a), Amendment of Subsection (d), the Service's Regional Directors shall waive cost sharing requirements described in this announcement in any grant to the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and the Territories of American Samoa, Guam, or the U.S. Virgin Islands. Matching and cost-share requirements are discussed in 50 CFR 80.84, 50 CFR 80.85, and 2 CFR 200.306.MOE requirements are not applicable to this assistance listing.

Deadlines

Contact the headquarters or regional location, as appropriate for application deadlines

Award range and average, in the agency's words

Range is $268,000 to $7,187,000; Average $2,750,000.

Examples of funded projects

Fiscal Year2025: The Program funds the selection of projects for restoration, rehabilitation, and improvement of wildlife habitat; wildlife management research; wildlife population surveys and inventories; land acquisition; coordinating, developing, operating, and maintaining facilities, acquiring land for, expanding, or constructing public target ranges (up to 10 percent); provisions for public use of wildlife resources, and public relations activities as well as provides training in the safe handling and use of firearms and archery equipment, hunter responsibilities, ethics, and survival; construction, operation, and maintenance of public target ranges; recruiting, retaining, and reactivating hunters and recreational shooters; and basic wildlife management and identification.Fiscal Year2026: Program has not selected projects for funding. The Program anticipates funding projects to restore, conserve, manage and enhance wild birds and mammals and their habitats; to provide hunter development and safety programs; and promote hunting and recreational shooting.

Quoted from the program's federal Assistance Listing. The notice of funding opportunity is the official source for each competition's rules.

Who usually wins

Almost all of the money went to state and local governments.

By state

Each state below has its own page for this program, with its recipients and yearly totals.

Award amounts are federal obligations reported to USAspending.gov for fiscal 2021 to 2025; see how our data works.