The mission of the Fish & Wildlife Service is working with others to conserve, protect, and enhance fish, wildlife, plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. The Coastal Program helps achieve this mission by protecting important coastal ecosystems.

The Coastal Program

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Coastal Program, in cooperation with our partners, is working to avoid species declines by integrating Service activities, lending biological and technical expertise to decision-makers, implementing on-the-ground solutions and fostering outreach to instill stewardship.

Across the nation, the Coastal Program, as of 2005, has:

Restored over 125,000 acres of coastal wetlands
Restored over 31,000 acres of coastal upland habitat
Restored over 1,300 miles of riparian and in-stream habitat
Protected over 1,700,000 acres of habitat
Leveraged Federal tax dollars at least 3:1 through partnerships

          The Coastal Program is:

Voluntary and Non-Regulatory Strategically Ecosystem-based Partnership driven Results oriented Directly assisting partners (financially and technically)

Photo credit: USFWS