Our work for wildlife depends on the active stewardship of well-trained public servants.
The American people deserve to have everything they have been promised: clean air, clean water, and access to some of the most beautiful recreational opportunities in the world.
Unfortunately, recent severe and dramatic cuts to these critical conservation services are causing deeply felt impacts across the country and the economy. For decades, we have fought alongside our members, activists, and partners from across the political spectrum to secure robust conservation programs that are underpinned by strong science and research.
Today, the implementation of these programs is under threat of staff shortages and cancelled contracts. The impacts are widespread from threatening our national parks and wildlife refuges to rising energy costs, rising threat of wildfires and other disasters, impacts to small farmers, and more.
Tell Washington: Protect Crucial EPA Programs, Save Manatees
The Environmental Protection Agency is planning and instituting wholesale cuts to, and elimination of, programs and regulations that protect wildlife like manatees from toxic pollutants. Take action with our friends at the NWF Action Fund—tell Washington that communities and wildlife matter.
Supported by our network of 52 state affiliates, NWF is defending the public servants and federal agencies charged with safeguarding our natural resources. Disruptions to science programs threaten datasets, expertise, and continuity that cannot be quickly rebuilt once lost. For wildlife and people to thrive in a rapidly changing world, we need federal support for robust, science-based conservation.
Federal natural resource professionals—scientists, land managers, park rangers, conservationists, researchers, and support staff—perform critical work that upholds the public trust, ensures scientific integrity, and promotes resilience to climate change, biodiversity loss, habitat degradation, water scarcity, and the increasing frequency and severity of natural disasters."
- Resolution passed by all 52 state and Territorial affiliates of NWF at the 2025 Annual Meeting
CREDIT: LYDIA SULIK
Conservation in Crisis Campaign
Highlight Moments
VOICES FOR CONSERVATION RALLY
NWF hosted an inspiring rally at the Department of the Interior on October 22, 2025, to hear from speakers about the impacts of cuts to conservation science across the federal government and carry the voices of advocates from across the country. The event was featured in the short film Paid in Sunsets, which explores the impacts of cutting federal conservation, public lands and environmental stewardship work. For more info and inspiration, check out this roundup of what our speakers shared.
AMERICA'S FORUM FOR WILDLIFE
More than 600 advocates joined NWF and several conservation and scientific society partners for a webinar on August 28, 2025 to hear updates on the severe cuts to, and proposed total elimination of, vital federal conservation programs and staff. As part of the Forum, attendees sent emails urging Congress to keep federal conservation programs and services off the chopping block – kicking off an effort that eventually garnered more than 32,000 messages to members of Congress. You can view the virtual forum here.
VIRTUAL RALLY TO SAVE THE CORNERSTONE OF CONSERVATION SCIENCE
On May 22, 2025, NWF hosted an emergency rally in support of critical science and services provided by the U.S. Geological Survey Ecosystems Mission Area in the face of proposals for its complete elimination. More than 3,000 activists attended the event! NWF and others continued to advocate to save the USGS’s crucial biological research arm, and Congress decided to leave it intact in budget negotiations for the fiscal year.
In Their Own Words
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