AUGUSTA, Maine (October 12, 2021) — Senator Susan Collins has joined Senator Angus King in cosponsoring the Recovering America’s Wildlife Act, a bipartisan bill that will dedicate nearly $1.4 billion annually to locally-led wildlife conservation.
“With both of our senators among the first to champion the Recovering America’s Wildlife Act, Mainers can take pride in the fact that we’re doing our part to avert a looming wildlife extinction crisis,” said Melanie Sturm, Forests and Wildlife Director at the Natural Resources Council of Maine. “Saving wildlife boosts the economy and creates jobs, and this bold, bipartisan bill will tackle the problem at the scale that is needed, without raising taxes or creating new regulations.”
The bipartisan bill would send $11.4 million to Maine annually to fund Maine Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife efforts on behalf of 378 species of concern, including harlequin ducks, brook trout, moose and loons.
“The Maine stamp of approval from both Senator King and Senator Collins will be a key reason why this bill makes it to the president’s desk,” said Collin O’Mara, president and CEO of the National Wildlife Federation. “There’s no such thing as a Republican bear or a Democratic moose and this bill shows that wildlife conservation can still bring Congress together, even in these divided times.”
Representative Chellie Pingree is among the 125 bipartisan supporters of the House version of the legislation.
The bill also provides $97.5 million in dedicated conservation funding for federally recognized Tribes, which would benefit Maine’s four Tribal nations.
