Virginia has updated its Wildlife Action Plan, based on feedback from the public, state agencies and tribal partners. WMRA’s Ayse Pirge spoke with the plan’s coordinator to get an update.
JEFF TROLLINGER: Now, we are starting the process of looking at ways to actually implement the plan.
Jeff Trollinger is the Wildlife Action Plan Coordinator, and the assistant chief of Aquatic Wildlife Resources for the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources, or DWR. He says they have a meeting planned in April.
TROLLINGER: To start looking at where the conservation action priorities will be, in terms of what we have resources to do, and what some of the priorities will be.
There was also input from the public in July for the Wildlife Action Plan’s final draft.
TROLLINGER: We got quite a bit of feedback…Most of the comments related to, you know, adding species or taking species off the list…
Trollinger says most of the comments they received were very positive, and they implemented as many as they could. They also received input from–
TROLLINGER: The nongovernmental organizations, other state agencies, federal partners, federal agencies, and then the tribal partners.
Trollinger says they will try to develop partnerships to work on their projects.
TROLLINGER: As we move forward, obviously we’ll be looking for partners to do a lot of the work that we’re doing. So, as we… figure out what the conservation priorities are going to be, we’ll be talking to our partners about their priorities… seeing how our priorities and theirs work together, and then trying out where we can develop partnerships to get some of these projects on the ground.
So, how is this Wildlife Action Plan, developed last year, different from the previous ones? The last plan was a decade ago, in 2015.
TROLLINGER: There were several changes that were made. The first and foremost, and probably biggest one, was the fact that we had sovereign nations, seven federally recognized tribes in the Commonwealth since the last plan was done. And so, we had to figure out ways to… develop a relationship with the tribes, and to collect their input in a manner that was respectful to them as sovereign nations.
He says the plan also puts a much greater emphasis on marine species, and quite a few more insects and other invertebrates. Planners also added more than 900 plant species. And Trollinger says they’ve added a big section on conservation education.
And what about funding to pay for carrying out these plans? Trollinger says Virginia usually gets around $1 million in state grants, but that alone isn’t enough, and DWR also needs support from its partners.
