by Brian McCombie - Thursday, March 20, 2025
Above: Since 1937, the Pittman-Robertson Act has apportioned more than $29 billion for the conservation of game and non-game species alike, from the bald eagle to whitetail deer and the red fox. Artwork titled “Sanford” (18x24 inches, original soft pastel, 2022) courtesy of wildlife artist Michelle Mitchell; available at http://mitchellpastelart.com/.
The U.S Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) recently announced that more than $1.3 billion in Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration funding will be apportioned to all U.S. states, commonwealths and territories for fiscal year 2025 to provide for wildlife conservation and restoration programs, hunter education and public shooting ranges and programs.
As the USFWS news release noted, “This critical funding is generated by manufacturers who paid federal excise taxes last year on ammunition, firearms, archery and angling equipment, and a fuel and small engine tax. … This state-industry-federal partnership was established almost a century ago with the support of concerned sporting and conservation organizations, sporting manufacturers and conservation professionals who recognized the need to conserve fish and wildlife and their habitat.”
Since its inception in 1937, the Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration Act, also commonly known as the Pittman-Robertson Act (P-R Act) in honor of its congressional sponsors, has generated a whopping $29 billion-plus to monitor and manage our nation’s fish and wildlife resources, support hunter and aquatic education, and improve access for outdoor activities like hunting, fishing and boating.
Funding is thanks to the Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration Act of 1937—commonly known as the Pittman-Robertson Act (P-R) in honor of its congressional sponsors—that imposes an 11 percent tax on firearms, ammunition and archery equipment. The manufacturers turn over the excise taxes that sportsmen and women pay to the Department of Interior’s USFWS for distribution to the states using a formula based on the area of the state and the number of its licensed hunters. The revenue is combined with license, permit and stamp fees paid to state wildlife agencies by hunters, anglers, trappers and recreational shooters.
To date, the P-R Act has generated a whopping $29 billion-plus to monitor and manage our nation’s fish and wildlife resources, support hunter and aquatic education, and improve access for outdoor activities like hunting, fishing and boating. Partnering fish and wildlife agencies have contributed another $9 billion-plus in investments throughout the program’s history, as the P-R funds are dependent on matching contributions from the states.
Anglers were added to the funding mix with the Dingell-Johnson Sport Fish Restoration Act of 1950, which levied an 11 percent tax on boating gear, fishing tackle and small-engine fuel. In sharing the big picture, according to the USFWS, “These funds have also supported operations and maintenance of over 800 target ranges and opening of over 36 million acres of land to hunting and angling.”
Sportsmen Funding at Work
At the state and territorial levels, this conservation funding continues to help support everything from public hunting access to hunter education and R3 (recruitment, retention and reactivation) activities as well as a wide range of wildlife management and research work. Examples of projects funded by the excise tax revenue include:
Top States for 2025
The top five states receiving P-R grant funding for fiscal year 2025 are: Alaska and Texas, both receiving $20,819,000, followed by California with $19,033,000, Florida with $15,893,000 and Minnesota with $14,101,000. To view the USFWS’ complete distribution list of Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration grant funds, click here.
Closer to Home
Over the years, I’ve written and read a good number of articles concerning the importance of P-R funding. This year, I wanted to look at what this funding actually accomplishes close to home—my home—in the state of Wisconsin, which is receiving $12,863,781.00 in P-R grant allocations for 2025.
I contacted Molly Meister in the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources’ (WDNR) Office of Communications and asked what plans my state has for this money and what projects have been accomplished in the past. I learned that the funding has provided for a great deal of important activity.
In her email response, Meister noted that, although funding amounts vary annually relative to license sales and excise tax collections, approximately 80 percent of Wisconsin’s P-R allocation is directed to wildlife-related purposes, while the remaining 20 percent goes toward hunter education programs and recreational shooting. The latter includes financial support for hands-on hunter education initiatives, the operation and management of the 11 WDNR-owned public shooting ranges, and grants to local public shooting ranges for renovations and upgrades.
While the list of projects in my state alone is larger than what can be covered here, one high point includes the fact the DNR has earmarked $452,250 in P-R funding for 2025 to replace gates that control water levels from the main dam on the Collins Marsh Wildlife Area in Manitowoc County. The dam controls waters levels in an 1,800-acre impounded marsh on the property, which is a popular destination for waterfowl and duck hunters in eastern Wisconsin.
When it comes to past P-R grant-funded projects, in 2023 alone the WDNR’s Wildlife Management program utilized P-R funding to complete habitat management work on 45,750 acres of Wisconsin public lands. Projects included restoring and managing wetlands, planting and maintaining grasslands and completing forest management initiatives.
All of this work, Meister noted, is key to maintaining populations of deer, turkey, waterfowl, bear and upland game birds such as ruffed grouse, sharptailed grouse and prairie chickens as well as a wide variety of furbearers and non-game wildlife species that call the Dairy State home.
This is great news for wildlife species and their habitats.
Consumers are not informed of the excise tax in hunting regulation handbooks or the like. Chances are there is a large part of the hunting population paying for conservation that has no clue.
As a hunter and conservationist who lives in Wisconsin, I want to say a big “Thank You!” to the P-R program, all those who make it work, and to the visionary people who founded this critical mechanism to keep wildlife conservation funded and going forward into the future.
About the Author
Brian McCombie is a field editor for the NRA’s American Hunter and writes about firearms and gear for the NRA’s Shooting Illustrated. A member of the National Rifle Association and the National Shooting Sports Foundation, Brian enjoys hunting hogs, shooting 1911s, watching the Chicago Bears and relaxing with his two cats.