America’s Top 10 Federal Conservation Laws for the Protection, Preservation and Enhancement of Wildlife and Wild Places
When thinking about conservation today, an adage rings true: “To know where you’re going, you have to know where you’ve been.”
The United States has a rich history of environmental legislation, marked by landmark laws that have significantly shaped the way the country protects its natural resources. Some safeguard our water, air, and land; others sustain the fish and wildlife that form the backbone of America’s sporting and outdoor heritage. In this review of ten key federal acts—presented in no particular order—North Carolina Wildlife Federation highlights the foresight and leadership of policymakers and the lasting benefits their work continues to provide for wildlife and habitat. Together, these laws remind us that progress in conservation is built not only on passion, but on action. And that the choices we make today will define the natural legacy we leave for future generations.
Lacey Act
Introduced by Iowa Republican congressman John Lacey in 1900, this was the first major federal legislation to protect wildlife in America. The Lacey Act bans interstate or foreign commerce involving any fish, wildlife, or plants taken, possessed, or sold in violation of state or foreign law. The Act has been amended to include a wider variety of prohibited plants and plant products, including some rainforest species, and to curb the transport of non-native pythons to the Everglades. In North Carolina, it is used to curb efforts to transport deer and feral hogs into the state. As the proliferation of non-native and invasive species continues, wildlife agencies are fortunate to have the Lacey Act in their toolbox.
Drilling Down: Poaching and the illegal wildlife trade remain severe threats to biodiversity. According to the UNODC’s 2024 World Wildlife Crime Report, trafficking now affects around 4,000 plant and animal species. Estimates of its annual value run as high as $20 to $23 billion.
Clean Water Act
Established in 1972 under President Richard Nixon, the Clean Water Act set national standards for the quality of water in streams and lakes. Just before the Act was passed, rivers like the Cuyahoga in Ohio were literally on fire, and lakes such as Thonotassa in Florida were experiencing their largest fish kills in history. In North Carolina, the mudchoked French Broad River was described as “too thick to drink and too thin to plow.” The Clean Water Act empowered the Environmental Protection Agency to implement regulations on pollution discharges into our waterways. Water quality standards were established and sewage treatment facilities were constructed. Under Clean Water Act, US Army Corps of Engineers has purview over dredging and filling of waterways including wetlands. With the goal of “drinkable, swimmable, fishable water,” the Clean Water Act is critical to the nation and to North Carolina and has revived many of our waterways. With more sound and estuarine waters than any other lower 48 state besides Louisiana, and with a quarter-million miles of rivers and streams, North Carolina depends on Clean Water Act protections more than most.
Drilling Down: In 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a decision in Sackett v. EPA that drastically limited Clean Water Act protections. In its aftermath, anti-regulation activists are testing the bounds of the court’s decision with targeted lawsuits, hoping to restrict further the federal protections. NCWF entered into a lawsuit for one such attempt in eastern North Carolina. Attorneys were preparing for court this year when the Department of Justice requested the parties pause litigation while the Administration further determined the Supreme Court’s drastic weakening of wetland Clean Water Act ramifications. Later this year, EPA and the Corps of Engineers announced that they plan to revise the definition of “waters of the United States” to further narrow the scope of federal clean water protections via rulemaking proceedings.
Federal Aid In Wildlife Restoration Act
Commonly known as Pittman-Robertson after its sponsors, this eight decade-old legislation established an excise tax on firearms and ammunition. Monies are allocated to the Interior Department and distributed to states, which match the funds with 25 percent of the monies from hunting license sales. Species such as white-tailed deer, wild turkey, and wood ducks are shining examples of restoration supported by the legislation. This “tax legislation on sportsmen,” which was adopted during the Great Depression, is a shining beacon in the history of wildlife legislation and proves that dedicated revenue collections can indeed be accomplished.
Drilling Down: On average, North Carolina receives about $23 million per year for wildlife research, management, and habitat protection.
The Endangered Species Act
In the early 1970s, President Richard Nixon believed that conservation efforts were failing and inadequate and called on Congress to pass comprehensive reform. In 1973, what some call the Magna Carta of the environmental movement was enacted. The Endangered Species Act serves to protect plant and animal species in threat of extinction, especially as a “consequence of economic growth and development untempered by adequate concern and conservation.” The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) are fully empowered to implement the Endangered Species Act. Significant success stories due to the Act include the bald eagle, peregrine falcon, and southern sea otter. An example of the Endangered Species Act at work in North Carolina includes the red wolf reintroduction at Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge. North Carolina made history again when Pinehurst Resort was the first to sign a Safe Harbor Agreement for the health and prosperity of our economy and our environment.
Drilling Down: Earlier this year, FWS and NMFS proposed rescinding the regulatory definition of “harm” under the Endangered Species Act. This sudden, far narrower interpretation of the term runs counter to the Act’s fundamental purposes to protect and restore listed species and the ecosystems upon which they depend. NCWF joined comments opposing such an arbitrary and capricious proposal.
Dingell-Johnson Act
Also referred to as the Federal Aid in Sport Fish Restoration Act, was enacted in 1950 to provide federal funding support to state fisheries management agencies. Similar to the Pittman-Robertson program, the fund was originally derived from a 10-percent excise tax on certain items of sport fishing tackle. In 1984, the Wallop-Breaux amendment expanded the types of fishing tackle subject to the 10-percent tax by placing a 3-percent excise tax on fish finders and trolling motors, collecting import duties on fishing tackle and yachts and other pleasure craft, and incorporating a portion of the fuel taxes attributed to motor boats. State fishing license receipts, boating registration fees, and other non-federal money are used as matching funds ($3 federal for every $1 state) to support fisheries manage ment in fresh and marine waters, boating access, boating safety, and aquatic education. The Act also has the little-known stipulation that if a state diverts any portion of its fishing license receipts to fund other programs, it will lose its entire allocation of Dingell-Johnson funds. For more than 60 years, this provision has ensured that 100 percent of anglers’ and boaters’ license fees go directly to support fishing and boating recreation.
Drilling Down: In 2024, North Carolina’s portion of the fund was nearly $13 million.
Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act
The Magnuson-Stevens Act was enacted in 1979 and has been amended several times. The law established a fishery conservation zone in ocean waters that extends from the 3-mile state jurisdiction to the 200-mile federal jurisdiction. A critical element of the act was the creation of eight regional councils to manage fish populations within the conservation zone to prevent overfishing, allow overfished stocks to recover, and manage all fisheries stocks in a sustainable manner. North Carolina is a member of both the South Atlantic and Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Councils. In the South Atlantic region, seven of the eight managed species groups are determined to be at sustainable levels. The exception is the overfished snapper-grouper complex for which management measures are being enacted. In the Mid-Atlantic region, 13 of 14 managed stocks are being managed at sustainable levels. The exception is the butterfish, which is currently over-fished. A success story is the recovery of black sea bass populations. The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council has recommended that the annual catch limit of black sea bass be more than doubled in South Atlantic federal waters due to increased population numbers. This increase is largely due to actions taken to curtail overfishing following the 2006 stock assessment. The Magnuson-Stevens Act has achieved a level of marine fisheries conservation in federal waters that likely would not have occurred otherwise.
Migratory Bird Act/Migratory Bird Treaty Act
One of the first influential pieces of environmental legislation in the country was enacted in 1913. Before this law was adopted, bird species, nongame and game alike, had no protections and the fashions of the 1800s and 1900s were keen on bird feathers, especially herons and egrets, for hats. The trade in feathers took a tremendous toll—by most estimates, 200 million wild birds were killed per year. Populations of the most hunted species declined to dangerous levels. The Migratory Bird Act gave the federal government full authority to protect migratory birds with today nearly 800 species listed for protection. In 1918, the legislation was widened in an international convention agreement between the U.S. and Great Britain and subsequently with Canada, Mexico, Russia and Japan. Under the Act, the taking, killing, disturbing of nests, and possessing of migratory birds is highly regulated. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is granted the authority to set hunting seasons for waterfowl and other migratory birds based on species populations.
National Wildlife Refuge System Act
When an act has the mission to “administer a national network of lands and waters for the conservation, management and, where appropriate, restoration of the fish, wildlife and plant resources and their habitats within the United States for the benefit of present and future generations of Americans,” it has to make NCWF’s Top 10 fish and wildlife bills of all time. This law, enacted in 1966 but founded on earlier legislation, provides for the administration and management of all areas in a national system of “wildlife refuges, areas for the protection and conservation of fish and wildlife that are threatened with
extinction, wildlife ranges, game ranges, wildlife management areas, and waterfowl production areas.” In 1903, President Theodore Roosevelt established Florida’s Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge as the first parcel of what is now a system of more than 95 million acres within 570 National Wildlife Refuges across the country. Also included in the refuge system managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are marine areas, including National Marine Monuments, which provide another 760 million acres within the system. A major stimulus for the refuge system came in 1934 with the passage of the Migratory Bird Hunting and Conservation Stamp Act, commonly referred to as the “duck stamp act.” National Wildlife Refuges secure, enhance, and manage in perpetuity this nation’s natural treasures of wild habitats, both aquatic and terrestrial, and populations of fish and wildlife that inhabit these habitats for all citizens to enjoy. North Carolina has 11 National Wildlife Refuges that provide homes for bog turtles, waterfowl, bear, turkey, deer, shorebirds, and native flora.
Drilling Down: The Refuge System has been struggling with a staffing crisis for over a decade due to funding not keeping up with inflation and fixed costs, paired with an increase in acres and visitation. In the past 15 years, the Refuge System has added 18 new refuges, 22 million marine acres, opened 6 million acres for hunting and fishing, and visitation has grown to over 67 million annual visitors. For budget years 2024/2025, the estimated Refuge System needs were $161 million added to the base budget just to overcome losses due to inflation and ensure minimum field management capacity. The Refuge System has a large, deferred maintenance backlog (in 2024, the backlog was an estimated $2.6 billion), with most structures near or past the end of their maximum useful life spans, such as buildings, roads, bridges, and trails. Under current appropriations, deferred maintenance costs are projected to reach $28 billion by FY2050. This year has seen funding reduced and significant staffing reductions.
Land and Water Conservation Fund Act
This landmark legislation was passed by Congress in 1964 and signed by President John F. Kennedy. Its objective is to balance the use of offshore oil and gas by allocating a small portion of energy leasing revenues to acquire important habitat and recreational land, and to improve public access to fish, wildlife, and other natural resources. The Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) was established to allocate $900 million annually from offshore oil drilling revenues to support conservation projects in national parks and national forests, fish and wildlife refuges, local parks, and other public lands. The beauty of LWCF and its dedicated revenue stream from drilling leases is that no tax money is involved, and only a small percentage of the lease fees are designated for the LWCF. This fund is the primary source of funding in America for land preservation. In North Carolina, it has helped protect the Roanoke River and Alligator River national wildlife refuges, the Croatan National Forest, and the Cape Hatteras and Cape Lookout national seashores. Since the founding of the LWCF, however, it has rarely been funded at or near the annual $900 million statutory level as Congress has repeatedly raided the fund, taking dollars that should have been gone toward important conservation initiatives and using them for other expenditures. The annual diversion of LWCF funds to non-conservation purposes has left a long legacy of backlogged conservation projects across the nation. Signed on August 4, 2020, the Great American Outdoors Act was hailed by NCWF as one of the most important conservation milestones in a generation. The legislation permanently and fully funds LWCF and creates a fund to address an enormous maintenance backlog on public lands. Funding of the federal government’s deferred maintenance of public lands will be administered through a newly established National Parks and Public Land Legacy Restoration Fund.
Drilling Down: Within the Administration’s proposed budget to Congress is a 40 percent diversion of LWCF funds. As this would violate laws enacted five years ago, the administration is also seeking legislative changes from Congress governing the LWCF. None of this is positive for public lands conservation, and since there is no budget agreement in D.C., it will be up to Congress to determine if LWCF progresses forward as intended.
Farm Bill (Conservation Incentive Programs)
This behemoth 1940s legislation covers agricultural production and distribution, as well as hunger issues, and would not make the NCWF Top 10 list if not for its evolution in 1985. The Farm Bill, which can be called the greatest conservation law you’ve never heard of, added a conservation title leading to the nation’s most successful voluntary conservation programs for private landowners and farmers interested in protecting wildlife habitat, controlling soil erosion and reducing polluted runoff. The program is based on technical and financial assistance from platforms such as the Conservation and Wetlands Reserve Programs. The Farm Bill is among the largest sources of conservation funding in the federal government, with hundreds of millions of dollars available to keep wetlands, grasslands, and other fragile lands protected as wildlife habitat. The bill, which is authorized in 5-year increments, gained even more value for conservation in 1990 when wildlife was emphasized. That change led to wildlife corridor protections and the conversion of marginal lands and other environmentally sensitive acreage to vegetative cover, such as native grasslands and riparian buffers, utilizing thinning and prescribed burns to manage habitats for upland species.
Drilling Down: Congress typically renews the Farm Bill every five years. The 2018 bill expired in October 2023. Congress has since passed two one-year extensions. Congress is currently deadlocked; a bipartisan effort will be necessary to pass a Farm Bill, thereby removing the cycle of uncertainty for landowners who produce food and care for their land. North Carolina lands are 85 percent privately held, and the Farm Bill is crucial to keeping working farms and forests undeveloped.