The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (“Service”) is a bureau within the Department of the Interior.  A reorganization plan of 1940, in the Department of the Interior consolidated the Bureau of Fisheries and the Bureau of Biological Survey into a single agency.  This was known as the Fish and Wildlife Service.

The Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife was created as a part of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in the Department of the Interior on November 6, 1956 by the Fish and Wildlife Act of 1956.  That act was amended on July 1, 1974, to abolish the position of Commissioner of Fish and Wildlife and designate the Bureau as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The mission of the Service is to work with others to conserve, protect, and enhance fish, wildlife, , plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people.  The objectives of the Service includes assisting in the development and application of an environmental stewardship ethic for the society, based on ecological principles, scientific knowledge of fish and wildlife, and a sense of moral responsibility; guiding the conservation, development, and management of the Nation’s fish and wildlife resources; and administering a national program to provide the public opportunities to understand, appreciate, and wisely use fish and wildlife resources.

The Service meets their mission by enforcing federal wildlife laws, protecting endangered species, managing migratory birds, restoring nationally significant fisheries, conserving and restoring wildlife habitat such as wetlands, helping foreign governments with their international conservation efforts, and distributing hundreds of millions of dollars, through the Wildlife Sport Fish and Restoration program, in excise taxes on fishing and hunting equipment to State fish and wildlife agencies.

The Service manages the 150 million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System of more than 551 National Wildlife Refuges and thousands of small wetlands and other special management areas.  It also operates 70 National Fish Hatcheries, 65 fishery resource offices, and 86 ecological services field stations.

The Service fosters aquatic conservation and assists voluntary habitat conservation and restoration through Partners for Fish and Wildlife, Partners in Flight, Sport Fishing and Boating Partnership Council, and other partnership activities.  The Service employs approximately 9,000 people at facilities across the U.S.