United States Fish and Wildlife Service

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is a bureau within the Department of the Interior. Our mission is working with others to conserve, protect and enhance fish, wildlife and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people.

The Service manages the 93-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System of more than 520 National Wildlife Refuges and thousands of small wetlands and other special management areas. Under the Fisheries program it also operates 66 National Fish Hatcheries, 64 fishery resource offices and 78 ecological services field stations.

Among its key functions, the Service enforces Federal wildlife laws, protects endangered species, manages migratory birds, restores nationally significant fisheries, conserves and restores wildlife habitat such as wetlands, and helps foreign governments with their international conservation efforts. It also oversees the Federal Aid program that distributes hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes on fishing and hunting equipment to State fish and wildlife agencies.