Its roots reach back to 1871 fisheries work, and the refuge system began with a 1903 executive order. Beyond endangered species, it enforces wildlife-trafficking law at ports and operates fish hatcheries across the country.
Open the interactive page for FWS →Created byReorganization Plan No. III of 1940 (merging the Bureau of Fisheries and Bureau of Biological Survey into a Fish and Wildlife Service in Interior); present structure established by the Fish and Wildlife Act of 1956 (P.L. 84-1024, 16 U.S.C. § 742a et seq.); key program statutes include the Endangered Species Act of 1973
Head appointed16 U.S.C. § 742b(b): Director appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate; "No individual may be appointed as the Director unless he is, by reason of scientific education and experience, knowledgeable in the principles of fisheries and wildlife management"; no fixed term (PAS)
Removal standardno statutory protection — at will
Funded underAnnual Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act; plus excise-tax trust accounts outside annual approps — Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration Fund (Pittman-Robertson, 16 U.S.C. § 669b), Sport Fish Restoration and Boating Trust Fund (Dingell-Johnson, 26 U.S.C. § 9504; 16 U.S.C. § 777 et seq.), and the Migratory Bird Conservation Fund from duck-stamp receipts (16 U.S.C. § 718d)
Congressional oversightHouse Natural Resources · Senate Environment and Public Works
Inspector generalDepartment of the Interior OIG (PAS establishment IG under the Inspector General Act, 5 U.S.C. ch. 4)
Judicial reviewESA citizen suits after 60-day notice (16 U.S.C. § 1540(g)); listing, critical-habitat, and permitting decisions otherwise reviewed via APA § 702 in district court
Petition to list or delist a species under the Endangered Species Act, with deadlines enforceable in court; comment on critical-habitat rules.