Wisconsin Wildlife Action Plan
Planning for the future of Species of Greatest Conservation Need and their habitat
The Wisconsin Wildlife Action Plan (WWAP) focuses on conservation on rare and declining species and their habitats. The WWAP, first published in 2005 was updated in 2015 to satisfy funding eligibility through the State Wildlife Grant Program – the only nationwide program to prevent wildlife from becoming endangered. Over time the WWAP has become a platform to help partners, organizations and individuals identify and implement important conservation actions to keep our natural resources healthy.
The 2015-2025 WWAP identifies
- Species of greatest conservation need (SGCN) – native mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish, insects and mussels with low or declining populations that are in need of conservation.
- Natural communities and habitats needed to support healthy populations of SGCNs.
- Conservation opportunity areas – places supporting SGCN habitat and significant ecological features that provide the best opportunity for successful conservation.
- Conservation actions to address issues or threats that affect SGCN or their habitat and measures for adapting these actions to new information or changing conditions.
Plan documents, association scores and COA maps
- WWAP report, COA map, and dataset collection
- Rare species, communities and ecological landscape association scores
- Wisconsin DNR Open Data Portal for COA GIS files (search "conservation opportunity areas")