You can give to wildlife and give yourself a tax break.
That’s right! You can donate directly to Virginia’s Nongame Program or, if you have a tax refund coming, you can designate any portion or all of your tax refund to support the management of nongame wildlife in Virginia.
Make a Donation Online
If you don’t want to wait until tax time or you want to donate any time, you can donate directly to the program by sending a check to: Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources, Virginia’s Nongame Program, P.O. Box 90778, Henrico, VA 23228-0778, or you can make a donation online. You’ll get a receipt for your donation, which you can claim on your next year’s federal and state tax returns.
What is nongame wildlife?
The designation “nongame” is for those species that aren’t hunted, trapped, or fished. It includes threatened and endangered species such the peregrine falcon and the northern flying squirrel, but it goes even further than that. Virginia’s Wildlife Action Plan website gives you an idea of the scope of the number of species that will be helped by the nongame wildlife fund.
Why is it important that Virginians contribute to the nongame wildlife fund?
For many years, biologists with the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources (DWR) have managed both game and nongame species with funds from license fees and federal taxes on guns, ammunition, archery equipment and fishing tackle. Since 2000, Virginians have further contributed to DWR’s work through a portion of state sales tax on hunting, fishing, and wildlife-watching equipment, which goes to both game and nongame management. In more recent years, additional sources of federal funding (State and Tribal Wildlife Grants) have been made available to DWR specifically for management of nongame species.
Overall, much of the management work for threatened and endangered species research, and nongame species in general, has been supported in large part by federal funds. However, times have changed and the federal budget continues to reduce much-needed funding for critical wildlife management work. Contributing to the nongame wildlife fund provides Virginians with an additional means of supporting DWR’s efforts to conserve wildlife.
How will your donations to the non-game wildlife fund be used?
Virginia’s Wildlife Action Plan identifies declining or vulnerable nongame species in the Commonwealth that, in addition to ongoing work with game species, will be the priority for DWR’s conservation programs for the next 10 years. Different species may require different actions, which can include inventories, research and monitoring, creating awareness through education and outreach programs, technical assistance for landowners, habitat management, reintroduction or translocation of species in appropriate areas of the state where they have been absent, and leasing, buying and entering into cooperative agreements for land which provide critical or key habitat for certain species.
These are only a handful of examples of how your contributions may be put to use. What DWR and its staff of skilled biologists are striving for is an integrated approach to management that includes both game and nongame wildlife.
Make a Donation Online