Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources
The Department of Wildlife Resources (DWR) is responsible for the management of inland fisheries, wildlife, and recreational boating for the Commonwealth of Virginia. We are leading wildlife conservation and inspiring people to value the outdoors and their role in nature. DWR owns and manages over 206,000 acres of habitats that support wildlife conservation and recreation goals. Further, DWR has established many programs and partnerships that support habitat conservation and management within the Commonwealth. Programs and partnerships include:
Virginia Fish and Wildlife Information Service – an online toolkit to help people understand which wildlife species are likely to occur within and around their property. his system provides information for individual species as well as geographic searches to determine which species occur near individual properties. This data tool is available at: http://vafwis.org/fwis/
[Habitat Team Website Currently Under Development] – Many DWR Biologists work with public and private landowners to conserve and restore Virginia’s forests, wetlands, rivers, and grasslands.
Virginia’s Wildlife Action Plan – a document that identifies land conservation priorities that will help keep wildlife from becoming endangered. The full document, including individual chapters for each of Virginia’s Planning District Commissions is available at: http://bewildvirginia.org/wildlife-action-plan/. Summaries of local priorities areas and actions are available at: http://vafwis.dgif.virginia.gov/WAP2/
Virginia Quail Recovery Initiative – a set of online resources that provide valuable information to landowners interested in restoring grassland species, like quail. https://www.dgif.virginia.gov/quail/
Regional Conservation Opportunity Areas – the North Atlantic LCC and partners from 14 states have worked to identify priority conservation areas from Virginia and West Virginia to Maine. Interactive tools and information are available at: http://northatlanticlcc.org/teams/rcoa.
South Atlantic Conservation Blueprint – the South Atlantic LCC and partners from six states have worked to identify priority conservation areas from southern Virginia to north Florida. These data are available at: http://www.southatlanticlcc.org/blueprint/.
Conservation Planning Atlas – the Appalachian LCC and partners from 10 states have developed a data resource to support conservation planning efforts in the western portions of Virginia and other parts of Appalachia. These data are available at: http://applcc.org/plan-design/conservation-planning-atlas.
