Working together to conserve Minnesota’s rare, declining and vulnerable species and their habitats
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources’ Nongame Wildlife Program is inviting public comment on the draft Minnesota’s Wildlife Action Plan 2025-2035: Conserving Habitats and Biodiversity. The public comment review period will run from Aug. 1 through Aug. 21.
History of the SWAP
State Wildlife Action Plans (SWAP) are developed by all states to provide conservation planning for Species in Greatest Conservation Need (SGCN) and are required by the Federal Government to access annually appropriated State Wildlife Grants. State Wildlife Grants provide funding to states to support their SGCN wildlife and habitat conservation efforts. Per Congressional mandate, SWAPs must be updated every ten years.
The first Minnesota SWAP was created in 2005. The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources’ Nongame Wildlife Program collaborated with over 250 individuals and more than 50 organizations to develop Minnesota's Wildlife Action Plan, Tomorrow's Habitat for the Wild and Rare. In 2015 the plan was updated to its second version, Minnesota’s Wildlife Action Plan 2015-2025.
Minnesota’s Wildlife Action Plan 2025-2035
To develop Minnesota’s Wildlife Action Plan 2025-2035: Conserving Habitats and Biodiversity, the Nongame Wildlife Program held workshops across the state, meeting with hundreds of natural resources managers, wildlife biologists, conservation educators, outreach program leaders and communication professionals. The program has spent three years writing, researching and holding additional workshops about the revised Plan.
The program is now in the final phases of the required revision process for the next ten-year plan, due for submission to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on Oct. 1, 2025. As part of this revision process, the program has published a draft of Minnesota’s Wildlife Action Plan 2025-2035: Conserving Habitats and Biodiversity for public review from Aug. 1 through Aug. 21.
Reviewing the Plan
While we are presenting Minnesota’s Wildlife Action Plan 2025-2035 in its entirety for public review, the Plan is not meant to be read cover to cover. The Plan is optimized for online access and our intention is to create an online, searchable format with the information seeker – you – in mind. Because of this, each “module” (chapter/sub-chapter) is meant to be read as an individual piece or in tandem with other modules of interest. As the reader, you may find some of the content to be repeated from one module to the next. This redundancy is intentional.
As you review the content, please do not feel that you must review the entire document. The Plan is over 780 pages long and is a great resource for specific interests. Simply read whatever interests you the most and provide your input.
We are excited to share this vision for the next 10 years of Minnesota’s Wildlife Action Plan. Thank you for your interest and we welcome your feedback on this draft of Minnesota’s Wildlife Action Plan 2025-2035: Conserving Habitats and Biodiversity.*
DOWNLOAD Minnesota’s Wildlife Action Plan 2025-2035 » DOWNLOAD SGCN List »
Use this Microsoft Form to submit your comment about the draft Minnesota’s Wildlife Action Plan 2025-2035: Conserving Habitats and Biodiversity.
*This document is still a draft. The Plan will not be final until it is approved by the DNR commissioner and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
