State Wildlife Action Plan (SWAP)

Washington's State Wildlife Action Plan (SWAP) is a comprehensive plan for conserving the state's fish and wildlife and the natural habitats on which they depend. It is part of a nationwide effort by all 50 states and 5 U.S. territories to develop conservation action plans and participate in the State Wildlife Grants (SWG) Program. Tribes participate in the Tribal Wildlife Grants (TWG) Program to further natural resources conservation. The purpose of the SWG Program is to support state actions that broadly benefit wildlife and habitats, but particularly "Species of Greatest Conservation Need (SGCN) (PDF) (PDF)" as identified by each individual state. 

Washington’s first plan was completed in 2005 and was called the Comprehensive Wildlife Conservation Strategy or CWCS. In 2015, WDFW revised the CWCS and renamed it the State Wildlife Action Plan or SWAP. The United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) requires these plans be updated every 10 years in order to remain eligible for State Wildlife Grants funding. Each SWAP revision may change the focal species, habitats, threats, and actions to address the most important conservation needs into the foreseeable future. A guiding principle of the SWAP planning process is to identify actions needed to conserve wildlife and their habitats before species become too rare to recover or too costly to restore. Any government entity and conservation partner that has an interest in plant, fish, wildlife, and habitat conservation can use the tools and information from the SWAP and implement actions that align with their own conservation mission and goals.