Page History

Welcome to the Federal/State Task Force on Federal Assistance Policy (JTF) Issue Identification - Submission History space of the Office of Conservation Investment (OCI).  This space is designed to provide a historical repository of the issues/topics submitted for JTF consideration and the resulting outcome as decided by the JTF.

If you would like more information about this space or additional details about a particular issue/topic, please contact Diana Swan-Pinion (diana_swan-pinion@fws.gov), Policy Lead, Office of Conservation Investment.  For questions about the FA wiki, please contact Ryan Oster (ryan_oster@fws.gov), Supervisor Training Team, Office of Conservation Investment.

Background

The JTF Charter, signed September, 2002, established a joint state/federal task force in order to provide a process for the Service and State fish and wildlife agencies to cooperatively identify Program issues of national significance and to develop jointly recommendations concerning those issues.  As stated in the charter, issues for JTF consideration could be submitted by the Service or any State and recommendations could include changes to existing law, regulation, or policy. The Charter nor the Amendment to the Charter provided a process for issue identification or decision making.  At the November 2002 JTF meeting there was a discussion of the Joint Task Force Operations and Processes. This discussion resulted in a four-step process for the JTF issue identification, explanation of issues, development of draft recommendations and finalization of recommendations.

In December2018, the JTF Charter Amendment No. 4, describing a more formal process for issue identification and decision making was adopted. The scope of consideration for topics being submitted is financial assistance policy issues of national significance impacting Wildlife Restoration, Sport Fish Restoration, or State Wildlife Grant programs and subprograms. These topics should focus on issues causing adverse effects, such as:

• substantially increasing the probability for audit findings
• elevating the risk of negative financial implications
• inhibiting States’ ability to accomplish their conservation mission

A call for topic submissions is sent out in the fall, for the following year with a minimum of 30 days for the topic submission period.  A summary of topics and potential actions addressing topics are presented at the spring meeting of the Office of Conservation Investment HQ and Regional Managers and the Federal Aid Coordinators Working Group (FACWG). Recommendations for JTF engagement on each topic are presented to the JTF ≤ 60 d. after the Spring OCI/FACWG meetingDiana, please enter a paragraph or two on the history of the JTF - Issue Identification process.

Summary of Annually Submitted JTF Issue Identification Topics

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