It is important to note, that the license data in the dashboard does not represent the number of hunters or anglers that participated across the United States in a particular year. Not everyone needs to buy a license; depending on the state or territory, youth, seniors, those with health conditions or impairments, commercial charters, landowners, and military veterans may be exempt. Moreover, some hunters and anglers buy licenses in multiple states and not every license buyer goes afield. Users of the dashboards may also notice that some cells for a state in a particular year are empty. This does not mean that the amount for that cell is zero, it instead means that we might not have access to that historic data set yet. As more information becomes available and is digitized, the Office of Conservation Investment team will update the data in the existing dashboard.

These data dashboards and our continued web-based enhancements are expanding the tools used by the Service to highlight our partnerships with states and industry to conserve wildlife for current and future generations. It is important data for grant program eligibility, and it is equally important data to show the value of our grant programs and how annual apportionments support state conservation efforts.