Although the fate of legislation to expand the Environmental Protection Fund isn't clear, there is one important conservation victory that is already worth celebrating.

The grant funding will pay for wildlife staff, as well as studies of moose, bears, coyotes and pine martens (above).As first reported in City & State, the federal government and the Cuomo administration have worked out an agreement that will allow the state to accept $20 million for its Conservation Fund.

This fund, supported by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), is used to manage fish and wildlife populations, acquire and improve habitats, fund hunter education, and provide public hunting, boating, and fishing access. 

The USFWS had been threatening to deny the federal funding to New York State because the recently enacted state budget did not include language that would forbid monies intended for the Conservation Fund to be allocated elsewhere. 

But Gov. Cuomo agreed to change the language of the budget in the next legislative session, in exchange for the Fund being released this year -- a deal to which the USFWS was amenable. Environmental groups such as Audubon New York hailed the agreement.