What We Do

Protecting the beautiful, diverse wildlife of our great state can be a challenging, costly, and potentially dangerous job. That’s why we provide financial assistance in the form of grants, helping to bolster, prepare, and care for the brave service people who risk everything for our state’s natural resources. Grants may be used to augment health benefits and provide aid to families of Wildlife Officers who are injured or fall in the line of duty.

Additionally, grants help keep officers equipped with invaluable assets, such as trained K9s to assist in protection, tracking, and the detection of illegal goods. This helps provide extra security and peace of mind for our Officers, as well as those who rely on them. With nearly 100K in grants given out just last year, this is one of our best ways to show support.

• Protect their handler, other law enforcement officers, and the public.
• Track suspects and missing persons, perform area and building searches to locate suspects.
• Detect illegally taken wildlife, invasive species, hidden firearms, expended casings, and other evidence or articles.
• Assist in the arrest of suspects.
• Assist in locating lost or missing persons/officers.
• Perform valuable educational demonstrations and programs.

Making sure our officers are educated in a variety of ways is paramount, which is why we’re committed to making higher education affordable. Wildlife Officers and their family members may apply for financial assistance toward college, both undergraduate and graduate degrees, and other continuing education programs. 

Doing this ensures that Wildlife Officers have every educational resource at their disposal in order to arm themselves with all manner of knowledge and training.

Testimonial:

“I wanted to reach out with my deepest gratitude and thanks for the email you sent my daughter. As she realized she received a response from the Foundation, she began to read the email out loud to myself, my wife, and my youngest daughter. As she read your letter, she began to get emotional to the point of not being able to finish reading without having to wipe away tears from her eyes. She, and our whole family, have been blown away from the generosity of the Wildlife Officer’s Foundation and what this means to her education at UC Santa Cruz. I know about the amazing aid that the Foundation has provided for officer’s in times of need, specifically what you’ve done for officers dealing with the devastating fires this past Fall, and we are grateful for the love you put into your work.”

From conducting scientific studies, improving training, or even securing specialized equipment, we’re here to make sure CA Wildlife Officers get what they need to serve our state well. Foundation funds may assist Wildlife Officers in securing resources that are otherwise unavailable in their annual state budget.

This vital service helps them in protecting our natural resources, as well as giving them the tools they need for continued analysis and dynamic research.

Beyond providing financial assistance and educational resources for our WIldlife Officers, we also exist to further public knowledge about the vital services they perform for us. Part of our mission is to teach the citizens of our state about what these brave Officers do, and how all of us can help make sure that they’re taken care of.

Together we can protect the bountiful natural resources of The Golden State, and ensure they’re enjoyed for years to come by generation after generation.