Skip to Main Content

Explore the Wild

Now with an interactive map with improved search and filters, Explore the Wild 2.0 makes it even easier to explore Virginia’s public lands to your heart’s content!

Learn More

Conserve. Connect. Protect.

DWR has been a steward of the outdoors since 1916, leading in wildlife conservation and inspiring people to value the outdoors and their role in nature.

How Do We Fund What We Do?

You might be surprised to know that Virginia DWR is primarily funded from sources other than Virginia general tax dollars.

A lot of our funding to help conserve wildlife and habitat comes from public spending on things like fishing and hunting licenses, tags, or stamps, boat registrations, and via a federal excise tax on firearms and ammunition.

Those sources of financial support have helped us protect hundreds of species and their habitat for over 100 years, but there’s always more we can do for Virginia’s wildlife. That’s where you come in. You too can become a steward of the outdoors by supporting our work or working with us — whether you hunt, fish, and boat or simply enjoy the outdoors.

How You Can Help
The Outdoors Are Better Together

Contribute to a Cause

Your contributions can help us restore wildlife habitat when you donate to Restore the Wild or connect youth to the outdoors through the Virginia Wildlife Grant Program!

Volunteer & Mentorship

Whether you volunteer with us, take the time to mentor a new hunter, or refer a friend to go hunting or fishing, you can make a difference!

Virginia Wildlife Magazine

In the September–October 2026 issue…

This issue showcases some of the best of Virginia's wildlife from the waters to the ground to the air. We look at how DWR decoded the genetics of walleye in the New River, assuring that anglers can enjoy catching native-strain fish. Learn all about barn owls, and dive into an imagining of the life of one majestic bull elk in Southwest Virginia. Learn what makes a September day of dove hunting special. Follow along as DWR and partners release state-endangered eastern tiger salamanders into the wild, and take a tour of the decades of history of the Virginia Wildlife calendar.

Shop DWR

Your purchases support the Virginia Wildlife Grant Program, connecting kids to the outdoors.