Why this matters: The new National Wildlife Health Center (NWHC), which will include state-of-the-art facilities purpose-built for the study of wildlife diseases, will allow us to maintain, strengthen, and develop our unique capabilities in wildlife disease surveillance, ecology, and tool development in order to provide our management partners with the information and tools they need to improve wildlife health for decades to come.

As previously reported, Congress appropriated $55,500,000 for the first phase of renovation at the NWHC in the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 (PL 116-260). This appropriation supports the work of NWHC and “its important role in zoonotic research, detecting novel pathogens and emerging infectious diseases, developing rapid diagnostic tests, conducting disease surveillance, and designing vaccines used to control diseases in wildlife” (Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021, Division G).

NWHC continues to work with the USGS Office of Management Services and Flad Architects on the design for NWHC’s new facility, which will be built at the current NWHC location in Madison, Wisconsin with a projected move-in date in early 2028. The new facility will include offices, diagnostic and research laboratories (BSL-2 and BSL-3 biocontainment), and a vivarium (ABSL-2, ABSL-3, and ABSL-3 Ag). The project is currently in the design development phase, during which details on materials, furnishings, and building systems are added to the plans. Next steps include generating construction documents, which are expected to be completed by early 2025. 

Concurrent with the design phase, USGS is conducting an environmental impact assessment for this project. After a public scoping period in September-October 2023, the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) is in preparation and will be available for public review in Spring 2024. The Draft EIS will be a comprehensive document that will thoroughly outline potential impacts of the proposed action on the environment and is being carried out in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act. Once published in the Federal Register, the Draft EIS will be the subject of a 45-day public review period to allow interested parties to comment on the proposed action and analysis and provide additional information for consideration. For more information, please visit the USGS National Wildlife Health Center Modernization.

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