Recovery data from microbiological analysis procedures developed to speed Bacillus anthracis environmental sample analysis following a biological incident. This dataset is associated with the following publication: Abdel-Hady, A., W. Calfee, D. Aslett, S. Lee, B. Wyrzykowska-Ceradini, R. Delafield, K. May, and A. Touati. Alternative Fast Analysis Method for Cellulose Sponge Surface Sampling Wipes with Low Concentrations of Bacillus Spores. JOURNAL OF MICROBIOLOGICAL METHODS. Elsevier Science Ltd, New York, NY, USA, ., (2018).