Secretary Norton Announces $14 Million in Grants to Tribes

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Office of the Secretary Contact: Pat Fisher, FWS, 202-208-5634

January 27, 2004

SECRETARY NORTON ANNOUNCES $14 MILLION IN GRANTS TO TRIBES

TO HELP FUND FISH AND WILDLIFE CONSERVATION PROJECTS

(WASHINGTON) – Interior Secretary Gale Norton today announced that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is awarding 79 grants, totaling nearly $14 million, to help 60 federally recognized Indian tribes conserve and recover endangered, threatened and at-risk species and other wildlife on tribal lands.

The Service is awarding the grants under two new programs, the Tribal Landowner Incentive Program and Tribal Wildlife Grant Program. These programs are similar to cost-share programs recently developed by the department to assist states, local communities, private landowners and other partners undertake wildlife conservation projects.

Last year, for example, the department provided $34.8 million in grants to states under the new Landowner Incentive Program to assist private landowners in conserving and restoring the habitat of endangered species and other at-risk plants and animals on their property. The program was modeled after a successful program implemented by President Bush in Texas when he was governor.

"Native Americans have a unique relationship to and understanding of the land and its wildlife," Norton said. "As part of the President’s overall Cooperative Conservation Initiative, the Interior Department is providing these grants to build on our partnership with the tribes to conserve tribal land and recover the wildlife, especially those species that are in decline."

Of the $14 million, the Service is providing about $4 million to federally recognized Indian tribes to help fund 23 projects under TLIP. Contributions from tribes and other partners raise the total value of these projects to $6.8 million. The grants were chosen through a competitive process to address protection, restoration and management of habitat to benefit at-risk species, including federally listed endangered or threatened species and proposed or candidate species. The maximum award under this program is $200,000 with a required minimum 25-percent match from non-federal funds.

Meanwhile, about $10 million will help fund 56 projects under TWG. Contributions from tribes and other partners increase the total value of these projects to $12.4 million. These grants are awarded to federally recognized Indian tribes to benefit fish, wildlife and their habitat including non-game species. Although matching funds are not required for these grants, they are considered to be an indicator of a tribe’s commitment. The maximum grant award under this program is $250,000.

"Indian peoples were North America’s first stewards," said FWS Director Steve Williams. "For generations, they have lived close to nature, depending on wildlife for economic, cultural, and spiritual fulfillment. The Service, through these two special grant programs, will strengthen its conservation partnerships with tribes across the United States on behalf of traditionally important wildlife species and their habitat."

Indians and Indian tribes have a controlling interest in more than 52 million acres of tribal trust lands and an additional 40 million acres held by Alaska native corporations.

"Indian country harbors vast pristine habitats, marked by a representation of an entire continental array of fish and wildlife species," said Ira New Breast, executive director of the Native American Fish and Wildlife Society. "The two Service grant programs will work to further raise the capacity of Indian people to meet the dynamic challenges facing sustainable Tribal management of this country’s fish and wildlife resources."

Examples of TLIP and TWG grants awarded today are as follows:

· The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians of North Carolina will use its $200,000 TLIP grant to undertake a multi-year comprehensive survey of plants and vertebrate aquatic and terrestrial fauna found on the reservation, resulting in a new Natural Heritage database to benefit species of concern. People will be able to use this new information to develop resource-management plans for individual species at risk, to conduct environmentally sensitive land-use practices, and to plan future commercial/residential development.

· The Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians of Wisconsin will use its $120,330 TWG to establish, restore, and maintain a harvestable lake sturgeon population in the Lac du Flambeau Chain of Lakes and the Bear River. Lake sturgeon is culturally significant to this Tribe and economically important to the State of Wisconsin. Since lake sturgeon are slow growing, long lived, and become sexually mature between the ages of 13-15 years old for males and 22-24 years old for females, it is estimated it will take at least 25 years to restore a sustainable population.

· The Passamaquoddy Tribe-Indian Township Reservation of Princeton, Maine will use its $180,700 TLIP grant to survey and assess populations of the Canada lynx, gray wolf, eastern cougar and other forest carnivores of great spiritual, cultural and economic importance to the tribe. The tribe will use the new data to better manage its land for these threatened and endangered species and to provide a balance of habitats to support other forest carnivores.

· The Shoshone and Arapahoe Joint Council, of Fort Washakie, Wyoming, will use a $190,900 TWG to help meet the wildlife management challenges on the Wind River Reservation. The Council is particularly concerned about how best to manage large predators such as grizzly bears and wolves. It also wants to create a sage grouse/sage brush management plan. The sage brush ecosystem on the Wind River Reservation encompasses some 930,000 acres and its health is vital to the long-term sustainability of not only sage grouse and sage brush, but other species that also depend on this habitat such as antelope, pygmy rabbit, sage vole, sage thrasher, sage sparrow, and brewer’s sparrow.

A complete list of grants by State follows. For additional information, please visit the Service’s website at: http://www.fws.gov.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal federal agency responsible for conserving, protecting and enhancing fish, wildlife and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. The Service manages the 95-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System, which encompasses 542 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands and other special management areas. It also operates 69 national fish hatcheries, 64 fishery resources offices and 81 ecological services field stations. The agency enforces federal wildlife laws, administers the Endangered Species Act, manages migratory bird populations, restores nationally significant fisheries, conserves and restores wildlife habitat such as wetlands, and helps foreign governments with their conservation efforts. It also oversees the Federal Aid Program, which distributes hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes on fishing and hunting equipment to state fish and wildlife agencies.

-DOI-

Tribal Wildlife Grants 2003

Region 1

Duckwater Tribe, Duckwater, NV $250,000 (Federal funds)

Railroad Valley Springfish Critical Habitat Restoration Project

Hoopa Tribe, Hoopa, CA $249,957 (Federal funds)

Northern Spotted Owl Demographic Analysis and Fisher Habitat Use, Population Monitoring and Dispersal Feasibility Study

Klamath Tribe, Chiloquin, OR $50,000 (Federal funds)

Mule Deer Distribution, Habitat Use and Population Project

Nez Perce Tribe, Lapwai, ID $236,310 (Federal funds)

Developing Monitoring Protocol

Nooksack Tribe, Deming, WA $204,000 (Federal funds)

Nooksack Cumulative Watershed Effects Assessment South Fork Nooksack In-Stream Restoration Project

Puyallup Tribe, Tacoma, WA $166,147 (Federal funds)

Mount Rainier National Park and South Rainier Elk Herd Study

Quileute Tribe, LaPush, WA $75,019 (Federal funds)

Population, Harvest Numbers and Health Survey of Roosevelt Elk in Quileute Treaty Area

Rumsey Tribe, Brooks, CA $250,000 (Federal funds)

Cache Creek Cultural Restoration Project

Sauk-Suiattle Tribe, Darrington, WA $172,724 (Federal funds)

Cooperative Mountain Goat Habitat Modeling and Habitat Use and Sighting Surveys

Twenty-Nine Palms, Coachella, CA $216,955 (Federal funds)

The Old Woman Mountains Preserve Program

Yakama Tribe, Toppenish, WA $249,720 (Federal funds)

Survey and Groundwork for the Yakama Reservation Wildlife Management Plan

Region 2

Alabama-Coushatta Tribe of Texas, Livingston, TX $149,938 (Federal funds)

Alabama-Coushatta Tribe of Texas Tribal Fish and Wildlife Management Program

Hualapai Tribe, Peach Springs, AZ $249,376 (Federal funds)

Hualapai Tribe Native Fish Rearing Facility

Pueblo of Acoma, Acoma, NM $249,203 (Federal funds)

Habitat Improvements on the Pueblo of Acoma Indian Reservation

Pueblo of Santa Ana, Santa Ana Pueblo, NM $210,301 (Federal funds)

Release, Monitor, and Manage A Viable Population of Merriam's Turkey (Meleagris gallopavo merriami) on the Pueblo of Santa Ana, Sandoval County, New Mexico

Region 3

Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians, Odanah, WI $147,784 (Federal funds)

Restoration of the Raymond "Snooty" Couture Fish Hatchery and Rearing Ponds

Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians, Cloquet, MN $133,150 (Federal funds)

Moose Population Dynamics and Census Techniques Research

Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians, Cloquet, MN $60,920 (Federal funds)

Angler Exploitation of Select Walleye Populations in the 1854 Ceded Territory of MN

Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians, Cloquet, MN $42,506 (Federal funds)

Sturgeon Population Study on the upper St. Louis River

Grand Portage Band of Chippewa Indians, Grand Portage, MN $104,025 (Federal funds)

Continued Assessment and Rehabilitation of Native, At Risk Species in Lake Superior and Adjoining Tributaries in and around the Area of Grand Portage, MN including the Pigeon River and Bay

Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, Suttons Bay, MI

$160,000 (Federal funds)

Evaluate and Enhance American Martin and Other Predatory Furbearer Populations

Ho-Chunk Nation, Black River Falls, WI $50,000 (Federal funds)

Monitoring and Management of Gray Wolf (Canus lupus) in the Central Forest Region of WI

Keweenaw Bay Indian Community, Baraga, MI $120,000 (Federal funds)

Native Fish Species Projects on the L'Anse Indian Reservation and Adjacent Waters

Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians, Hayward, WI

$249,800 (Federal funds)

LCO Fisheries Program Development including Lake and Stream Surveys

Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians, Lac du Flambeau, WI

$120,330 (Federal funds)

Lac du Flambeau Lake Sturgeon Restoration Project on the Lac du Flambeau Chain of Lakes and Bear River

Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe Indians, Cass Lake, MN $209,708 (Federal funds)

Wildlife Habitat Assessment with an Emphasis on Rare and Culturally Important Species - Including Wild Rice Inventory

Little River Band of Ottawa Indians, Manistee, MI $133,500 (Federal funds)

Assessment of Riparian Habitat Restoration in the Manistee River Corridor

Menominee Indian Tribe, Keshena, WI $91,031 (Federal funds)

Lake Sturgeon Restoration Project

Menominee Indian Tribe, Keshena, WI $55,986 (Federal funds)

Timber Wolf Reintroduction

Nottawaseppi Huron Band of Potawatomi, Fulton, MI $249,839 (Federal funds)

Comprehensive Wildlife Management Plan - 3 projects (Plan, Greenhouse & Invasive Species Control)

Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians, Red Lake, MN $247,007 (Federal funds)

Red Lake Wildlife Habitat Preservation and Maintenance, Enhancement and Evaluation Project

Stockbridge-Munsee Community, Bowler, WI $250,000 (Federal funds)

Stockbridge - Munsee Fish and Wildlife project

Region 4

Catawba Indian Nation, Catawba, SC $250,000 (Federal funds)

Catawba Wildlife Lands Acquisition

Eastern Band of Cherokees, Cherokee, NC $250,000 (Federal funds)

The Repair and Update of Tribal Fish Hatcheries

Poarch Band of Creek Indians, Atmore, AL $250,000 (Federal funds)

Magnolia Branch Expansion Project

Tunica-Biloxi Tribe of Louisiana, Marksville, LA $21,000 (Federal funds)

Reforestation of Tribal Lands

Region 5

Aroostook Band of Micmacs, Presque Isle, ME $80,647 (Federal funds)

Aroostook Band of Micmacs Brown Ash Management and Re-introduction Project

Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians, Littleton, ME $68,867 (Federal funds)

Wildlife Habitat Enhancement Program

Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, Mashantucket, CT $82,040 (Federal funds)

Examination of Population Status, Habitat Needs, and Home Range Size of Significant Predator and Prey Species in a Suburban Environment in Connecticut

Penobscot Indian Nation, Indian Island, ME $250,000 (Federal funds)

Development of a Management Strategy for Moose and White-tailed Deer on Penobscot Nation Trust Lands

Region 6

Blackfeet Nation, Browning, MT $152,615 (Federal funds)

Four Wildlife Projects

Chippewa Cree Tribe, Box Elder, MT $250,000 (Federal funds)

Enhance Tribal Fish & Wildlife

Confederated Salish & Kootenai Tribes, Pablo, MT $212,050 (Federal funds)

Columbian Sharp-Tailed Grouse

Ft. Belknap, Harlem, MT $250,000 (Federal funds)

Comprehensive Wildlife Management

Ft. Peck Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes, Poplar, MT $225,000 (Federal funds)

Swift Fox Restoration

Lower Brule Sioux Tribe, Lower Brule, SD $160,957 (Federal funds)

Swift Fox & Black-Footed Ferret

Lower Brule Sioux Tribe, Lower Brule, SD $88,000 (Federal funds)

Wetland Restoration

Oglala Sioux Tribe, Pine Ridge, SD $246,638 (Federal funds)

Igmu Tanka (Big Cat)

Shoshone and Arapaho Joint Council, Fort Washakie, WY $190,900 (Federal funds)

Management Plan for Grizzly, Wolf, and Sage Grouse

Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate Tribe, Agency Village, SD $183,702 (Federal funds)

Comprehensive Management Plans

Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, Fort Yates, ND $192,976 (Federal funds)

Survey of Tribal Lakes

Three Affiliated Tribes, New Town, ND $248,522 (Federal funds)

Big Game Habitat Usage/Migration

Region 7

Aleut Community of St. Paul Island, St. Paul Island, AK $201,662 (Federal funds)

Evaluation of the Health and Restoration of the St. Paul Island Salt Lagoon

Craig Community Association, Craig, AK $103,255 (Federal funds)

Hatchery Creek Fish Habitat Improvement Project

Native Village of Kotzebue IRA, Kotzebue, AK $249,454 (Federal funds)

Habitat Use, Seasonal Movements and Stock Structure of Bearded Seals in Kotzebue Sound, Alaska

Sitka Tribe, Sitka, AK $249,958 (Federal funds)

Sockeye Salmon and Pacific Herring Research

Tribal Landowner Incentive Program

Region 1

Confederated Tribes of Umatilla Indian Reservation, Pendleton, OR $150,000 (Federal funds)

Umatilla River Floodplain Habitat Acquisition

Duckwater Tribe, Duckwater, NV $200,000 (Federal funds)

Railroad Valley Springfish Critical Habitat Restoration Project

Nooksack Tribe, Deming, WA $200,000 (Federal funds)

South Fork Nooksack Phase I Instream Restoration Project

Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe, Nixon, NV $200,000 (Federal funds)

Numana and Coldstream Hatcheries Development Project

Yakama Nation, Toppenish, WA $199,841 (Federal funds)

Shrub-Steppe Rehabilitaion and Management Plan

Region 2

Jicarilla Apache Nation, Dulce, NM $110,290 (Federal funds)

Habitat Improvement, Augmentation, and Monitoring of Roundtail Chub (Gila robusta) in the Navajo River, Jicarilla Apache Nation, New Mexico

Navajo Nation, Window Rock, AZ $199,676 (Federal funds)

Navajo Nation Heritage Program Mesa Verdae Cactus Conservation Plan, Biotics Conversion, Ecologist, and Ferruginous Hawk Survey and Nest Protection

Region 3

Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, Cloquet, MN $200,000 (Federal funds)

Fond du Lac Wild Rice Restoration Project - 4 Lakes

Grand Portage Band of Chippewa Indians, Grand Portage, MN $84,911 (Federal funds)

Wetland and Wild Rice Restoration on Grand Portage Tribal Lands, Grand Portage, MN

Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe, Cass Lake, MN $133,858 (Federal funds)

Rare, Threatened, and Endangered Species Habitat Enhancement and Wetland Projects

Little River Band of Ottawa Indians, Manistee, MI $137,644 (Federal funds)

Study the Status and Habitat Use of Bobcat, Lynx rufus, in the Northern Counties of MI

Region 4

Catawba Indian Nation, Catawba, SC $200,000 (Federal funds)

Catawba Natural Resources Management Plan

Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, Cherokee, NC $200,000 (Federal funds)

Natural Resources Survey for the Qualla Boundary

Region 5

Passamaquooddy Tribe-Indian Township Reservation, Princeton, ME $180,700 (Federal funds)

Population Assessment and Forest Management Planning for the Canada Lynx and Other Rare and Endangered Forest Carnivores on Passamaquoddy Tribal Lands in Maine

Penobscot Indian Nation, Indian Island, ME $198,625 (Federal funds)

Katahdin to the Sea: Restoring the Penobscot River Ecosystem

Region 6

Confederated Salish & Kootenai Tribes, Pablo, MT $200,000 (Federal funds)

Grizzly Bear Habitat Enhancement

Lower Brule Sioux Tribe, Lower Brule, SD $192,154 (Federal funds)

Prairie Restoration

Oglala Sioux Tribe, Pine Ridge, SD $199,835 (Federal funds)

Sungila Tokalo (Fox Society)

Sisseton-Wahpeton OyateTribe, Agency Village, SD $199,161 (Federal funds)

Perennial Stream Study (Topeka Shiner)

Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, Fort Yates, ND $89,700 (Federal funds)

Endangered Species Management Plan

Ute Indian Tribe, Ft. Duchesne, UT $120,000 (Federal funds)

Native Fish Planning and Implementation

Region 7

Native Village of Eyak, Cordova, AK $129,198 (Federal funds)

Razor clam rehabilitation project

St. George Island Traditional Council, St. George Island, AK $127,592 (Federal funds)

Tribal management plan for protecting against invasive species and other negative impacts on St. George Island


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