Contacts
Ken Burton 202-208-5657
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the agencys partners
will pool $4.8 million in 2004 to remove 91 barriers to fish passage in 26
states.
Service funds for the popular Fish Passage Program, amounting
to $2.8 million, will be supplemented by another $2 million in matching funds
from a wide array of partners ranging from civic and conservation organizations,
local and state governments and other federal agencies.
In the Service’s Great Lakes-Big Rivers Region, $420,000
in federal funds will be supplemented by $655,000 from partners. These funds
will support projects that will remove a total of 11 barriers to fish passage
in Iowa, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri and Wisconsin. More than
230 miles of waterway will be opened to a variety of fish species.
“ Since 2001, the Fish Passage Program has removed 158
barriers across the country,” said Interior Secretary Gale Norton. “The
Service, working with local communities and partner agencies, is using a
voluntary, non-regulatory approach to restore natural flows and fish migration.
Rivers are running their natural course, habitat has been restored, and the
fish are coming back.”
“ Our partners in this program enable us to really stretch
taxpayers dollars,” Service Director Steve Williams said. “That
gives us a budget that lets us do far more than we could if we were in this
alone. Its all voluntary, and it remains one of the most popular programs.”
Fish Passage works to remove obstructions in waterways that prevent fish from
reaching spawning grounds or historic habitat. Projects can be as small as
inserting culverts under roads or railroad tracks or as large as the removal
last February of the 95-year-old Embrey Dam near Fredericksburg, Va., by a
military explosives team.
Many of the small dams targeted for removal date as far back
as the American and Industrial Revolutions. Those dams were built either
to accommodate early barge traffic or to
provide power or irrigation for a young country. As times changed, many of
the dams were abandoned but remained in place, serving only to block populations
of fish and contributing to their gradual decline.
Completion of the 2004 projects will open 19,364 acres and
more than 3,048 miles of waterways for fish, contributing to larger populations
and more recreational fishing opportunities.
Fish Passage Program projects in the Great Lakes-Big Rivers
Region for 2004 are:
Iowa:
Shellrock River: Remove 1 barrier, open 22 miles.
Expected federal funds: $52,000
Expected matching funds: $38,200
Illinois:
Big Rock Creek: Remove 2 barriers, open 69 miles.
Expected federal funds: $60,300
Expected matching funds: $15,799
Michigan:
Northern Lower Michigan Watersheds: Remove 2 barriers, open
10 miles.
Expected federal funds: $55,500
Expected matching funds: $150,000
Carp River: Remove 1 barrier, open 8 miles
Expected federal funds: $40,560
Expected matching funds: $113,500
Minnesota:
Red River: Remove 1 barrier, open 65 miles
Expected federal funds: $100,000
Expected matching funds: $200,000
Missouri:
Osage River basin: Remove 1 barrier, open 17 miles
Expected federal funds: $64,700
Expected matching funds: $64,700
Ditch 11, Mingo National Wildlife Refuge: Remove 1 barrier, open 14 miles,
13,000 acres
Expected federal funds: $17,600
Wisconsin:
Vaughn Creek: Remove 1 barrier, open 2 miles
Expected federal funds: $16,900
Expected matching funds: $10,000
Pike River: Remove 1 barrier, open 25 miles
Expected federal funds: $12,222
Expected matching funds: $62,000
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 544 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 and Native American tribal governments with their conservation
efforts. It also oversees the Federal Assistance program, which distributes
hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes on fishing and hunting equipment
to state fish and wildlife agencies.
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