Contacts
Rachel F. Levin, 612-713-5311 or 612-309-5760 (cell)
Deputy Secretary of the Interior Steve Griles today highlighted
more than $400,000 in grants to private landowners, conservation organizations
and Native American tribes in Wisconsin to undertake conservation projects
to benefit endangered, threatened, and at-risk species and other wildlife.
The grants, which are among $16 million in cost-share conservation
grants announced today by Interior Secretary Gale Norton, will help conserve
the habitat of a wide range of species from the Karner blue butterfly to
native prairie plants.
The announcement came shortly after President Bush signed an
executive order instructing federal agencies to work with states, tribes,
local communities, conservation groups, private landowners and other partners
in cooperative conservation projects.
“ President Bush believes the most effective action we
can take to conserve wildlife and its habitat is to empower the people who
live and work on the land,” said Griles, during a press conference
in Madison. “His executive order will ensure federal agencies make
building partnerships in states and communities across the country our highest
priority.”
President Bush’s executive order instructs federal departments and agencies
such as the Interior Department to ensure that they carry out their statutory
obligations in a “manner that promotes cooperative conservation, with
an emphasis on appropriate inclusion of local participation in federal decision
making.”
Norton announced the grants through three programs begun by
President Bush – the Private Stewardship Grant program, the Tribal
Landowner Incentive Program, and the Tribal Wildlife Grant Program.
“With today’s executive order, President Bush has
made working in voluntary partnership with states, local communities, tribes,
private landowners and others the gold standard for our conservation efforts,” Norton
said. “The grants we are announcing today meet that standard by empowering
tribes and private citizens to do what the federal government cannot do alone – conserve
habitat for imperiled species on private and tribal lands.”
Overall, $16 million in grants are being awarded in 42 states.
A state-by-state list is available at http://www.doi.gov.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is awarding three grants
in Wisconsin under the Private Stewardship Grant program begun by President
Bush last year. This program provides federal grants on a competitive basis
to individuals and groups engaged in voluntary conservation efforts on private
lands that benefit federally listed endangered or threatened species, candidate
species or other at-risk species. Grant recipients must provide at least
10 percent of the total project cost either in non-federal dollars or in-kind
contributions.
These grants are:
Karner Blue Butterfly and Associated Declining Species
of Savanna Barrens - (application by Sand County Foundation) – Multiple
Counties, Wisconsin - ($152,727) – Working in partnership with
nearly 30 landowners, 1,400 acres of habitat will be enhanced and restored
through invasive species control, prescribed fire, tree canopy reductions,
and native prairie seeding. The private lands identified are in areas
where recovery and conservation of the species are likely to be achieved.
The areas have been identified in the recovery units in the Karner blue
butterfly Recovery Plan and as Significant Population Areas and Areas
of Conservation Emphasis in the Statewide Habitat Conservation Plan.
Protecting State Threatened and Endangered Species
in Wisconsin’s Driftless Area Barrens - (application by
The Blue Mounds Area Project) – Iowa County, Wisconsin - ($30,000) – To
preserve, restore, and enhance habitat for 15 at-risk species on 900
acres of privately owned properties in southwestern Wisconsin. The Blue
Mounds Area project will provide expertise in setting up and contracting
management practices that will enhance the habitat for these species.
Wisconsin state-listed species targeted include American beak grain,
nodding rattlesnake root, fire pink, prairie Indian plantain, and cream
gentian.
Kinnickinnic River Canyon Project - (application
by Kinnickinnic River Land Trust) – St. Croix County, Wisconsin -
($60,000) – Invasive tree and shrub cover will be removed to retain
or establish a native prairie habitat or oak savanna. Prairie will be planted
at selected sites using local genotype seed. Prescribed burns will be conducted
at various times throughout the growing season to facilitate native vegetative
growth. Species identified to benefit from stewardship include prairie
bushclover, Hill’s thistle, prairie fame-flower, and timber rattlesnake.
The Service is awarding one grant in Wisconsin under the Tribal
Wildlife Grants program. 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 grant is:
Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa $126,025
Lac du Flambeau Lake Sturgeon Restoration Project on the Lac du Flambeau
Chain of Lakes and Bear River
Nationwide, the Service is awarding $6 million for 28 conservation
grants to Native American tribes under the Tribal Wildlife Grants program.
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.
-FWS-
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