WASHINGTON – Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Dan Ashe today announced nearly $35 million in grants to 20 states to enable collaborative efforts to conserve many of America’s imperiled species, ranging from the red cockaded woodpecker in the Southeast to a variety of bat species in the Midwest to a colorful flower in the Rocky Mountains. A list of the projects by state is available here.
“Partnerships are critical to ensuring future generations will be able to see threatened and endangered species in the wild rather than simply in a history book,” Jewell said. “These grants will enable states to work in voluntary partnership with private landowners and a wide variety of other stakeholders to preserve vital habitat and move these species down the road to recovery.”
Issued through the Cooperative Endangered Species Conservation Fund (authorized by Section 6 of the Endangered Species Act), the competitive grants allow states to work with private landowners, conservation groups and other government agencies to initiate conservation planning efforts and acquire and protect habitat that benefits threatened and endangered fish, wildlife and plants.
“Private landowners and natural resource managers are the linchpin for the conservation of many of our most threatened species,” Ashe said. “By fostering partnerships between federal, state and local governments, private organizations, and individuals, we can pool our resources to develop creative solutions that will drive critical conservation and recovery efforts. These grants are one of many tools available under the Endangered Species Act and we look forward to providing continued guidance and support for these programs.”
The grant funding is provided through programs established to help advance creative partnerships for the recovery of imperiled species. This year, the fund will allocate approximately $7.4 million in grants through the Habitat Conservation Planning Assistance Grants Program; nearly $18 million through the Habitat Conservation Plan Land Acquisition Grants Program, and $9.5 million through the Recovery Land Acquisition Grants Program.
“We can wait for fish and wildlife species to decline to the point where we can’t do anything but react with expensive, last-ditch efforts, or we can take proactive steps to conserve wildlife and their habitats before it is too late,” said Dan Forster, President of the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies and Director of the Georgia Wildlife Resources Division. “These grants will enable state fish and wildlife agencies to carry out important on-the-ground conservation actions with our partners to advance the stewardship of our nation’s fish and wildlife resources.”
A complete list of the 2014 grant awards under these programs (Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance Number 15.615) is available online at: www.fws.gov/endangered/grants/index.html
Habitat Conservation Plans (HCPs) are agreements between a landowner and the Service that allow a landowner to undertake otherwise lawful activities on their property, even if they may impact listed species. In return, the landowner agrees to conservation measures designed to avoid, minimize and mitigate the impact of those actions. HCPs may also be developed by a county or state to cover certain activities of all landowners within their jurisdiction and may address multiple species.
Under the HCP Land Acquisition Grants Program, the Service provides grants to states or territories for land acquisitions that complement the conservation objectives of approved HCPs.
For example, the state of North Carolina will receive nearly $1.1 million to support the acquisition of up to 1,761 acres of longleaf pine habitat in the Sandhills region of the state used by red-cockaded woodpeckers. Acquisition, restoration, and protection of this property will promote connectivity among woodpecker groups to expand managed areas in and around the Fort Bragg and Camp Mackall woodpecker populations, and throughout the North Carolina Sandhills.
The HCP Planning Assistance Grants Program provides grants to states and territories to support the development of HCPs through funding of baseline surveys and inventories, document preparation, outreach and similar planning activities.
For example, The Departments of Natural Resources in Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin will use a $750,000 grant to develop an HCP for several species of cave-dwelling bats including the endangered Indiana bat, northern long-eared bat, and proposed little brown bat and tri-colored bats. The plan will focus on forest management on state, county and private lands and will result in a better understanding of species distribution and summer habitat use by cave-dwelling bats, species currently severely threatened by white-nose syndrome.
The Recovery Land Acquisition Grants Program provides funds to states and territories to acquire habitat for endangered and threatened species with approved recovery plans. Habitat acquisition to secure long term protection is often an essential element of a comprehensive recovery effort for a listed species.
One of this year’s grants will provide $494,137 to enable the state of Colorado to acquire up to 83 acres in Archuleta County to protect the endangered Pagosa skyrocket from planned development. This acquisition is key to the survival and recovery of this locally-endemic plant species because it will protect up to 90 percent of the largest and most important remaining populations of the species, as well as designated critical habitat.
Grants in Southeast Region:
Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP) Land Acquisition Grants by State:
North Carolina
Red-Cockaded Woodpecker Longleaf Pine Ecosystem Protection and Corridors (Richmond and Scotland Counties) $1,085,000: This grant will enable the acquisition of up to 1,761 acres of longleaf pine habitat in the Sandhills region of North Carolina used by the federally endangered red-cockaded woodpeckers. Acquisition, restoration, and protection of this property will promote connectivity among woodpecker groups to expand managed areas in and around the Fort Bragg and Camp Mackall woodpecker populations, and throughout the North Carolina Sandhills.
HCP Planning Assistance Grants by State:
Florida
Statewide Habitat Conservation Plan for Florida Beaches (35 Coastal Counties Statewide) $750,000: This grant will help stakeholders assimilate acquired data into a detailed draft of the HCP. Activities in the coastal area and their threats to listed species will be analyzed. The goal of the HCP is to allow ongoing beach structure protection measures while limiting and mitigating the adverse effects to federally listed nesting loggerhead, Kemp’s ridley, leatherback, green, and hawksbill sea turtles, five beach mouse subspecies, and shorebirds, including wintering piping plover. The Florida Department of Environmental Protection is leading this effort in conjunction with builders groups, municipalities, and others.
Recovery Land Acquisition Grants by State:
Florida
Conservation Easement for Florida Panther Dispersal Zone Project (Hendry County) $1,500,000: This grant will enable the acquisition of a conservation easement conservation easement
A conservation easement is a voluntary legal agreement between a landowner and a government agency or qualified conservation organization that restricts the type and amount of development that may take place on a property in the future. Conservation easements aim to protect habitat for birds, fish and other wildlife by limiting residential, industrial or commercial development. Contracts may prohibit alteration of the natural topography, conversion of native grassland to cropland, drainage of wetland and establishment of game farms. Easement land remains in private ownership.
Learn more about conservation easement on 1,520 acres to protect Florida panther habitat and expand the panther corridor established with the American Prime acquisition. This conservation easement will also serve to protect listed bird species, like the Florida scrub jay and caracara, by protecting this open important nesting, roosting, and foraging habitat.
Georgia
Acquisition of the Ironstob Tract within the Raccoon Creek Basin, a Tributary to the Etowah River* (Paulding County) $116,578: This grant will enable the acquisition of 320 acres along tributaries to Raccoon Creek in the Etowah basin to benefit two federally-listed fish, the endangered Etowah darter and the threatened Cherokee darter. Raccoon Creek has been identified as critical for the long-term survival of these fish, and acquisition of this tract will help meet recovery objectives for these species. Permanent protection of this tract also will provide important connectivity to other protected areas and benefit a number of other rare aquatic and terrestrial species in the watershed.
Tennessee
Scott’s Gulf: Protecting key habitat for endangered mammals, fish, mussels, and plants (Davidson County, Tennessee) $800,000: This grant will enable the acquisition of 2,435 acres of important riparian riparian
Definition of riparian habitat or riparian areas.
Learn more about riparian and upland habitat adjacent to the Caney Fork River to directly benefit two federally-listed endangered aquatic species, the bluemask darter and Cumberland pigtoe (mussel). This acquisition will also serve to protect endangered bats, like Indiana and gray bats, by protecting important roosting and foraging habitat. This acquisition will help further by protecting natural springs and additional caves in the area to conserve habitat quality for these listed species.
The Endangered Species Act provides a critical safety net for America’s native fish, wildlife, and plants. The Service is working to actively engage conservation partners and the public in the search for improved and innovative ways to conserve and recover imperiled species. To learn more about the Endangered Species Program, visit www.fws.gov/endangered
