The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today announced nearly $4.2 million in Tribal Wildlife Grants to Native American Tribes in 13 states, including 4 Tribes in California and 1 Tribe in Oregon. The awards will support fish and wildlife conservation projects that benefit a wide range of wildlife and habitat, including federally listed threatened and endangered species and species of Native American cultural or traditional importance.
“Tribal lands encompass millions of acres of important habitat for hundreds of wildlife species across the nation,” said Service Director Dan Ashe. “Tribal Wildlife Grants give us an opportunity for federal and state agencies to work with tribal fish and wildlife partners in the conservation of our shared and highly valued natural heritage; a heritage that we will pass on to future generations of all Americans.”
Since its inception in 2003, the competitive Tribal Wildlife Grants program has awarded more than $68 million to Native American tribes, providing support for more than 400 conservation projects. The grants have enabled tribes to develop increased management capacity, improve and enhance relationships with conservation partners, address cultural and environmental priorities and help train the next generation of conservationists by engaging tribal students interested in fisheries, wildlife and related fields of study. Proposals for the 2016 grant cycle are due October 30, 2015.
This year’s Tribal Wildlife Grants awards in the Pacific Southwest Region are:
CALIFORNIA:
Chemehuevi Indian Tribe ($200,000)
The Clear Bay Southwestern Willow Flycatcher and Least Bell’s Vireo Habitat Restoration Project will restore, enhance, and protect 20 acres of priority riparian riparian
Definition of riparian habitat or riparian areas.
Learn more about riparian habitat in Clear Bay along the Colorado River for the benefit of fish and wildlife including the southwestern willow flycatcher, least Bell’s vireo and Yuma clapper rail.
Blue Lake Rancheria ($159,275)
The Powers Creek Fish Passage Project will remove a fish passage fish passage
Fish passage is the ability of fish or other aquatic species to move freely throughout their life to find food, reproduce, and complete their natural migration cycles. Millions of barriers to fish passage across the country are fragmenting habitat and leading to species declines. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's National Fish Passage Program is working to reconnect watersheds to benefit both wildlife and people.
Learn more about fish passage barrier and restore over one mile of upstream spawning and rearing habitat in Powers Creek, a small tributary to the Mad River. This project will benefit culturally important threatened and declining species including Southern Oregon/Northern California Coasts coho salmon, California Coastal Chinook salmon, Northern California steelhead trout, and Pacific lamprey
Pinoleville Pomo Nation ($198,905)
Restoration of Ackerman Creek as Habitat for Culturally Important Species proposes to restore habitat for culturally important species through a combination of in-stream restoration projects, pollution prevention and revegetation in Ackerman Creek a tributary to the Russian River. This project will benefit steelhead and salmon and locally endemic insects, amphibians, birds and mammals.
Yurok Tribe ($176,771)
The Northern California Condor Program Building Capacity for a Pilot Release grant will initiate and manage a pilot release of California condors into their former northern range of California. This project will support specific goals of the California Condor Recovery Plan.
OREGON:
The Klamath Tribes ($200,000)
The Re-introducing Extinct Populations of Endangered Suckers in the Upper Klamath Basin grant will assess and restore spawning habitat for endangered Lost River and shortnose suckers in Upper Klamath Lake Oregon. The overall goal of the Klamath Tribes effort is to save the sucker species from their continued decline and potential extirpation from the wild, as well as ultimately achieve recovery.
For additional information about Native American conservation projects and the Tribal Wildlife Grants application process, visit http://www.fws.gov/nativeamerican/grants.html.
