Fifteen coastal states and one U.S. territory from Alaska to the U.S. Virgin Islands received funding for projects ranging in size from 18 acres to nearly 600 acres. Projects will protect a variety of wetland ecosystems--among them salt marshes, mangroves, maritime forests and riparian riparian
Definition of riparian habitat or riparian areas.
Learn more about riparian habitat--for the benefit of numerous birds, fishes, plants and mammals, including several endangered and threatened species.
"Through cooperative efforts--among the federal government, states, Native American tribes and private organizations--these projects will conserve more than 6,500 acres of prime habitat for our nations fish, wildlife and plants," Clark said. "These projects also address some of the Services top natural resource priorities, including conserving migratory birds, combating invasive species invasive species
An invasive species is any plant or animal that has spread or been introduced into a new area where they are, or could, cause harm to the environment, economy, or human, animal, or plant health. Their unwelcome presence can destroy ecosystems and cost millions of dollars.
Learn more about invasive species and strengthening our ecosystem-based approach to fish and wildlife management."
In 1990, Congress passed the Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection and Restoration Act, authorizing the Service to make yearly matching grants to coastal states and U.S. territories for projects involving the acquisition, restoration or enhancement of coastal wetlands, which must be administered for long-term conservation benefits. Since then, the Service has awarded more than $74 million to 25 states and one U.S. territory to acquire and restore more than 93,000 acres. All grants are awarded through a competitive process. Funding for the program is generated from excise taxes on fishing equipment and motorboat and small engine fuels. These taxes are deposited into the Sport Fish Restoration Account of the Aquatic Resources Trust Fund (commonly called Wallop-Breaux after its Congressional sponsors).
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 93- million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System comprised of more than 500 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands, and other special management areas. It also operates 66 national fish hatcheries, 64 fish and wildlife management assistance offices and 78 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 that distributes hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes on fishing and hunting equipment to state fish and wildlife agencies. For more information about the National Coastal Wetlands Conservation Grants program write to the National Coastal Wetlands Conservation Grant Program, Division of Habitat Conservation, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 4401 North Fairfax Drive, Room 400, Arlington, Virginia 22203; or visit the programs Internet site at http://www.fws.gov/cep/cwgcover.html.
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Year 2000 National Coastal Wetlands Conservation Grant Projects
Alabama
Weeks Bay Wetlands: The Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources will acquire 210 acres in the Weeks Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve. These wetlands are part of the Mobile Bay watershed and encompass salt marsh salt marsh
Salt marshes are found in tidal areas near the coast, where freshwater mixes with saltwater.
Learn more about salt marsh , coastal marsh, non-riverine swamp forest, and wet pine savanna. The project is supported by the Northern Gulf Wetlands Partnership, a cooperative conservation effort that includes the Gulf States, The Nature Conservancy, other private partners and the Service. The National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration may also contribute to the effort.
Federal: $1,000,000 State: $6,000 Partners: $1,315,000
Alaska
Palmer Hays Flats (Cassity-Fritzler Acquisition): The Alaska Department of Fish and Game will acquire, with the assistance of The Nature Conservancy and Ducks Unlimited, approximately 400 acres of wetlands adjacent to the Palmer Hay Flats State Game Refuge. Acquisition of this land will help protect the resource value of one of the States most popular game refuges. This area is under development pressure because of its proximity to Anchorage.
Federal: $74,000 State: $6,000 Partners: $20,000
California
Santa Clara River Estuary Acquisition: The California State Coastal Conservancy will acquire more than 217 acres for protection and restoration of estuarine and riparian habitat at the Santa Clara River Estuary. Partners in this effort include the Santa Clara River Trustee Council and the Southern California Wetlands Recovery Project, both state/federal partnerships. Endangered southern steelhead trout, least Bells vireo and California least terns use this area.
Federal: $750,000 State: $600,000 Partners: $565,000
Delaware
Natter Property Acquisition: The Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control will acquire, in cooperation with the Town of Bethany Beach and the Trust for Public Land, 26 acres in the Bethany Beach area. The property is in the state-designated Inland Bays Resource Area and represents one of the last remaining privately- owned parcels in the area with contiguous wetlands and upland forest buffer.
Federal: $500,000 State: $150,000 Partners: $115,000
Florida
Protection of Coastal Wetlands Habitat, Pasco County: The Florida Department of Environmental Protection will work with Pasco County and a private landowner to acquire and restore wetland habitat on the Gulf of Mexico. The parcel includes mangrove forests, tidal marshes and salt barrens and will protect about three-quarters of a mile of coastline.
Federal: $975,000 State: $0* Partners: $325,000 *The states match was met entirely by contributions from its partners.
Protection and Restoration of Tampa Bay, Phase II: The Florida Department of Environmental Protection, in cooperation with the Southwest Florida Management District and Hillsborough County, will restore 559 acres. Restoration priorities include protection of remaining mangroves and upland hammocks. In some areas, the Department of Environmental Protection will create marsh platforms by recontouring the land to appropriate elevations and planting native vegetation. This project is part of a broader effort to protect and restore the Tampa Bay Estuary.
Federal: $700,000 State: $700,000
Maine
Little River Estuary: The partnership effort of the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife and Conservation, the Services Gulf of Maine Coastal Program, The Nature Conservancy (Maine Chapter), the Lower Kennebec Regional Land Trust, and Ducks Unlimited will protect 388 acres in the Little River/Sagadahoc Estuary through acquisition and permanent easements. The Little River Marsh is the only unditched marsh of its size in Maine. Its distinctive habitat, shallow, open water caused by depressions in the landscape and surrounded by coastal marsh, is important to a variety of migratory birds, nesting and wintering waterfowl, wading birds, and shorebirds.
Federal: $250,000 State: $1,000 Partners: $245,000
Massachusetts
Oak Salt Marsh Restoration: Partners will acquire 18 acres, a gift from the Turnpike Realty Company, and restore, enhance and manage 30 acres of highly productive salt marsh at Oak in Rumney Marsh. The Massachusetts Wetlands Restoration and Banking Program, Massachusetts Emergency Management Program, the City of Revere, and the Saugus River Watershed Council will provide resources for the project. The restoration includes installation of a new culvert and improvement of an existing culvert and tidegate. The City of Reveres Conservation Commission will protect the area permanently as open space.
Federal: $150,000 State: $360,000 Partners: $113,829
Salisbury Marsh Land Acquisition: The Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife, with assistance from a private landowner, the Essex County Greenbelt Association, and the Essex County Sportsmens Association, will acquire 306 acres in Essex County. The property, primarily estuarine wetlands with buffering uplands, is part of the Salisbury Marsh, designated by the state as having exceptional natural resource and ecological values. Conserving the marsh will provide quality habitat for anadromous fish, shellfish and wintering black ducks. Federal: $750,000 State: $475,000 Partners: $47,500
New Hampshire
Little River Salt Marsh Restoration: The New Hampshire Office of State Planning, with assistance from the State Department of Transportation and private and public funds from the community of North Hampton, will restore 160 acres of estuarine intertidal emergent wetlands. The project goal is to increase tidal flow by replacing undersized culverts. This will benefit the native plant community, which has been replaced in large part by invasive species such as phragmites, narrow leaf cattail and purple loosestrife.
Federal: $300,000 State: $28,000 Partners: $72,000
New Jersey
Strathmere Parcels Acquisition: The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection will acquire approximately 40 acres on a coastal barrier in Cape May County. The acquisition will protect feeding habitat for the threatened Atlantic Coast piping plover and eliminate potential disturbance of plover nest sites on Whale Beach. Protecting the Whale Beach area is a unique opportunity in New Jersey because it is a portion of a coastal barrier with little development.
Federal: $562,000 State: $187,500
Conaskonk Point Acquisition: The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, in cooperation with Monmouth County, the Monmouth Conservation Foundation, the Baykeeper American Littoral Society, Hi-Mar Stripers Club, the Atlantic Coast Anglers and other partners, will acquire 200 acres on Raritan Bay, a top acquisition priority for the States Harbor Estuary Program. Conaskonk Point provides one of the best opportunities in the Raritan Bayshore, and the entire New York/New Jersey Estuary, to protect an intact salt marsh.
Federal: $210,875 State: $118,125 Partners: $8,500
North Carolina
Harris Tract Acquisition: North Carolinas Department of Environment and Natural Resources will acquire a 132-acre parcel in the Buckridge Coastal Reserve, one of nine coastal reserves designated by the State Assembly. The lands to be acquired are mature stands of non-riverine swamp forests that will help link other protected areas and increase their wildlife habitat value.
Federal: $60,000 State: $143,000
Oregon Coos-Coquille Estuarine Wetland Restoration: The Governors Watershed Enhancement Board, with the assistance of the Coos Watershed Association, the Coquille Watershed Association, the South Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve and Ducks Unlimited, will conserve 570 acres in the Coos- Coquille Basin through acquisitions, easements and restoration.
Federal: $820,000 State: $360,000 Partners: $140,000
Tillamook Bay Wetlands Protection and Restoration Project:
The Governors Watershed Enhancement Board, in cooperation with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, the Oregon Wetlands Joint Venture and Ducks Unlimited, will restore and protect 300 acres of estuarine intertidal and palustrine wetlands. Restoration will include breaching existing dikes to restore tidal hydrology, removing non-native species and installing new tidegates to improve 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 facilities.
Federal: $750,000 State: $275,000 Partners: $130,000
Texas
Bessie Heights Marsh Restoration: By constructing terraces to form 1 to 2-acre cells in a checkerboard pattern the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department will restore about 222 acres of estuarine wetlands in the Bessie Heights Marsh. The restoration design should increase the marsh water interface and submerged plant production, as well as increase water clarity and reduce the impact of coastal winds.
Federal: $350,000 State: $300,000 Partners: $100,000
Protection and Restoration of Halls Lake/Halls Bayou: The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department will acquire 475 acres of wetlands/sand flats and a protective upland buffer surrounding Halls Lake, a bay on the north shoreline of West Galveston Bay. The acquisition will protect Halls Lake, a shallow, 325-acre, state-owned bay. The state will deed the lands surrounding Halls Lake to the Texas Nature Conservancy but retain management authority. Restoration plans include building structures to stabilize the isthmus shoreline and planting smooth cordgrass.
Federal: $390,625 State: $275,625 Partners: $213,750
Virgin Islands
Virgin Islands Coastal Wetlands Acquisition: The U.S. Virgin Islands Department of Planning and Natural Resources will acquire Bovoni Cay, the last remaining private property in the Cas Cay/Mangrove Lagoon Marine Reserve and Wildlife Sanctuary. The 50-acre parcel is predominantly mangrove and saltwater wetlands. Mangrove Lagoon provides more than 90 percent of the remaining coral reef fish nursery habitat in St. Thomas.
Federal: $200,000*
*Territories and commonwealths are not required to provide matching project funds.
Virginia
Cloverdale Acquisition: The Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation will acquire the 181-acre Cloverdale tract in Northumberland County to add to the Dameron Marsh Natural Area Preserve and provide coastal habitat protection on the Chesapeake Bay. This property has 1.6 miles of frontage on Cloverdale Creek and the Chesapeake Bay, 83 acres of estuarine and palustrine wetlands, 98 acres of maritime forest, and areas of sandy beach supporting the threatened Northeastern beach tiger beetle.
Federal: $825,689 State: $260,000
Washington
Johns River Estuary Restoration: The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, with assistance from Ducks Unlimited, will restore 120 acres of state-owned land in Grays Harbor. The Department of Fish and Game will remove a levee and tidegate system, restoring tidal influences to 60 acres of estuarine wetlands, and will also plug ditches, de-level land, and install two water control structures to restore 60 acres of palustrine emergent wetlands.
Federal: $65,000 State: $25,000 Partners: $10,000
Lower Chimacum Creek Acquisition: The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, with the help of a number of partners, will acquire by fee title and conservation easements 180 acres at the mouth of Chimacum Creek. In addition, biologists will restore 5 acres that was filled for a log dump. This project, in conjunction with adjacent acquisition projects, will protect the entire freshwater spawning habitat of the historic summer chum population now being re-introduced to Chimacum Creek.
Federal: $500,000 State: $500,000 Partners: $50,500
Lower Dungeness and Sequim Bay Coastal Wetlands: The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, with assistance from the North Olympic Land Trust, will acquire 462 acres in the lower Sequim Bay and the Dungeness River System. This project will benefit a number of fish, including three endangered or threatened salmonid stocks.
Federal: $900,000 State: $900,000 Partners: $240,389
Qwuloolt Project (Great Marsh): The Washington State Department of Ecology will assist the Tulalip Tribes in purchasing some 21 acres in the lower Snohomish River estuary. Acquisition will include deed restrictions assuring the wetlands will be conserved, restored and managed to benefit fish and wildlife. This purchase will benefit a much larger intertidal restoration project. A Natural Resources Damage Assessment team is working with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to develop and implement a restoration plan for about 380 acres at Qwuloolt.
Federal: $389,025 State: $209,474
Willapa River Estuary Acquisition: The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, with assistance from Ducks Unlimited, will acquire 420 acres of coastal wetland property in the Willapa River Estuary. This project supports the objectives of the Pacific Coast Joint Venture Strategic Plan, which identifies the Willapa River Estuary as target area for wetland acquisition and restoration. Federal: $110,000 State: $40,000 Partners: $10,000
Wisconsin
Mink River Estuary Natural Area Land Acquisition:Wisconsins Department of Natural Resources will work with The Nature Conservancy to acquire 150 acres of high quality wetlands habitat in the Mink River Estuary State Natural Area in Door County. The project will protect spawning habitat for fish and foraging habitat for the endangered Hines emerald dragonfly and provide links between existing protected areas.
Federal: $283,000 State: $41,000 Partners: $126,000
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