Service Director Jamie Rappaport Clark announced the grants, which will be supplemented by more than $33 million in funds from state governments and private partners to conserve or restore hundreds of wetland acres.
"There is hope for restoring our damaged coastal wetlands, in the form of the National Coastal Wetlands Conservation Grant Program and the many partners who support it," Clark said. "We have lost thousands of acres of coastal wetlands already, and weve seen additional acres degraded by pollution. Our coastal resources are being threatened by development, agricultural and urban run-off, shoreline modification, municipal waste disposal, oil spills, and over-harvesting of resources." To date, the Service has given some $90 million in grants to 25 states and one U.S. territory under the National Coastal Wetlands Conservation Grant Program. When the 2001 grants projects are complete, more than 105,000 acres will have been protected or restored since the wetlands grant program was enacted in 1990.
Through the National Coastal Wetlands Conservation Grant program, the Service makes yearly matching grants to coastal states and U.S. territories for projects involving the acquisition, restoration or enhancement of coastal wetlands. Projects must be administered for long-term conservation benefits to wildlife and habitat.
The grant program is one of three conservation efforts funded by the 1990 Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection and Restoration Act. 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 which encompasses more than 530 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands and other special management areas. It also operates 66 national fish hatcheries, 64 fishery resource 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 Fish and Wildlife Management Assistance and Habitat Restoration, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 4401 North Fairfax Drive, Room 840, Arlington, VA 22203; or check the programs Internet home page at http://www.fws.gov/cep/cwgcover.html.
Descriptions of the 2001 National Coastal Wetlands Conservation Grant projects are available upon request by calling 202-208-5634 or e-mailing rachel_levin@fws.gov.
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