The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Alaska selected 31 projects and committed about $419,000 this year for participation in a cost-share program that helps educate Alaskans of all ages and benefits Alaskas fish and wildlife.
A few of the fiscal year 2001 projects include education camps for Aleut children of the Aleutian Chain, Kodiak, the Becharof Lake area, and elsewhere; a study of dynamic changes along the Arctic coastline; a workshop to help educators better understand the issues confronting Interior fisheries; studies of the timing and routes of migration of white-fronted geese; and research into methods of minimizing polar bear-human conflicts in the far north. Some of the Services partners in these and other cost-share projects include more than twenty schools and school districts, about two dozen native tribal groups, and more than two dozen conservation and special interest organizations.
Each year the Service builds partnerships and provides funding support for a wide range of projects through the Challenge Cost Share Program. This program offers opportunities for partners to match funds with the Service in support of undertakings that contribute to the management, restoration and protection of natural resources.
Under the established guidelines, the Service (on a Regional level) contributes up to 50 percent of the cost for qualifying projects, while the partners/cooperators provide no less than 50 percent. Partners may contribute their share of the cost in the form of cash, materials, equipment, land, water or other qualifying in-kind services. The list of partners always includes State, local and private entities.
Between 1996 and 2000, the Challenge Cost Share Program has leveraged more than 2.2 million dollars in Service funds into more than 5.2 million dollars worth of programs to benefit Alaska
