Thirty-seven wetland habitat restoration and conservation projects in the United States, Canada and Mexico will receive federal funding through the North American Wetlands Conservation Act after the Migratory Bird Conservation Commission approved $25 million in matching grants at its March meeting.
The commission, which meets three times a year to approve wetland conservation projects on national wildlife refuges and other important migratory bird habitat throughout North America, committed funds for two Canada projects, seven Mexico projects, and 28 projects in the United States. Monies provided through the North American Wetlands Conservation Act, which is administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, will be matched by funding from other government agencies, private landowners and conservation organizations.
Because migratory birds are a shared resource among the United States, Canada and Mexico, the North American Wetlands Conservation Act makes grants to conservation projects in all three countries.
Hundreds of thousands of migrating birds use wetlands in Mexico as winter and stopover habitat. The seven Mexico projects are located in six Mexican states and will focus on habitat restoration and management, as well as education efforts. Grant funds totaling more than $1 million will be matched by nearly $2 million in partner funds for these projects.
The two projects in Canada will improve diverse habitat -- grasslands, native prairie, uplands and coastal habitat -- in a total of five provinces. North American Wetlands Conservation Act grants of $400,000 will be matched by $860,000 in partnership funds to restore and protect thousands of acres used by waterfowl and other migratory birds to breed and raise their young before migrating through and wintering in the United States and Mexico.
"Projects funded under the Act exemplify the effectiveness of working closely with our state and private partners to conserve habitat," said Acting Service Director Marshall Jones. "And the ultimate beneficiaries are waterfowl and other migratory birds."
Since its passage in 1989, the North American Wetlands Conservation Act has helped to fund projects that brought more than 1,000 partners--federal, state and local agencies, private organizations, small businesses, and private citizens--together to preserve and restore wetlands and migratory bird habitat.
The North American Wetlands Conservation Act provides matching grants to private and public organizations and to individuals to carry out wetland conservation projects. For every grant dollar spent on U.S. projects approved in March, project partners will add four dollars raised from other sources. Grants funding comes from Congressional appropriations, monies received from fines, penalties, and forfeitures under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918; and from interest accrued on the fund established under the Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration Act of 1937. Amendments to the Federal Aid in Sport Fish Restoration Act of 1950 directed that a portion of the funds collected from Federal fuel excise taxes on small gasoline engines be allocated for use under the Act for coastal ecosystem projects. Over the last four years of the program, an average of $44 million has been available annually from all sources.
Members of the Migratory Bird Conservation Commission are Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton, who serves as chair; Senators John Breaux and Thad Cochran; Representatives John Dingell and Curt Weldon; Secretary of Agriculture Ann Veneman; and the Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Christine Todd Whitman.
U.S. projects receiving grants under the North American Wetlands Conservation Act are:
● Mobile-Tensaw Delta: Phase 2, Alabama: In partnership with the State of Alabama and private conservation organizations, the Fish and Wildlife Service will preserve, enhance and restore forested wetlands and freshwater marshes in the Mobile-Tensaw River Delta. This project will benefit a substantial waterfowl population as well as neotropical migrants, fish species and wetland communities. The project is funded by a $1 million grant, matched by more than $3 million in partnership money.
● Falcon Bottoms II, Arkansas: Funded by a $617,000 grant and $1.2 million from partners, biologists will complete Phase II of the multi-phase Falcon Bottoms project in Columbia and Lafayette counties. Falcon Bottoms II will complete the acquisition stage of the project, adding several tracts of high-quality forested wetlands to make up the state-managed Falcon Bottoms Natural Area. This area will be restored and enhanced to benefit migratory birds and wetland plant communities, and will provide recreation opportunities, as well.
● Humboldt Bay Enhancement, California: A $650,000 grant, along with $1.4 million in partnership funds, will help protect, restore and enhance 903 acres of salt, brackish and freshwater wetlands adjacent to Humboldt Bay, along the Pacific Flyway in northern California. The completed project will provide breeding, migration and wintering habitat for migratory and resident birds, fish, and other wildlife.
● North Central Valley Wetland Habitat III, California: More than 17,000 acres of private, state and federal land in the North Central Valley will be protected, restored and enhanced using a $1 million grant and $20 million in funds from federal and state agencies, private landowners and the California Wildlife Conservation Board. Wetlands in the Central Valley support 60 percent of the Pacific Flyways waterfowl population. Twenty percent of the nations waterfowl either winters in or migrates through the Central Valley.
● Tulare Lake Basin Wetland Habitat, California: A $986,000 grant will be matched by more than $11 million in partner funds to protect, restore and enhance 25,398 acres of the historic Goose Lake and surrounding wetlands in the Tulare Basin in Kern County. Diverse partners such as the Semitropic Water District, the Fish and Wildlife Service and Ducks Unlimited will cooperate on the project.
● Lower South Platte River Wetlands and Riparian Restoration I, Colorado: Public and private partners will contribute $4.25 million to match a $1 million grant for wetland restoration and enhancement around the lower South Platte River, from Denver to the Nebraska state line. This area of prairie, wetland and riparian riparian
Definition of riparian habitat or riparian areas.
Learn more about riparian habitat is one of the most important migration and wintering areas in the state. An estimated 30,000 to 40,000 mallards winter there, and three quarters of all bird species found in Colorado use this habitat sometime during the year.
● Playa/Riparian/Wetland Colorado Partnership, Colorado: Wetland resources within the Colorado portion of the North American Waterfowl Management Plans Playa Lakes Joint Venture will be acquired, restored and enhanced using a $1 million grant and $5.2 million in partner funding. This area provides wintering and foraging habitat for waterfowl and shorebirds and attracts other birds such as hawks, woodpeckers, and great blue, black-crowned and night herons.
● Altamaha River Corridor Habitat Conservation, Georgia: With a $1 million grant and $2 million in matching funds from a number of corporate partners and conservation groups--including Georgia Pacific and International Paper--the State of Georgia will acquire 2,418 acres of forested wetlands in the Altamaha River corridor. This project is part of the cooperative South Atlantic Migratory Bird Initiative, created in 1999 to protect habitat for waterfowl, songbirds, shorebirds, wading birds and other vulnerable bird populations using a multi-partner approach. Lands to be acquired for this project are used by federally threatened and endangered species such as bald eagles, shortnose sturgeon and wood storks.
● Kootenai Valley Wetlands, Idaho: A project in Boundary County will protect and restore nearly 6,000 acres of wetlands and uplands that provide vital habitat for 60,000 ducks, 7,000 geese, hundreds of swans and other migratory shorebirds. Using a $1 million grant and $5.4 million in matching funds, partners will purchase a 350-acre easement to add to a land donation from Crown Pacific Company.
● Illinois River Basin -- Phase I, Illinois: Acquisition of a 2,466-acre parcel of land will complete the restoration of a complex of drained lakes, wetlands and bottomland forest along the Upper Illinois River floodplain in Putnam County. Partnership funds of $5.2 million will be added to a $500,000 grant to acquire, restore and enhance the land in cooperation with state and local governments and private organizations. The area historically hosted millions of mallards and black ducks; today, the Illinois River Basin is an important route for migrating waterfowl and shorebirds.
● Hennepin-Hopper Lakes Restoration, Illinois: More than 5,000 acres will be acquired, restored and enhanced as part of a multi-year project. A grant of $997,000 will be matched by $2.5 million from partners such as Ducks Unlimited, the Illinois Department of Natural Resources and private landowners. Some 25 percent of all ducks in the Mississippi Flyway use this area in northeastern Illinois as a migration corridor.
● Southern Lake Michigan Coastal Wetlands III, Indiana: A $1 million grant will supplement $2.3 million in partner funds to acquire, restore and enhance more than 1,100 acres of high-quality wetland habitat for migrating waterfowl, raptors, shorebirds and neotropical birds. The project area, on the southern tip of Lake Michigan, is a major waterfowl and shorebird migration route through the Great Lakes area, and biologists have identified 337 avian species that occur in the area.
● Iowa Prairie Waters Initiative, Iowa: An $899,000 grant will be supplemented by $1.3 million in partnership funds to acquire, restore and enhance nearly 9,000 acres of drained wetlands and prairie wetlands. This partnership is being fostered among multiple levels of government--federal, state and county--as well as with private cooperators.
● Great River Corridor Initiative, Iowa/Minnesota: Using a $985,000 grant and $1.8 million in contributed funds, a number of partners will acquire, restore and enhance 2,805 acres in southeastern Minnesota and eastern Iowa to benefit waterfowl. The project area lies along the Mississippi River, one of the nations most important bird migration corridors.
● Chester River Watershed Conservation, Maryland: Partners, including the State of Maryland and Queen Annes County, will acquire 5,140 acres in the Chester River Watershed near Chesapeake Bay using a $1 million grant and $7.6 million in matching funds. Wetlands to be acquired provide breeding habitat for migratory waterfowl, amphibians, and plants unique to the area.
● Holly Beach Farm, Maryland: Acquisition and restoration of Holly Beach Farm will leverage a $1 million grant and more than $13 million in public and private contributions to protect and enhance an area rich in wetland habitat. The 304-acre property is an important staging and wintering area for migratory waterfowl including scaup, canvasback and ruddy ducks, a breeding and stopover site for neotropical migrant songbirds, and a nesting site for herons and bald eagles.
● Nodaway Valley Conservation Area Wetlands Restoration, Missouri: More than 2,400 acres of bottomland hardwoods, wet prairie, marsh and other wetlands will be restored and enhanced by multiple partners using a $1 million grant and $3.2 million in matching funds. Restoration of the project area, in Holt and Andrew counties, will benefit resident and migratory waterfowl, wading bids, shorebirds, and a variety of other species.
● Great Bay Estuary Phase IV, New Hampshire: During Phase IV of a multi-phase, public-private conservation effort, 2,019 acres will be acquired in southern New Hampshires Great Bay estuary. The area is an important wintering and resting area for migratory waterfowl, and serves as the largest black duck wintering site in New Hampshire. A $1 million grant will be augmented by $2.2 million in partner funds to complete this project.
● Northeastern North Carolina Wetlands Initiative--Little Alligator River (Futch) Tract, North Carolina: A $1 million grant and $2.1 million in matching funds will be used to acquire, restore and enhance 2,603 acres in northeastern North Carolina, partially compensating for the loss of habitat as a result of coastal development. Waterfowl, shorebirds, colonial nesting waterbirds and landbirds will benefit.
● Missouri Coteau Habitat Conservation II, North Dakota: More than 11,500 acres of wetland/grassland habitat will be acquired, restored and enhanced using a $640,000 grant and more than $1 million in matching funds. This project is part of an ongoing, multi-agency effort to protect wetlands in the prairie potholes of North Dakota. These wetlands are critically important migration and breeding habitat for waterfowl and other wetland-dependant species.
● Drift Prairie Wetland III, North Dakota: Public and private partners will add $1.9 million to a $1 million grant for acquisition of 46,233 acres in the heart of the Prairie Pothole Region in central North Dakota. Wetland habitat to be acquired is critical to many migrating birds.
● Red Slough Enhancement and Restoration, Phase I, Oklahoma: Using $277,000 in grant money and $950,000 in matching funds, partners will acquire and enhance 2,119 acres in Red Slough in southern Oklahoma. This project is part of an ongoing effort to restore the Red Slough area to benefit migratory waterfowl and neotropical migrants.
● Block Migratory Bird Wetlands II, Rhode Island: Migratory bird habitat on Block will be acquired using a $500,000 grant and $7.6 million in partnership funds, part of a multi-year effort to protect wetlands on the 6,000-acre for the benefit of waterfowl. The is an important wintering area for black ducks, mallards and wood ducks, and provides shelter for numerous types of sea ducks during winter storms.
● Katy Prairie Initiative II, Texas: As part of the multi-phase Katy Prairie Initiative, a grant of $1 million and partnership funds of $2 million will be used to acquire 2,297 acres of wetlands in Harris and Waller counties near Houston. The area is a mixture of farmland, wetlands, pasture and riparian habitat that provides resting, nesting and foraging quarters for some 25 percent of the mid-continent population of geese that winters along the Texas coast. The area also hosts fifteen species of ducks, including pintails, green-winged teal and mallards.
● Wetlands Restoration and Enhancement of Private Public Lands Texas Gulf Coast IV, Texas: Important winter habitat for migrating waterfowl along the Texas Gulf Coast will be restored and enhanced using an $852,000 grant and more than $2 million in matching funds from the state, conservation organizations and private landowners. The restored land will provide breeding habitat for mottled ducks and black-bellied whistling ducks, and wintering spots for northern pintails, teal and redheads. More than half of the Central Flyway populations of ducks and geese winter along the Texas coast.
● Willapa Bay -- Phase I, Washington: Nearly $20 million in partner contributions will supplement a $1 million grant, as federal, state and private partners acquire, restore and enhance 4,423 acres in the Willapa Bay in Pacific County. Willapa Bay hosts some of the largest concentrations of shorebirds on the Pacific Coast during spring and fall migration, and the mudflats in the area provide forage for species such as black brant and American wigeon.
● Door Peninsula Coastal Initiative, Wisconsin: The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, The Nature Conservancy, private landowners and other conservation organizations will contribute $2.1 million to supplement a $1 million grant. Partners will acquire 901 acres of coastal wetlands and uplands on the Door Peninsula, benefitting waterfowl, other migratory birds and endangered species.
● Wisconsin Northwest Pothole Habitat Initiative III, Wisconsin: A $1 million grant will be leveraged by $3.1 million in partner funds to acquire, restore and enhance 3,386 acres of wetlands. This is the third in a multi-phase project that will restore and protect some of Wisconsins best duck-producing habitat, enhance songbird production in the area, and provide opportunities for public recreation. Federal and state agencies, as well as private conservation organizations, contributed funds.
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 94-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System which encompasses more than 535 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands and other special management areas. It also operates 70 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.
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For more information about the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, visit the Services Web site at http://www.fws.gov
