As part of a continuing effort to work in partnership with landowners, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is distributing 48 grants to projects in 28 states and Puerto Rico to help citizens conduct endangered species conservation activities on private property.
"From bog turtles in New Jersey to prairie chickens in Texas to waterfowl in Alaska, private citizens are making a difference for threatened and endangered species,says Gale Norton, Secretary of the Interior. AI look forward to building upon these relationships with private landowners to protect imperiled species."
The grants are part of the Endangered Species Act Landowner Incentive Program, an initiative established three years ago by Congress to provide financial assistance and incentives to private property owners who are willing to conserve listed species, as well as species that are proposed for listing. To date, Congress has appropriated $15 million, including $5 million this year, and the Service has made more than 100 grants. To qualify for this program, landowners or other non-Federal partners must contribute at least 10 percent of the cost of the project in either cash or in-kind services such as labor or supplies.
"Much of the habitat for threatened and endangered species occurs on private land," says Marshall Jones, acting director of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. AThat is why we need the direct involvement and support of private landowners to assist in our conservation and recovery efforts. These grants will help landowners who voluntarily come to the rescue of our nations imperiled plants and animals."
Some highlights of this years grants include:
Karner Blue Butterfly and Eastern Massasauga Rattlesnake, Wisconsin: A grant of $157,260 will continue work on a two-year-old effort to protect two species. To date 178 landowners have contributed more than 3,100 acres of habitat restoration and protection in Central Wisconsin. For example, landowners are planting lupine on their property, a favorite of the Karner blue butterfly.
Colorado Cutthroat Trout Recovery, Utah: A grant of $50,000 to help the Northern Ute Indian Tribe to conduct conservation efforts on 200 stream miles in the Uintah and Ouray Indian Reservations. Trout populations have declined due to habitat loss, water development projects, and the introduction of nonnative fishes. Actions that will be taken under this program include removing nonnative fish and limiting their future access to reclaimed streams, improving stream habitat by planting willows, creating spawning channels, and fencing riparian riparian
Definition of riparian habitat or riparian areas.
Learn more about riparian areas.
Barrow Eider Conservation Plan, Alaska: A grant of $82,000 to help complete a conservation plan for two endangered waterfowl, the Stellar=s and spectacled eiders. The Barrow region is the only known site of concentration for breeding Stellars eiders in the United States. Working with the local government and the Village Corporation, which is the predominant landowner, the Service is devising a plan to restore and protect wetlands that are breeding habitat for the birds. This plan also seeks to address the long-term cumulative effects of human population growth in the village where the population has doubled over the past 20 years.
The Landowner Incentive Grant Program is part of a broad effort by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to provide technical and financial assistance, as well as regulatory certainty, to private landowners to address the needs of threatened and endangered species, with the need for economic development. For example, the Service along is working on 40 "Safe Harbor" agreements with private landowners. Under these agreements, landowners who take actions to benefit listed species can be assured that these actions will not lead to any additional restrictions on the use of their land in the future if listed species are attracted to their property.
The Service is also developing 90 Candidate Conservation Agreements with private landowners and other non-Federal partners to take actions on private and public lands to conserve species before they are listed as threatened or endangered. In support of these agreements, recipients may be eligible to receive grants for fencing, planting, habitat restoration and other conservation activities.
See list below of the 48 grants approved this year.
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.
- FWS -
For more information about the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, visit our home page at http://www.fws.gov">
Funded ESA Landowner Incentives Program Proposals - FY 2001
Pacific Region
-Falls Creek Aquatic and Riparian Habitat Restoration (bull trout, westlope cutthroat trout) $400,000
-Upper Keahou Boundary Fence to stop ingress of feral pigs, feral goats, and mouflon sheep (Akepa, Akiapolauu, Hawaii Creeper, Ou, Io, HI hoary bat, alala, nene, and various plants) $76,000
-Endangered Moth Habitat Restoration at Auwahi, Maui (Blackburns sphinx moth and various plants) $29,000
-Oregon Silverspot Butterfly Habitat Enhancement $11,000
-North Kona Palila Habitat Restoration Project $58,000
-Restoration and Enhancement of Zayante Sandhills Habitat (Mount Hermon June beetle
-Zayante band-winged grasshopper, Ben Lomond wallflower, Ben Lomond spineflower) $22,000
-Safe Harbor Agreement and El Segundo Blue Butterfly Habitat Restoration near Malaga Cove $37,300
-Sainz Ranch California Tiger Salamander Breeding Pond Restoration $3,800 >p> -Lunada Canyon Preserve Restoration (coastal California gnatcatcher, Palos Verdes blue butterfly, Lyons pentachaeta) $20,305
Southwest Region
-High Plains Partnership to conserve grassland habitat, lesser prairie-chickens, black-tailed prairie dogs, burrowing owl, mountain plover, and Arkansas River shiner $500,000
-Coastal Prairie Conservation Initiative (Attwaters prairie chicken, Houston toad, and TX prairie dawn-flower) $500,000
-Environmental Defense Safe Harbor Agreement for the Black-capped Vireo and Golden cheeked warbler - Tobusch fishhook cactus surveys $10,800
Great Lakes-Big Rivers Region
-WI Partnerships Karner Blue/Eastern Massasauga Rattlesnake Populations $157,260
-Karst Conservation in the Ozarks (Ozark big eared bat, Indiana bat, gray bat, Ozark cavefish, Camarus aculabrum, C. zophonastes, Tumbling Creek cavesnail) $150,000
-Lower Spring River Drainage/Upper Shoal Creek Drainage stream restoration project (Neosho Madtom, Arkansas darter, Neosho mucket) $80,000
-Habitat Protection for Topeka Shiner in Iowa and Minnesota $39,875
-Point Source Pollution Reduction within the Tumbling Creek Cave Recharge Area(Indiana bat, gray bat, Tumbling Creek cavesnail) $15,340
-Bliss Township Park Improvements/Protection for Piping Plover $3,685
-Private Landowner Outreach for the Piping Plover and Other Dune Inhabiting Species $2,050
-Seidner Dune and Swale-Karner Blue Butterfly Restoration $5,000
-Conservation Measures to Protect Gray Bat Summer Colony at Sellersburg, Indiana $7,800
Southeast Region
-Longleaf Pine/Red Cockaded Woodpecker Conservation Incentives $300,000
-TN Spring-and Seep-Dependent Species Conservation and Restoration Barrens topminnow and associated species, Royal snail, Sequatchie caddisfly) $75,000
-GA Flint River Surface and Groundwater Conservation $200,000
-AR Cave Gates (Cave crayfish, Ozark cavefish, Indiana bat, Gray bat, Ozark big-eared bat, Cave amphipod, Clantons amphipod, Cave isopod) $75,000
-KY Buck Creek Riparian Restoration (Cumberland bean, littlewing pearlymussel, Cumberlandian combshell, oystermussel, gray bat, Indiana bat $50,000
-GA Coosa Valley Prairie Habitat Restoration (Mohrs Barabara-buttons, Whorled sunflower, Coosa Valley Barren Herbaceous Vegetation, Thornes beackrush
-Cumberland rose gentian, Spreading yellow foxglove) $25,000
-AL Pitcher Plant Habitat Restoration $18,000
-AL Shelta Cave Gate Replacement (Gray bat, AL cave shrimp, Shelta cave crayfish, AL cave crayfish) $5,000
-PR Pitahaya Reforestation $35,000
-KY Rockcastle River Riparian Restoration (Cumberland bean, littlewing pearlymussel,Cumberlandian combshell, oystermussel, Cumberland elktoe, blackside dace) $25,000
-NC Red Wolf Habitat Conservation $25,000
Northeast Region
-Bog Turtle Habitat Management and Restoration Initiative (bog turtle, fen Buckmoth)$31,074
-Atlantic Salmon Landowner Incentive Program $184,000
-Bergen Swamp and Zurich Bog Restoration (bog turtle, Houghtons goldenrod,Massasauga Rattlesnake) $70,000
-Riparian Restoration and Water quality Improvement Projects for the Ohio River Valley Ecosystem $70,000
-Safe Harbor Program for the red-cockaded woodpecker in VA $51,400
Mountain Prairie Region
-Working Together for Grave Creek Restoration (bull trout, Westslope cutthroat trout)$13,500
-Development of CCAA for restoration of CO River cutthroat trout on the Uintah and Ouray Indian Reservation $50,000
-Habitat Creation and Enhancement for Gunnison Sage Grouse $100,000
-Protection of Critical Gunnison Sage Grouse Habitat (grouse, boreal toad, southwestern willow flycatcher) $50,000
-Habitat Restoration for Prebles Meadow Jumping Mouse $25,000
-KS High Plains Partnership (lesser prairie chicken, black-tailed prairie dog, burrowing owl, AR river shiner, ferruginous hawk, AR darter, red spotted toad, plains minnow) $109,006
-Tallgrass Prairie Community Health (American burying beetle, topeka shiner, Neosho madtom, Neosho mucket mussel) $50,000
-Riparian Protection and Enhancement, KS Tallgrass Prairie (American burying beetle, topeka shiner, Neosho madtom, Neosho mucket mussel) $50,000
-Strategic Watershed Restoration for Topeka Shiners: SD $40,000
Alaska Region
-Barrow Eider Conservation Plan (Stellars eiders) $82,000
-Kenai Brown Bear Conservation $136,581
