As part of a continuing effort to work in partnership with landowners, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) is distributing nine grants worth over $460,000 to projects throughout the Midwest to help citizens conduct endangered species conservation activities on private property. Nationally the Service is awarding 48 grants worth $5 million to projects in 28 states and Puerto Rico.
"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. "I 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, the Service has made more than 100 grants worth $15 million. 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 and Wildlife Service. "That 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."
An example of one grant awarded is the Karner Blue Butterfly and Eastern Massasauga Rattlesnake project in Wisconsin. This $157,260 grant will help continue work on a two-year-old effort to protect these species. To date, 178 landowners have contributed over 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.
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 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.
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.
For further information about the programs and activities of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in the Great Lakes-Big Rivers Region, please visit our Home Page at: http://midwest.fws.gov
Title and grant amount for the Great Lakes-Big Rivers Region of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
| Project Title | Dollars awarded for projects |
| 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 |
