As part of a continuing effort to work in partnership with private landowners, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is distributing 48 grants worth $5 million to projects in 28 states and Puerto Rico to help citizens conduct endangered species conservation activities on private property. Texas snagged almost $1 million of the available $5 for three projects benefitting endangered species in coastal prairies, the high plains and the Edwards Plateau.
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 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.
"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 three Texas initiatives to receive funds are:
Coastal Prairies
Texas Gulf Coast prairie conservation efforts have been awarded a grant of $500,000.
The funds will be used to help private landowners with prairie restoration and enhancement efforts aimed at protecting the endangered Attwater
