The states are among 25 nationwide that will receive more than $16 million in Federal funds for endangered species recovery and land acquisition programs. The grants are aimed at helping local partnerships acquire and protect crucial habitat and supporting the development of Habitat Conservation Plans that allow non-Federal landowners to use and develop their land while conserving listed species.
In awarding the grants, Interior Secretary Gale Norton said, "These grants are very much in line with my philosophy that states should be given more resources and greater flexibility to protect habitat and conserve threatened and endangered species. States will use these grants to strengthen and build vital and cost-effective conservation partnerships with local communities and with private landowners - partnerships that are essential to helping species prosper and recover."
Section 6 of the Endangered Species Act provides funds to States and territories, and through them, to communities and individuals, for species and habitat recovery actions on non-Federal lands. The grant awards are the first under the Recovery Land Acquisition and the Habitat Conservation Planning Assistance Grant programs. Congress funded these new grants to respond to the growing interest shown by States and landowners in managing their lands in ways that benefit species and their habitats. Non-Federal project partners contributed an average of 25 percent of their projects total costs.
Four states -- Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois and Wisconsin -- will share $517,500 to help the prairie bush-clover, a plant listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. The funding comes from the Acts Recovery Land Acquisition grants which provide funding to states to acquire lands to support approved endangered species recovery plans.
Efforts will focus on protecting remaining populations of the prairie bush-clover, a species found in native tallgrass prairie, which itself is disappearing from the landscape. Each state has identified lands on which prairie bush-clover occurs or is likely to occur. Working with willing landowners, grant funds will be used to acquire land or to protect, under conservation easements, remnants of the once vast tallgrass prairie ecosystem. Up to 390 acres of prairie bush-clover habitat could be acquired or protected using grant monies.
"The tallgrass prairies that support the prairie bush-clover are among this nations most endangered ecosystems," said Bill Hartwig, regional director for the Services Great Lakes-Big Rivers region. "With this funding, we can work with states to focus efforts on key pieces of habitat -- and move this species toward recovery."
Prairie bush-clover is a flowering plant from 9 to 18 inches high. Plants have a clover-like leaf and a grayish-silver sheen. Pale pink or cream-colored flowers bloom in mid-July. Protection through acquisition or conservation easement conservation easement
A conservation easement is a voluntary legal agreement between a landowner and a government agency or qualified conservation organization that restricts the type and amount of development that may take place on a property in the future. Conservation easements aim to protect habitat for birds, fish and other wildlife by limiting residential, industrial or commercial development. Contracts may prohibit alteration of the natural topography, conversion of native grassland to cropland, drainage of wetland and establishment of game farms. Easement land remains in private ownership.
Learn more about conservation easement is critical to the prairie bush-clover because prairies are often converted to agricultural use. Prairie ecosystems are naturally maintained through fire and other natural processes; acquired lands must be managed using mowing, prescribed burns or carefully managed grazing to allow the native prairie communities to flourish and to prevent them from being overtaken by woody vegetation.
Michigan will receive $712,866 to support development of a statewide Habitat Conservation Plan for the endangered Karner blue butterfly. Such plans allow participating landowners to use and develop their property while ensuring conservation measures are in place for endangered and threatened species. In Michigan, the Department of Natural Resources will use the funding to develop a Habitat Conservation Plan for the Karner blue throughout its range in the state, and to encourage partners to participate in the effort.
The Michigan DNR will conduct population and habitat surveys for the Karner blue butterfly in Michigan; develop an education and outreach program to highlight the Karner blue and its habitat and to encourage partnerships; and develop an ecosystem-based Habitat Conservation Plan, using a workgroup approach and public participation. The objectives are to increase habitat availability for the Karner blue as well as increase the species population levels to meet recovery goals in Michigan.
Pat Lederle, endangered species program coordinator for the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, said, "The Michigan DNR is excited about developing this plan in cooperation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and other private and state agency partners. Because we will be using a holistic, ecosystem management approach, this plan will have long-term positive impacts on the habitats required for the recovery of this species."
Karner blue butterflies depend on wild lupine plant leaves, which are the only food source for Karner blue caterpillars. Wisconsin and Michigan support the largest populations of Karner blue butterflies; remnant populations are found in Indiana, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New York, and possibly Illinois. Habitat throughout the range of the species has been lost due to land development and lack of natural disturbance, such as wildfire and grazing by large animals. Such disturbance helps maintain the butterflys habitat by setting back encroaching forests, encouraging lupine and flowering plants.
Information on the Karner blue butterfly and prairie bush-clover can be found at the Services Great Lake-Big Rivers website at http://midwest.fws.gov/endangered More details on the nationwide grants to states for endangered species conservation are available at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service website at http://www.fws.gov
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.
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service | | | | | | |
