U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Distributes More Than $7 Million in Grants for Recovery Land Acquisition

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has awarded more than $7 million in grants to wildlife agencies in California, Washington and the Pacific Islands to purchase land that will benefit federally threatened and endangered species or federal candidate species.

"The Pacific Region continues to have the highest number of imperiled species of any region in the nation," said Anne Badgley, regional director of the Services Pacific Region, which includes Washington, Oregon, California, Idaho, Nevada, Hawaii and U.S.-affiliated Pacific islands. "These grants illustrate our effective partnerships with states and we look forward to working with them on projects that protect imperiled species."

The grants were awarded under Section 6 of the Endangered Species Act, which provides for funds to be given to states and territories, and through them, to communities and individuals, for species and habitat recovery actions on non-federal lands. Congress first funded Recovery Land Acquisition grants in 2001 in response to states and landowners growing interest 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