Interior Secretary Gale Norton applauded President Bush for signing an executive order today in support of cooperative conservation and announced $16 million in cost-share conservation grants to private landowners and Native American tribes. The grants will support 150 projects to conserve threatened, endangered and at-risk species across the country.
“With today’s executive order, President Bush has made working in voluntary partnership with states, local communities, tribes, private landowners and others the gold standard for our conservation efforts,” Norton said. “The grants we are announcing today meet that standard by empowering tribes and private citizens to do what the federal government cannot do alone – conserve habitat for imperiled species on private and tribal lands.”
Norton announced the grants through three programs begun by President Bush – the Private Stewardship Grant program, the Tribal Landowner Incentive Program, and the Tribal Wildlife Grant Program.
Under the Private Stewardship Grant program, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will award $7 million in grants to support 97 projects undertaken by private landowners and groups in 39 states. The new grants will benefit species ranging from the bog turtle in the eastern United States to the O’ahu ’elepaio, an endangered forest bird in Hawaii. The recipients of the grants must contribute at least a 10 percent match in non-federal dollars or in-kind contributions.
“This program is modeled on a successful program developed by President Bush when he was governor of Texas,” FWS Director Steve Williams said. “Over the past two years, we have empowered landowners to undertake more than 200 projects that improve habitat for imperiled species on their property. The most effective conservation projects are those conceived and carried-out by the people who live and work on the land.”
In the Service’s Great Lake-Big Rivers region, 15 projects in seven states received Private Stewardship grants totaling more than $718,000. The following Private Stewardship Grants were funded today for the Great Lakes-Big Rivers Region:
Illinois
Managing Habitat for the Threatened Eastern Prairie Fringed Orchid in Northeastern Illinois – Lake County, Illinois – ($25,000)
Menard County Illinois Hill Prairie - Menard County, Illinois – ($19,800)
Indiana
Fen Restoration, Marshall County, Indiana ($13,900)
NIPSCO Dune Acres/Calumet Trail Restoration, Porter County, Indiana ($11,082)
Iowa
Control of Invasive Honeysuckle to Protect and Improve Habitat for Endangered Species, Iowa County, Iowa, ($10,000)
Michigan
Endangered Great Lakes Piping Plover Protection and Monitoring in Northern Michigan, Alger County, Michigan ($16,635)
Stewardship of a Regionally Significant Conservation Area in Michigan, Multiple Counties, Michigan, ($100,000)
Minnesota
Southeastern Minnesota Prairie and Savanna Restoration Project: Filmore, Houston, Olmsted, and Mower Counties, Minnesota, ($70,300)
Restoring Topeka shiner habitat on the Rock river in southwest Minnesota, Rock County, Minnesota, ($30,000)
Missouri
Missouri Prairie Habitat Revitalization: Barton, Vernon, St. Clair, Dade and Callaway Counties, Missouri, ($69,500)
Meramec River Watershed Restoration for Rare Mussels: Franklin, Gasconade, and Crawford Counties, Missouri, ($60,000)
Habitat enhancement and restoration for select listed species at five Missouri sites: Reynolds, Dade, Barton, Benton, and Greene Counties, Missouri, ($50,000)
WisconsinKarner Blue Butterfly and Associated Declining Species of Savanna Barrens, Multiple Counties, Wisconsin, ($152,727)
Protecting State Threatened and Endangered Species in Wisconsin’s Driftless Area Barrens, Iowa County, Wisconsin, ($30,000)
Kinnickinnic River Canyon Project, St. Croix County, Wisconsin, ($60,000)
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 95-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System, which encompasses 544 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands and other special management areas. It also operates 69 national fish hatcheries, 64 fishery resources offices and 81 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 and Native American tribal governments with their conservation efforts. It also oversees the Federal Assistance program, which distributes hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes on fishing and hunting equipment to state fish and wildlife agencies.
