The grants provide funding for 16 projects and will be supplemented with nearly $13 million from state and private partners. The states include Alaska, Georgia, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, North Carolina, Texas, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin. The grants will be used to acquire, restore or enhance coastal wetlands for long-term conservation benefits to wildlife and habitat. Partners in this years projects include state and local governments, private landowners and conservation groups such as Ducks Unlimited, the Trust for Public Land and the Wildlife Forever Foundation.
Citizen-stewards are often our most effective conservationists, and programs like the National Coastal Wetlands Conservation Grant program empower them," Interior Secretary Gale Norton said. "P eople working in partnership will help us ensure that we can pass along to our children and grandchildren a country that is as healthy and whole as the one we inherited."
Texas Parks and Wildlife and its partners, will receive a $1 million grant towards a $1,508,000 project that will acquire 1,500 acres in the West Bay Conservation Corridor, which is adjacent to West Bay in Galveston County. The land includes marsh and coastal prairie that provide habitat for many migratory birds, finfish and shellfish. In addition, another 42 acres of shallow open water will be restored to an estuarine marsh. Harborwalk-Watkins Properties, Trust for Public Lands, and Scenic Galveston, Inc. are partners in the project and will provide matching funds of $508,000 as well as inkind services.
Coastal wetland loss in the Galveston Bay system is a continuing concern because of the essential roles that wetlands perform for water quality as well as for fish and wildlife species. "There have been several habitat restoration and protection projects undertaken in the West Bay Conservation Corridor which have resulted in more than 5,000 acres preserved or restored," said Dale Hall, Director of the Service's Southwest Region. "I am pleased that this grant will help to further the conservation efforts begun by the community.?
National Coastal Wetlands Conservation grants are awarded to states through a competitive process. The program is funded by the 1990 Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection and Restoration Act. Funding for the program is generated from excise taxes on fishing equipment and motorboat and small engine fuels. These taxes are deposited into the Sport Fish Restoration Account of the Aquatic Resources Trust Fund.
To date, the Service has awarded almost $152 million in grants to states and a U.S. territory under the program. When the 2005 grants projects are complete, they will have protected and/or restored almost 22,000 acres. Almost 189,000 acres will have been protected or restored since the wetlands grant program began in 1990.
For more information about the National Coastal Wetlands Conservation Grant Program contact the National Coastal Wetlands Conservation Grant Program, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 4401 North Fairfax Drive, Arlington, VA 22203 or Division of Federal Aid, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 4401 North Fairfax Drive, Arlington, VA 22203; or check the programs Internet home page at http://www.fws.gov/cep/cwgcover.html.
This year, the program became the first Service grant program to accept proposals electronically through grants.gov">. The grants.gov"> website is a cross-agency E-Government initiative, spanning 900 federal financial assistance programs and $350 billion in annual grants.
2 6ptThe 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.
-http://southwest.fws.gov-
