The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced today it is seeking proposals for private lands conservation funding through its Private Stewardship Grants Program. About $6.5 million is available FY 2005 through this grant program to support on-the-ground conservation efforts on private lands.
As envisioned by President Bush, this program provides Federal grants on a competitive basis to individuals and groups engaged in voluntary conservation efforts on private lands that benefit imperiled species including federally listed endangered or threatened species as well as proposed, candidate and other at-risk species. Landowners and their partners may submit proposals directly to the Service for funding to support those efforts.
In August 2004, the Service awarded 97 grants totaling more than $7 million to individuals and groups to undertake conservation projects for endangered, threatened and other at-risk species on private lands in 39 states. Southeastern states received a total of 1.3 million under the Private Stewardship Grant Program.
The following are examples of how these grants support private conservation efforts and foster the development of voluntary partnerships:
Longleaf pine restoration in Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, and Florida ($200,000). Planting and rehabilitation of longleaf pine sites will benefit more than 21 federally-listed or rare species including the red-cockaded woodpecker, eastern indigo snake, and Red Hills salamander.
A diverse partnership of organizations in Maryland, Pennsylvania and New York received a grant of $55,522 to support local efforts to recover, enhance and restore bog turtle habitat on private lands. Woody and invasive plants have taken over much of the habitat needed for turtle conservation.
Private lands habitat enhancement in Colorado and South Dakota ($114,675) will restore shortgrass prairie rangelands to benefit grassland and riparian riparian
Definition of riparian habitat or riparian areas.
Learn more about riparian species at risk, principally declining grassland birds. Six individual projects were awarded a total of $114,675 to support their various management plans that include reseeding cropland to native prairie, removing invasive species invasive species
An invasive species is any plant or animal that has spread or been introduced into a new area where they are, or could, cause harm to the environment, economy, or human, animal, or plant health. Their unwelcome presence can destroy ecosystems and cost millions of dollars.
Learn more about invasive species , and altering livestock grazing management.
Several private landowners adjacent to the Rock River in southwest Minnesota will use their $30,000 to work together to restore Topeka shiner habitat by protecting and maintaining the river bank, off channel areas, and adjacent upland fields to reduce erosion and sedimentation into the river and off-channel habitats that are important to this fish.
For more information regarding this grant opportunity and on how and where to submit proposals, please visit the Services Private Stewardship Grants Website at http://endangered.fws.gov/grants/private_stewardship.html. The Private Stewardship Grants Program is identified in the Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance as number 15.632.
You may also contact: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Branch of State Grants, Endangered Species Program, 4401 N. Fairfax Drive, Room 420, Arlington, VA 22203 Phone: (703) 358-2061.
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 545 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.
