Six Midwestern states will receive more than $2.1 million to boost planning and land acquisition efforts aimed at conserving federally endangered and threatened species. Funds are part of a $70.5 million national grants program announced by Interior Secretary Gale Norton for projects in 26 states through the Cooperative Endangered Species Conservation Fund.
The grants to Midwestern states will strengthen recovery efforts in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin, benefiting endangered species such as the colorful Hine’s emerald dragonfly, the Mitchell’s satyr (a butterfly) and the clubshell mussel, as well as two threatened plants.
“ Recovery of threatened and endangered species cannot be accomplished without the active support of private landowners. These grants will enable our state partners to work cooperatively with landowners, communities, and tribes to restore and protect habitat and undertake other management actions that will benefit dozens of imperiled species across the nation,” said Interior Secretary Gale Norton.
Authorized by Section 6 of the Endangered Species Act, the grants enable states to work with private landowners, conservation groups and other agencies to initiate conservation planning efforts and acquire and protect habitat to support the conservation of threatened and endangered species.
Nationwide, the cooperative endangered species fund this year provides $8.5 million through the Habitat Conservation Planning Assistance Grants Program; $48.6 million through the Habitat Conservation Plan Land Acquisition Grants Program; and $13.4 million through the Recovery Land Acquisition Grants Program. The three programs were established to help reduce potential conflicts between the conservation of threatened and endangered species and land development and use.
The Habitat Conservation Planning Assistance Program provides grants to states and territories to support the development of Habitat Conservation Plans, through funding of baseline surveys and inventories, document preparation, outreach, and similar planning activities.
These HCPs, which are agreements between a landowner and the Service, allow a landowner to incidentally take threatened or endangered species in the course of otherwise lawful activities when that landowner agrees to conservation measures designed to minimize and mitigate the impact of taking. HCPs may also be developed by a county or state to cover certain activities of all landowners within their own jurisdiction; it may address multiple species. There are more than 469 HCPs currently in effect covering 588 separate species on approximately 40 million acres. The grants are targeted to help landowners who want to undertake proactive conservation work on their lands to conserve imperiled species.
In Indiana and Michigan, an $880,000 HCP Planning Assistance Grant will allow planning to begin for a multi-state Mitchell’s Satyr Butterfly Habitat Conservation Plan to be developed jointly by the Indiana and Michigan Departments of Natural Resources through a 3-year planning process. The plan is needed to efficiently secure incidental take permits to conduct management activities for this endangered butterfly in occupied habitat. A broad stakeholder group is currently working toward recovery of the species as part of the Mitchell’s satyr butterfly working group.
In Illinois, $370,163 in grant funds under the HCP Planning Assistance Program will help recovery the Hine’s emerald dragonfly in Cook and Will counties. This Habitat Conservation Plan brings together a wealth of diverse views and expertise and will address impacts, such as filling and water quality issues, throughout the dragonfly’s range in northern Illinois. The strong, broad partnership base has committed to contribute over $800,000 to fill data gaps necessary in the planning process.
The Recovery Land Acquisition Grants Program provides funds to states and territories to acquire habitat for endangered and threatened species in approved recovery plans. Acquisition of habitat to secure long-term protection is often an essential element of a comprehensive recovery effort for a listed species.
The Iowa and Wisconsin Departments of Natural Resources will receive $444,193 to acquire 265 acres for the conservation and protection of prairie bush clover. The Iowa Department of Natural Resources will acquire a 165-acre parcel known as Washington Prairie located in Butler County, Iowa. Acquisition will facilitate management for the benefit of prairie bush clover on this site by the department. The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources will acquire a 100-acre site in Dane County that contains 10 acres of prairie remnant adjacent to the largest population of prairie bush clover in the state.
The Ohio Department of Natural Resources will receive $208,654 to acquire a 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 for small whorled pogonia, a plant, at Camp Oty’Okwa, one of three residential camps in the country owned and operated by a Big Brothers Big Sisters agency. The 160-acre easement would protect the small whorled pogonia population as well as provide a buffer of similar habitat where more plants could potentially be found.
Also in Ohio, the Department of Natural Resources will receive $244,890 to acquire conservation easements in Ashtabula County to aid in recovery efforts for the clubshell mussel. The aim is to continue to secure permanent conservation easements from willing landowners along the main stem of Pymatuning Creek.
For a complete list of the 2005 grant awards for these programs (Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance Number 15.615), see the Services Endangered Species Grants home page at http://www.fws.gov/endangered/grants/
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, 63 fishery resource 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 Aid program that distributes hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes on fishing and hunting equipment to state fish and wildlife agencies.
