The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will award more than $7 million to other countries to aid in their conservation of imperiled wildlife, Director Dale Hall announced today.
"America has a rich tradition of taking a leadership role in supporting wildlife conservation globally, said Hall. "These grants continue that tradition by offering on-the-ground support to governments, not-for-profit organizations, businesses, and landowners who are making a real difference in wildlife conservation."
The grants, awarded through the Services Wildlife Without Borders-Regional programs and the Multinational Species Conservation Fund programs, target support to a wide array of international species conservation initiatives and capacity-building programs abroad. The international grant programs are authorized under a suite of treaties and laws, including the U.S. Endangered Species Act, the Multinational Species Conservation Funds, and the Western Hemisphere Convention.
"These programs provide assistance for species that Americans cherish, and that need our help," said Herb Raffaele, Service Chief of the Division of International Conservation. "In addition, they create opportunities for building infrastructure in these regions through training workshops, outreach efforts, technology and information exchange, and much more."
The Wildlife Without Borders-Regional Program grants focused assistance in Latin America and the Caribbean, with half the assistance going to projects in Mexico which shares many of its wildlife species with the United States. Examples of grants that will make a difference on the ground in these regions, include a partnership with the Wildlife Conservation Society to help in the conservation of the spectacled bear in the Central Andes of Colombia, a partnership with Defenders of Wildlife to examine and find ways to stem the illegal trade in parrots in Mexico, and a partnership with Ecology Project International that will establish a conservation education program and scientific training with five high schools in the United States and the Galapagos Islands. About 100 students from the eight schools will travel to the Charles Darwin Research Station in the islands, to monitor population trends in local wildlife.
The Multinational Species Conservation funds grant awards assist in the recovery of elephants, rhinos, tigers, great apes and marine turtles, and includes a partnership with the Wildlife Trust of India to equip field staff in areas where tigers are protected with anti-poaching kits. Some 400 forest guards of Buxa Tiger Reserve in West Bengal and Manas National Park in Assam will be issued the equipment. Other representative efforts are a partnership with the Wildlife Conservation Society to help with sea turtle research and conservation in Gabon, which has the largest leatherback turtle population in the world, and work in Nigeria and southwestern Cameroon to assist a program that seeks to help with conservation of the Cross River Gorilla, one of the most endangered of apes.
The Services Wildlife Without Borders-Regional Programs and the Multinational Species Conservation Fund grants leveraged over $13 million in matching funds and in-kind donations in 2005, which averaged out to almost two dollars raised for every dollar contributed.
For a complete list of the 2005 grant awards for these programs (Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance Numbers 15.619, 15.620, 15.621, 15.629, 15.640, 15.641, and 15.645), see the Services Wildlife Without Borders Programs home page at http://www.fws.gov/international/DICprograms/wwbp.htm.
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 542 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands and other special management areas. It also operates 69 national fish hatcheries, 64 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 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.
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For more information about the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service visit our home page at http://www.fws.gov">
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