The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will award more than $15 million in grants to 12 states to help conserve, restore and protect coastal wetlands, Interior Secretary Gale Norton announced today.
States included in fiscal year 2006 under the National Coastal Wetlands Conservation Grant Program include Alabama, Alaska, California, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, Texas and Washington.
The grants provide funding for 19 projects and will be supplemented with more than $12 million from state and private partners. The grants are used to acquire, restore or enhance coastal wetlands for long-term conservation benefits to wildlife and habitat. Partners in this year’s projects include state and local governments, private landowners and conservation groups such as The Nature Conservancy, Ducks Unlimited, Scenic Galveston, Inc., Wildlife Forever Foundation, and many others.
In the Fish and Wildlife Service’s Great Lakes–Big Rivers Region, three grant projects in Illinois and Michigan will receive a total of more than $2.4 million in grants, to be matched by more than $2 million in partner and state funds. Grant descriptions are at the end of this release.
“ When people at so many different levels come together in these kinds of projects, everybody wins,” Norton said. “This is the kind of effort that makes it possible for us to leave a real legacy for our children and grandchildren.”
National Coastal Wetlands Conservation grants are awarded to states through a competitive process. The program is funded under provisions of the 1990 Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection and Restoration Act, with money generated from excise taxes on fishing equipment and motorboat and small engine fuels.
“ These are win-win projects,” said Service Director Dale Hall. “I’m very excited when we’re able to leverage the taxpayer dollar with our partners and get a lot more value for the money.”
Including the 2006 grants, the Service has awarded more than $165 million in grants to states and insular areas since the program began; when the 2006 projects are complete, they will have protected, restored or enhanced about 14,000 acres. A total of more than 200,000 acres will have been protected or restored since the grant program began.
For more information, 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 Assistance, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 4401 North Fairfax Drive, Arlington, VA 22203, or visit the program’s home page at http://www.fws.gov/coastal/CoastalGrants/.
The 2006 National Coastal Wetlands Conservation Grant projects for Illinois and Michigan are:
Illinois
Hegewisch Marsh Restoration. The Office of the Lieutenant Governor, in cooperation with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Agency, will restore 55 acres of a 100-acre coastal wetland of Lake Michigan within the 4,800 acre Calumet Open Space Reserve in south Chicago. Restoration will include the removal of non-natives, planting native plants and excavations to provide more emergent wetland areas.
Partners: City of Chicago, the Conservation Fund and the Field Museum of Natural History.
Coastal grant: $750,000
State share: $218,501
Partners share: $292,038
Total cost: $1,260,539
Michigan
Detroit River Wetland Restoration and Enhancement. Michigan’s Department of Natural Resources will restore or enhance 65 acres in and adjacent to the Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge. The Canada-United States North American Waterfowl Management Plan has identified the Detroit River and western Lake Erie as one of 34 waterfowl areas of major concern.
Partners: Wayne County, Friends of the Detroit River and Integrated Vegetation Management Partners, Inc.
Coastal grant: $746,000
Partners share: $535,000
Total cost: $1,281,000
Keweenaw County Land Acquisition. The Michigan Department of Natural Resources will acquire 1,475 acres along the coast of Lake Superior on the Keweenaw Peninsula in Keweenaw County. Three federally-listed species that would benefit include the gray wolf, Canada lynx and bald eagle.
Partners: North Woods Conservancy, The Nature Conservancy and Eagle Harbor Township.
Coastal grant: $928,000
State share: $200,200
Partners share: $797,875
Total cost: $1,926,075
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.
