Interior Secretary Gale A. Norton announced today that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will award $60 million in wildlife grants to state and territorial wildlife agencies. The State Wildlife Grant program is designed to assist states in developing and implementing programs that benefit wildlife and their habitats. The funds are made available through annual appropriations.
Eight Midwestern states will receive a total of more than $10.9 million in grants.
" States have vast experience with and knowledge of conservation issues within their borders. The grant program taps into this expertise and demonstrates our commitment to conservation partnerships with state wildlife agencies," said Secretary Norton. "This program exemplifies our approach by helping states to tailor their conservation efforts in a manner that best fits local conditions."
To be eligible for State Wildlife Grant funds, each state completed a Comprehensive Wildlife Conservation Plan or Strategy. The state plans were created in a collaborative effort that included biologists, conservationists, landowners, sportsmen, and the general public. The plans were reviewed by a national team that included the Fish and Wildlife Service and directors from state wildlife agencies.
“ The bottom line is that we use a strong pro-active approach in constructing our state wildlife action plans to ensure the health and survival of all wildlife,” says John Cooper, president of the International Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies. “It has resulted in closer working relationships with other conservation agencies and organization within our states. Never has such a comprehensive set of plans been constructed with so much input.”
A state may receive no more than 5 percent or less than 1 percent of the available funds. The District of Columbia and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico each receives 0.5 percent and Guam, American Samoa, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands each receive 0.25 percent. The apportionment is based on a formula that uses the state’s land area and population.
Apportionments in the Service’s Midwest Region are as follows:
Illinois $2,054,929
Indiana $1,061,073
Iowa $759,091
Michigan $1,729,667
Minnesota $1,210,867
Missouri $1,209,169
Ohio $1,813,457
Wisconsin $1,090,853
Under legislation signed by President Bush in 2001, states and territories so far have received $317 million in grants for conservation efforts.
The Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance Number for the State Wildlife Grants is 15.634.
To learn more about a particular states plan, go to <http://www.teaming.com/wildlife_state.htm>. To see a state-by-state funding table, go to <http://federalaid.fws.gov>.
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.
