Midwest States Receive $770,338 to Conserve Rare Species
ST. GEORGE, S.C. -- Acting Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks Matt Hogan announced today grants totaling more than $6.9 million are being awarded to private landowners and groups in 35 states through the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Private Stewardship Grants program to undertake conservation projects on their land for endangered, threatened and other at-risk species.
In the Midwest, grants totaling $770,338 will benefit at-risk species in Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, and Wisconsin.
Hogan’s announcement came at Brosnan Forest, located northwest of Charleston, South Carolina, where he drew attention to Milliken Forestry Resources, Inc., and the work it is doing with nearly four dozen private landowners to restore and improve longleaf pine habitats on 17,645 acres to benefit red-cockaded woodpeckers. Milliken will receive $464,925 - the largest single private stewardship grant awarded since the program was created four years ago to benefit species conservation on private lands and bolster collaborative conservation.
“ The Private Stewardship Grants program helps conservationists build new partnerships and strengthen existing ones to benefit wildlife conservation,” Hogan said. “This grant program is a Bush Administration initiative launched four years ago to empower citizens to conserve imperiled species on private lands across the nation. What the people at Milliken are accomplishing with the help of private landowners here is a testament to the benefit of that kind of empowerment.”
Administered by the Department of the Interior’s U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, each of the 80 grants awarded today require at least a 10 percent match in non-federal dollars or in-kind contributions.
The Private Stewardship Grants Program provides federal grants on a competitive basis to individuals and groups engaged in voluntary conservation efforts on private lands for species protected by the Endangered Species Act, candidate species or other at-risk species. Under this program, private landowners, as well as groups working with private landowners, submit proposals directly to the Service for funding to support these efforts.
The Administration has requested funding of $9.4 million for this program in 2007; last year, 72 grants totaling $5.7 million were awarded to private individuals and groups in 38 states and one Territory. In the first three years of the program, 282 grants totaling more than $22 million were awarded to private landowners across the country.
“ We recognize that endangered species can only successfully recover if we work cooperatively with landowners and communities to promote voluntary stewardship on private lands,” Service Director H. Dale Hall said. “Private stewardship grants provide critical support to landowners who voluntarily conserve threatened and endangered species.”
The Private Stewardship Grant program is one of a variety of tools under the ESA that help landowners plan and implement projects to conserve species. Other cooperative measures under the ESA include Habitat Conservation Plans, Safe Harbor Agreements, and Candidate Conservation Agreements. These grants and cooperative agreements provide incentives to foster citizen participation in the stewardship of our nation’s natural resources.
Among today’s other grant recipients are Audubon of Kansas, which will use a grant of $83,000 to work with four ranchers to conserve black-tailed prairie dogs that will provide sufficient habitat for restoration of the endangered black-footed ferret. In another example, Trout Unlimited in Lincoln County, Wyoming, will receive $120,000 to re-water a portion of Grade Creek to enable Bonneville cutthroat trout to migrate to their historic spawning grounds on Grade Creek.
In the Midwest, grants are awarded for:
Indiana
Habitat enhancement for state-listed and conserved fen species - (application by private landowner) - Marshall County, Indiana – ($18,125) Species benefiting from stewardship activities include northern leopard frog, Blanding’s turtle, eastern massasauga, and marsh club moss.
Iowa
Southern Iowa oak savanna and tallgrass prairie restoration initiative - (application by the Decatur County Economic Development Board) - Decatur and Ringgold Counties, Iowa – ($125,000) - Practices will benefit the Henslow’s sparrow, greater prairie chicken, the eastern prairie fringed orchid, and at least 12 other at-risk plant species. This project is a collaborative effort among Decatur County, Graceland University, Southern Iowa Oak Savanna Alliance, Iowa Department of Natural Resources, and The Nature Conservancy.
Michigan
Endangered Great Lakes piping plover protection and monitoring in Northern Michigan - (application by Central Lake Superior Land Conservancy) - Alger, Chippewa, and Schoolcraft Counties, Michigan – ($69,373) - Piping plover monitoring and protection at Grand Marais, Vermilion, and Gulliver, Michigan. Activities supported by this grant are a part of a multi-agency partnership among the National Park Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Forest Service and the states of Michigan and Wisconsin, and will be conducted over a two-year period.
Kalamazoo Nature Center fen and upland restoration project - (application by Kalamazoo Nature Center) - Kalamazoo County, Michigan - ($28,559) Funds will be used to protect and enhance fen and upland habitats that support 21 state-listed species, including the eastern massasauga (snake), Blanding’s turtle, spotted turtle, and the cut-leaved water parsnip.
Minnesota
Southeast Minnesota Prairie and Savanna Restoration Project - (application by Prairie Smoke Chapter of The Prairie Enthusiasts) - Fillmore, Houston, Mower, and Olmsted Counties, Minnesota - ($99,500) - The habitat in the top 4 four priority identified prairie remnants will be recovered, enhanced and expanded to benefit at-risk species, including cliff goldenrod, Hill’s thistle, and the timber rattlesnake.
Rare species habitat restoration within an 80-acre residential property – (application by private landowner) - Anoka County, Minnesota - ($40,000) - Private landowner will restore, enhance and manage habitats supporting the tubercled rein orchid, lance-leaved violet, and Blanding’s turtle.
Missouri
Maries River Watershed Restoration for private landowners and Niangua darters - (application by private landowner) - Osage and Maries Counties, Missouri – ($85,000) - The Maries River Watershed Landowner Committee will implement best management practices within the Maries River watershed to benefit the endangered Niangua darter, as well as 12 other at-risk species, such as plains topminnow, grotto salamander, and black sandshell. This is a collaborative conservation effort among the landowners, Osage and Maries Counties Soil and Water Conservation District, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Farm Services Agency, Natural Resources Conservation Service, Missouri Department of Natural Resources, Missouri Department of Conservation, University of Missouri Extension, Maries/Osage Cattleman’s Association, Osage Independent Pork Producers, National Wild Turkey Federation, Quail Unlimited, and the Conservation Federation of Missouri.
Groundwater protection in the Tumbling Creek Cave Recharge Area - (application by Ozark Underground Laboratory, Inc.) - Taney County, Missouri – ($26,988) - This grant addresses management activities located in the groundwater recharge area to Tumbling Creek Cave, which provides habitat for 10 species of conservation concern, including the endangered Tumbling Creek cavesnail, Indiana bat, and gray bat.
Ohio
Restoration of oak savanna and wet prairie communities at St. Michaels Ridge - (application by private landowner) - Defiance County, Ohio – ($11,050) - This project will help restore 20 acres of black oak savanna on a centennial farm on St. Michael’s Ridge, along with 30 acres of wet prairie and swamp forest, to benefit 10 state-listed species including the frosted elfin and Persius dusky wing butterflies.
Wisconsin
Kinnickinnic River canyon prairie and oak savanna recovery project - (application by the Kinnikinnic River Land Trust) - Pierce County, Wisconsin – ($40,000) - The grant will help restore prairie and oak savanna habitats for several at-risk species, including prairie bush clover (threatened), timber rattlesnake, prairie fame-flower, and kitten-tails.
Critical habitat restoration in driftless area of southwest Wisconsin - (application by the Mississippi Valley Conservancy) - Crawford, Grant, La Crosse, and Vernon counties, Wisconsin – ($40,000) - This grant will target six areas for restoration on over 1,250 acres of bluffland, sand prairie, goat prairie, riverine wetland, and grassland habitats. These areas support 28 at-risk species, including timber rattlesnake, Blanding’s turtle, Henslow’s sparrow, Hill’s thistle, and northern monkshood (threatened).
Military Ridge Prairie Heritage Area Prairie Restoration Project - (application by The Prairie Enthusiasts) - Dane and Iowa counties, Wisconsin – ($75,000) - Funds will restore 236 acres of degraded prairie remnants on 11 sites to create large tracts of uninterrupted habitat for eight at-risk species including regal fritillary, turberous Indian plantain, Hill’s thistle, white lady’s slipper, Bell’s vireo, and ornate box turtle.
Karner blue butterfly and associated declining species of savanna and barrens - (application by Sand County Foundation, Inc.) - Portage, Waupaca, Outagamie, Waushara, Adams, Marquette, Green Lake, Jackson, Wood, Juneau, and Monroe counties, Wisconsin – ($111,743) - Working in partnership with 15 landowners, 500 acres of habitat will be enhanced and restored through invasive species control, prescribed fire, tree canopy reductions, and native prairie seeding. Fifty-six at-risk species will benefit from this project including the prairie bush clover, Karner blue butterfly, loggerhead shrike, Blanding’s turtle, eastern massasauga, ottoe skipper, and frosted elfin butterfly.
A complete list of the 2006 Private Stewardship Grant Program recipients can be found at: http://www.fws.gov/endangered/grants/private_stewardship/index.html
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.
