The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced nearly $19 million in competitive funding for 37 States and Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin fish and wildlife agencies under the Bush Administrations innovative Landowner Incentive Program (LIP). The program supports cooperative efforts with private landowners interested in conserving natural habitat for species at risk, including Federally listed endangered or threatened species and proposed or candidate species.
Seven Midwestern states – Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri and Wisconsin -- will share more than $2.6 million in LIP grants for conservation programs for at-risk species.
"Conservation, especially conservation of imperiled species, must be a partnership between the American people and their government," said Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne. "By providing these grants, we empower citizens to restore habitat on their land and take other steps to protect and recover endangered, threatened and at-risk species."
LIP, funded through competitive grants with money from the Land and Water Conservation Fund, establishes or supplements existing landowner incentive programs that provide technical or financial assistance to private landowners. All grants need to be matched by at least 25 percent from a non-Federal source.
States in the Midwest will receive the following funding through the Landowner Incentive Program:
The Illinois Department of Natural Resources will receive nearly $946,000 and match nearly $491,000 to continue work in the Lower Sangamon River Watershed and will expand into the Alton Bluffs area near St. Louis. Proposed projects will include hill prairie restoration, invasive species control, timber stand improvement and restoration of prairies, wetlands, forests and streams.
The Indiana Division of Fish and Wildlife will receive $180,000 and match $60,000 to conserve more than 100 species of concern. In past years, biologists developed best management practices for species as diverse as the blue-spotted salamander, Kirtland’s snake, the northern cave fish, and the spotted darter. Now this new grant money will be used to recruit landowners interested in implementing these practices on their property. The agency expects to work with more than 700 landowners through the life of this grant.
The Iowa Department of Natural Resources will receive $180,000 and match $60,000 to implement monitoring protocols developed and approved through the Iowa Wildlife Action Plan. It is important that monitoring approaches are expanded and refined by gathering baseline data and standardizing protocols.
The Michigan Department of Natural Resources will receive nearly $946,000 and match $404,038 to provide private landowners with technical support to develop habitat projects on private land in the southern grasslands and wetlands, northern pine barrens and jack pine forests, and northern conifers. Proposed projects include invasive species invasive species
An invasive species is any plant or animal that has spread or been introduced into a new area where they are, or could, cause harm to the environment, economy, or human, animal, or plant health. Their unwelcome presence can destroy ecosystems and cost millions of dollars.
Learn more about invasive species removal, prescribed fire, restoring hydrology, and planting native vegetation.The Minnesota Division of Fish and Wildlife will receive $108,488 and match $36,163 to continue and expand work in the prairie, bluffland and Southeast forest habitat areas.
The Missouri Department of Conservation will receive $180,000 and match $60,000 to expand the private land conservation component of the Department’s endangered species program.
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources will receive $68,761 and match $22,921 to work with private landowners on habitats in the prairie and savannah habitat areas as well as in the northern Lake Michigan coastal ecological landscape.
Landowners interested in participating in LIP should contact their State fish and wildlife agency. For more information about the grant programs, please visit http://federalaid.fws.gov/lip/lip.html. The Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance reference number is 15.633.
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.
