The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced today that almost $9 million in grants will go to sixty Native American conservation projects in eighteen states.
Here in Alaska, the Villages of Chickaloon, Kaktovik and Kotzebue, and the Hoonah Indian Association, will share more than $750,000 in federal Tribal Wildlife Grant funds, which will be paired with a total of more than $400,000 in matching resources, for projects including fish habitat restoration, seal habitat and population research, and natural resource management. The Telida Village Council will be using a total of more than $100,000 in federal and matching funds under the Tribal Landowner Incentive program to enhance local moose habitat.
Landowner Incentive Program grants focus on the protection, restoration and management of habitat to benefit species at risk, including Federally-listed endangered or threatened species, proposed or candidate species, and species of tribal concern. The Tribal Wildlife Grant program, on the other hand, provides funding to defray the cost of the implementation of programs that benefit fish and wildlife and their habitat, including species that are not hunted or fished.
The grants made to Federally-recognized Indian tribes were made possible under the Related Agencies Appropriations Act of 2002, and through a component of the State Wildlife Grant program.
A new publication, Tribal Wildlife Grant and Tribal Landowner Incentive Program Periodic Report 2006, provides brief summaries of all grants awarded since the programs were initiated, with feature-length articles on twenty projects. Copies of the report are available through the office of the Native American Liaison by contacting Patrick Durham at pat_durham@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 547 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 Aid program that 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">"
