The Interior Departments 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. Of this amount, nearly $1.6 million will be distributed to Tribes in Washington and Idaho.
Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne called the Tribal Landowner Incentive and Tribal Wildlife Grant programs "an important part in the departments effort to support tribal sovereignty, culture and fish and wildlife resource management programs."
The Tribal Landowner Incentive Program will provide more than $2.5 million to fund twenty four projects, and the Tribal Wildlife Grants program will fund thirty six proposals with more than $6.3 million.
The Tribal 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, as well as species of tribal concern.
The Tribal Wildlife Grant program provides funding to defray the cost of 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 a program created within the State Wildlife Grant program, also in 2002.
A new publication, Tribal Wildlife Grant and Tribal Landowner Incentive Program Periodic Report 2006, reports brief summaries of all grants 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 pat_durham@fws.gov .
Tribal Landowner Incentive Program Grants awarded in the Pacific Region:
IDAHO:
Coeur dAlene Tribe $110,239
Benewah Creek Channel and Floodplain Enhancement Project
Kootenai Tribe $ 39,950
West Side Lower Kootenai River Tributary Restoration Project
WASHINGTON:
Lummi Indian Nation $120,000
South Fork Nessett's Reach LWD Project
Nisqually Indian Tribe $119,760
Mashel River and Ohop Creek Salmon Habitat Restoration Project
Nooksack Indian Tribe $100,000
South Fork Nooksack Instream Restoration Project - Phase III (Todd Creek)
Yakama Indian Nation $113,920
Habitat Assessment and Strategic Plan for Shrub-Steppe Wildlife of
the Yakama Nation
Tribal Wildlife Grants awarded in the Pacific Region:
IDAHO:
Coeur dAlene Tribe $119,292
Sharp-tailed Grouse Habitat Assessment on Hangman Creek
Shoshone Paiute Tribes, Duck Valley Reservation $199,878
Survey and Monitor the Impacts of West Nile Virus on the Duck Valley
Indian Reservations Greater Sage-grouse Population
WASHINGTON:
Colville Confederated Tribes $149,712
Columbia Sharp-tailed Grouse Monitoring and Augmentation Project
Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe $ 73,869
Lamprey Assessment Project
Puyallup Tribe $200,000
South Rainier Elk Herd Management and Habitat Selection Study
Assessment of Habitat Selection of Mountain Goats and Elk in the North
Cascades Mountains of Washington State
More details about each of the projects can be found at http://www.fws.gov/pacific/ea/tribal
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 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.
