Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne has announced more than $57.9 million in grants to 23 states and one territory to support conservation planning and acquisition of vital habitat for threatened and endangered fish, wildlife and plants. The grants, awarded through the Cooperative Endangered Species Conservation Fund, will benefit numerous species.
"These grants build long-term partnerships with landowners who help to conserve our nations imperiled species," said Secretary Kempthorne. "They are important tools that empower landowners and communities to safeguard habitat and foster conservation stewardship efforts for future generations."
The Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation received a grant of $186,000 to bring approximately 160 acres of native forest into public stewardship to benefit the red-cockaded woodpecker through implementation of management activities. It will expand the size of the existing McCurtain County Wilderness Area and support the Ouachita National Forest short-leaf pine/bluestem restoration that will provide additional dispersal habitat for the red-cockaded woodpecker. McCurtain County Wilderness Area supports the only remaining population of the red-cockaded woodpecker in Oklahoma. The woodpecker population reached a low in 1992. Since then, forest management has stabilized the population and increased the numbers through prescribed burning to mimic historic fire patterns, construction of predator guards on active cavity trees and thinning mid-story trees.
Authorized by Section 6 of the Endangered Species Act, the grants enable States to work with private landowners, conservation groups and other agencies to initiate conservation planning efforts and acquire and protect habitat to support the conservation of threatened and endangered species.
Habitat Conservation Plans (HCPs) are agreements between a landowner and the Service, allowing a landowner to undertake otherwise lawful activities on their property that may result in the death, injury or harassment of a listed species, when that landowner agrees to conservation measures designed to minimize and mitigate the impact of those actions. HCPs may also be developed by a county or state to cover certain activities of all landowners within their own jurisdiction and may address multiple species. There are more than 675 HCPs currently in effect covering nearly 600 species on approximately 42 million acres.
Under the HCP Land Acquisition Program, the Service provides grants to states or territories for land acquisition associated with approved HCPs. The grants are targeted to help landowners who volunteer to conserve imperiled species on their lands.
The HCP Planning Assistance Program provides grants to states and territories to support the development of HCPs through funding of baseline surveys and inventories, document preparation, outreach and similar planning activities.
The Recovery Land Acquisition Grants Program provides funds to states and territories to acquire habitat for endangered and threatened species with approved recovery plans. Habitat acquisition to secure long term protection is often an essential element of a comprehensive recovery effort for a listed species.
Below is a list of the states that received funding and the amount awarded for species conservation.
Individual States
Arkansas $ 225,500
California 17,945,231
Florida 1,134,605
Georgia 2,717,772
Hawaii 2,101,196
Idaho 1,471,500
Michigan 689,305
Montana 6,515,319
Nebraska 385,911
Ohio 1,835,000
Oklahoma 186,000
Oregon 306,000
Puerto Rico 1,500,000
Tennessee 1,763,450
Texas 6,324,500
Utah 458,080
Virginia 704,000
Washington 8,435,081
Wisconsin 88,355
Multi-state grants
Tennessee and Kentucky $129,150
Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Ohio, Tennessee, and Virginia
$3,007,270
For a complete list of the 2008 grant awards for these programs (Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance Number 15.615), go to: http://www.fws.gov/endangered/grants/
