Tribal Wildlife Grants Awarded to Five Alaska Tribes
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced today that five Alaska tribes will receive $888,901 in tribal wildlife grants. Tribal wildlife grants assist Federally recognized tribes in carrying out activities that benefit fish and wildlife and their habitats.
The Alaska tribes receiving tribal wildlife grants are: · Native Village of Barrow, "Local Management for Endangered Wildlife and Habitat," - $200,000; · New Stuyahok Traditional Council, "Nushagak River Watershed Traditional Use Area Conservation Plan--Implementation," - $200,00; · Native Village of Chickaloon, "Matanuska Watershed Salmon Habitat Restoration and Research Project," - $193,123; · halen Tribe, "Freshwater Seal Studies of Iliamna Lake," - $199,776; · Native Village of Nanwalek, "English Bay River Sockeye Smolt/Adult Enumeration," - $96,002. "Alaska Tribes are very important partners in the management of fisheries and wildlife resources," said Geoffrey L. Haskett, Alaska Regional Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. "These grants enable tribes to take a leadership role in carrying out conservation activities that directly benefit these resources and their habitats. We appreciate the time and energy that these tribes are putting into development and implementation of these projects." Nationwide, tribal grants totaling $7 million were awarded to 41 Native American tribes in 16 states, including the 5 tribes in Alaska. Tribal wildlife grants enable tribes to develop management capacity, strengthen partnerships, address cultural and environmental concerns and heighten interest of tribal students in fish and wildlife and related studies. Alaska’s tribes have received 33 grants totaling nearly $6.3 million since the inception of the tribal grant program in 2003. These grants have funded a variety of projects involving habitat restoration, population surveys and monitoring, scientific research, and conservation planning.
