For Immediate Release
March 1, 2010
Contact:
Maureen Gallagher, 660-562-1008
Maureen_gallagher@fws.gov
Ashley Spratt, 612-713-5314
Ashley_spratt@fws.gov
West Virginia Company awarded $150,000 in Sport Fish Restoration Act funding to complete habitat condition assessments in the Midwest
Maryville, MO. – The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, in association with the Midwest Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (MAFWA) and Midwest Fish Habitat Partnerships, has awarded a $141,075 contract to Downstream Strategies to assess fish habitat conditions in the Midwest.
The $141,075 contract awarded today will provide the first critical scientific component necessary for strategically conserving fish habitat at a regional scale. The environmental consulting firm based in Morgantown, West Virginia will create a spatially explicit data analysis and modeling system for use by Fish Habitat Partnerships in the Midwest to assist in prioritizing habitat restoration and preservation actions and to track the success of those actions in increasing fish populations over time.
“This science will allow the Fish Habitat Partnerships to strategically identify locations, actions and opportunities to improve fish habitat and fish populations in lakes, streams and rivers of the Midwest,” said Mike Weimer, Assistant Regional Director for Fisheries for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. “Healthy fish habitat leads to healthier fish populations and can ultimately improve the health of local economies.”
The Sport Fish Restoration Program has $1,819,034 available for projects in 2010. MAFWA received a grant totaling $398,500 to provide science support to the five Fish Habitat Partnerships of the Midwest.
“The Sport Fish Restoration Program allows the opportunity for society to benefit from conservation-based management of fish and their habitats,” said Jim Hodgson, Chief of the Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration Program for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Fish Habitat Partnerships are the working units of the National Fish Habitat Action Plan. There are five that focus their efforts all or in part in the Midwest Region of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. These include the Driftless Area Restoration Effort, Midwest Glacial Lakes Partnership, Great Lakes Basin Fish Habitat Partnership, Ohio River Basin Fish Habitat Partnership, and the Fishers and Farmers Partnership of the Upper Mississippi River.
Fish Habitat Partnerships consist of state, federal, and tribal agencies, non-governmental organizations, corporations and private individuals. They are self-identified, self-organized, and self-directed communities of interest formed around geographic areas, keystone species, or system types.
The mission of the National Fish Habitat Action Plan is to protect, restore and enhance the nations fish and aquatic communities through partnerships that foster fish habitat conservation and improve the quality of life for the American people. For more information visit http://www.fws.gov/midwest/Fisheries/nfhap.html.
