Tribal Wildlife Grants Support Infrastructure

Our Tribal Wildlife Grants provide money for federally recognized Tribal governments to develop and implement programs to benefit wildlife and their habitat.

Including the 2021 Tribal Wildlife Grants, we have awarded more than $105.6 million to Native American and Alaska Native Tribes, providing support for 593 conservation projects, since 2003.

Some of these grants support what is known as natural infrastructure — using natural solutions to problems including stormwater runoff, flooding, and erosion in ways that help people and wildlife.

These include a grant to the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde in the Willamette Valley of Oregon. They will use a 2021 grant to help restore 40 acres of floodplain forest of the North Santiam River by planting native trees and shrubs and controlling non-native species. As they note, “Conversion of floodplain forest to agricultural production and the construction of two major dams led to devastating impacts on natural river processes.”

Sometimes, grants fund more traditional infrastructure projects.

Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians in Michigan will use its 2021 grant to help build an aviary and rehabilitation center for eagles, a culturally significant species to many Tribes, including the Little Traverse Bay Bands.

The aviary and rehabilitation center will care for injured eagles and release them back to the wild. It will also provide housing for eagles that can’t survive in the wild. Staff will use the aviary to teach the community about the significance of eagles. Finally, as with other aviaries built with Tribal Wildlife Grants, it will provide eagle feathers and parts for cultural use by Tribal members.

The grants do much more, too. They have enabled Tribes to develop increased management capacity, improve and enhance relationships with state conservation partners, address cultural and environmental priorities, and help train the next generation of conservationists by engaging Tribal students interested in fisheries, wildlife and related fields of study.