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Midwest Wildlife Agencies Will Share $2.5 Million in Grants to Conserve At-Risk

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today announced nearly $13 million in competitive funding for 17 state fish and wildlife agencies under the Landowner Incentive Program. The program supports cooperative efforts with private landowners interested in conserving natural habitat for species at risk, including federally listed endangered or threatened species and proposed or candidate species.

Four states in the Service's Midwest Region - Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota and Missouri - will receive grants totaling more than $2.5 million for projects to conserve nearly 7,500 acres of habitat such as wetlands, grasslands and prairie for at-risk species.

"Conservation, especially conservation of imperiled species, must be a partnership between the American people and their government," said Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne. "By providing these grants, citizens can restore habitat on their land and take other steps to protect and recover endangered, threatened and at-risk species."

The competitive grants are funded through the Land and Water Conservation Fund and establish or supplement existing landowner incentive programs that provide technical or financial assistance to private landowners. All grants need to be matched by funding of at least 25 percent from a non-federal source.

For more information about the grant programs, please visit <http://federalaid.fws.gov/lip/lip.html>. The Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance reference number is 15.633.

Landowner Incentive Program projects in the Midwest are:

The Illinois Department of Natural Resources will receive $765,760 to provide the financial support to restore or enhance approximately 1,700 acres in the Alton Bluffs and Lower Sangamon River Watershed.

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources will receive $765,760 to provide financial support to private landowners to restore or enhance 2,800 acres of habitat for targeted at-risk species. Michigan will focus in three program areas: southern prairies, savannas and wetlands, jack pine highlands, and Lake Superior forest.

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources will receive $328,240 to provide financial support to implement selected projects to restore or enhance approximately 900 acres of habitat for targeted at-risk species and provide stewardship/management plans and technical assistance to approximately 35 landowners.

The Missouri Department of Conservation will receive $721,920 to provide financial support to implement selected projects that will restore 2,050 acres in six Grassland Conservation Opportunity Areas and purchase conservation easements on 35 acres in selected Bios peak areas.

The Landowner Incentive Program will not be funded next year. While cooperative conservation remains a significant part of the Service's efforts, recent evaluations have indicated that this program is duplicative of other programs. At-risk species will benefit by shifting resources from this program to other that can demonstrate results such as the National Wildlife Refuge System, Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program and the North American Wetlands Conservation Act programs.

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 97-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.

Source: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service