USFWS awards $16 million in grants for endangered species conservation

USFWS AWARDS $16 MILLION IN GRANTS TO STATES FOR ENDANGERED SPECIES CONSERVATION

Interior Secretary Gale Norton today announced more than $16 million in
grants to 25 states to promote the conservation of threatened and
endangered species. In the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Pacific Region,
the States of Washington, California, Oregon and Hawaii will receive a
total of $7.2 million in grants.

"These grants are very much in line with my philosophy that states should
be given more resources and greater flexibility to protect habitat and
conserve threatened and endangered species," Secretary Norton said. "States
will use these grants to strengthen and build vital and cost-effective
conservation partnerships with local communities and willing private
landowners - partnerships that are essential to helping species prosper and
recover."

The grants will benefit threatened and endangered species in every region
of the country, helping local partnerships acquire and protect crucial
habitat and supporting the development of Habitat Conservation Plans that
allow private landowners to use and develop their land while conserving
listed species.

The grants will benefit dozens of threatened and endangered species, such
as marbled murrelets and bull trout in the Pacific Northwest, the aplomado
falcon in the Southwest, the Karner blue butterfly in the Midwest, the
Florida scrub jay in the Southeast, Atlantic salmon in the Northeast, and
the Preble's meadow jumping mouse in the Rocky Mountains. In many cases,
projects funded by the grants will also protect green space that is vital
to many communities, while benefitting game species and other wildlife that
share threatened and endangered species habitat.

In the Pacific Region, the State of Washington will receive $3.7 million
for projects. California will receive $2.8 million, Hawaii will receive
$667,000 and Oregon will receive $103,950. The grants were based on
applications from the States. They range from a $358, 260 grant to Douglas
County, Washington, to develop a county-wide HCP that will improve land
management across 1 million acres to benefit 63 species to a $150,000 grant
to buy land at Kaena Point on Oahu, Hawaii. The land purchase will complete
an effort to create a 900-acre tract of land for the conservation of 12
federally listed species, including the Hawaiian monk seal and green sea
turtle. The Oregon grant will help develop an HCP to guide conservation and
protection of habitat for Oregon Coast recovery beaches for the western
snowy plover.

"We are pleased so many of these grants will help States in our region,
where we have more listed species than any other region of the country,"
said Pacific Regional Director Anne Badgley. "We look forward to working
with States, counties, communities and private landowners on projects that
will benefit imperiled species while respecting the rights and needs of
these important partners."

Section 6 of the Endangered Species Act provides funds to States and
territories, and through them, to communities and individuals, for species
and habitat recovery actions on non-Federal lands. Today's grant awards are
the first under the Recovery Land Acquisition and the Habitat Conservation
Planning Assistance Grant programs. Congress funded these new grants to
respond to the growing interest shown by States and landowners in managing
their lands in ways that benefit species and their habitats. Non-Federal
project partners contributed an average of 25 percent of their projects'
total costs.

Of the total amount awarded, the Service gave approximately $10.4 million
in Recovery Land Acquisition grants, which provide funding to States to
acquire lands that support approved endangered species recovery plans. Land
acquisition and protection is often an essential element of a comprehensive
plan to recover listed species. With land values increasing in many areas
of the country, the Service and the States sometimes lack the resources to
acquire or protect key habitat needed to recover a species.

Grant funding will be used to acquire and protect important prairie,
coastal, mountainous desert, cave and riparian habitat, land that
represents critical portions of species' last remaining habitat. Some of
these acquisitions support many endangered species, as well as important
habitat for migratory birds and other wildlife. For example, acquisition of
property in Kern County, California, benefits the largest known population
of the Kern primrose sphinx moth by securing protection for an area that is
the only place this species has been sighted in the past 20 years. In
Tennessee, acquisition of a 25-acre site will protect one of only five
known populations of the endangered Tennessee coneflower.

Approximately $6 million in grants are for Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP)
Planning assistance that will help states support the development of HCPs.
These conservation plans balance the need to conserve threatened and
endangered species with landowners' desire to use and develop their
property. By working with the Service during the HCP process to identify
ways to offset any harmful effects of use or development on listed species,
landowners can continue to use their land while promoting listed species
conservation.

Grants will underwrite the development of HCPs across the country in areas
ranging from the North Slope of Alaska to the islands of Hawaii, from the
mountains of West Virginia to the forests of the Pacific Northwest. These
HCPs will benefit a wide range of plants and animals, including the Houston
toad in Texas, Ute ladies-tresses in Washington state, and the Florida
golden aster in Florida. Most of the HCPs will address multiple species,
many of them on a city, county, or large watershed basis. Each region of
the country received at least one grant in each category, if applications
were received.

"These grants recognize creative and effective partnerships among states,
organizations and landowners that are making a difference for endangered
species on the ground," said Marshall Jones, acting director of the Fish
and Wildlife Service. "Successful implementation of the Endangered Species
Act depends on these types of partnerships."

Project descriptions may be viewed at http://endangered.fws.gov.

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