August 7, 2006
Contact: Valerie Fellows, (202) 208-5634
Joan Jewett,
(503) 231-6121
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced nearly $19 million in
competitive funding for 37 States and Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands
fish and wildlife agencies under the Bush Administration's innovative
Landowner Incentive Program (LIP). 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.
Grants received in Idaho, Oregon and Washington total more than $2.8
million, which will provide private landowners with technical support and
assistance to develop and implement habitat projects for the benefit of
at-risk species. In Idaho, three projects were awarded: Upper Henry’s
Fork, Bear River Basin and Palouse Prairie. Oregon will concentrate the
awarded funds on projects in the East Cascades and Willamette Valley,
focusing on ponderosa pine, oak woodland and savanna, riparian, wetland and
freshwater aquatic habitats. Washington’s awarded projects include the
enhancement of wetlands, riparian and riverine habitats and shrub steppe
habitat surrounding pygmy rabbit reintroduction sites.
"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, we
empower
citizens to restore habitat on their land and take other steps to protect
and recover endangered, threatened and at-risk species."
LIP, funded through competitive grants with money from the Land and Water
Conservation Fund, establishes or supplements existing landowner incentive
programs that provide technical or financial assistance to private
landowners. All grants need to be matched by at least 25 percent from a
non-Federal source.
Landowners interested in participating in LIP should contact their State
fish and wildlife agency. 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.
Summary of Projects Awarded in the Pacific Region
The Idaho Department of Fish and Game will receive nearly $946,000 and
match more than $472,000 to provide private landowners with technical
support to develop habitat projects on private land and benefit at-risk
species in the Upper Henrys Fork, Bear River Basin and Palouse Prairie by
removing fish barriers and controlling invasive plants on private lands.
The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife will receive nearly $946,000 and
match $315,254 to focus on projects in the East Cascades and Willamette
Valley in ponderosa pine, oak woodland savanna, riparian, wetland and
freshwater aquatic habitats.
The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife will receive nearly $946,000
and match more than $404,000 to focus its LIP projects on shrub steppe
habitat surrounding pygmy rabbit reintroduction sites, wetlands, riparian
and riverine habitats, as well as a variety of small projects, to benefit
at-risk species. Proposed projects on private land include installing
artificial burrows for pygmy rabbits, removing the invasive non-native
rodent nutria in wetlands and replacing undersized culverts in streams.
A summary of projects awarded nationwide can be found at www.fws.gov.
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 95-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge
System, which encompasses 545 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.
-- FWS --