Secretary Kempthorne Announces $57.9 Million in Grants to Support Land Acquisition and Conservation Planning for Endangered Species

More than $12 million awarded to projects in the Pacific Region

For Release on March 20, 2008
Contact:    Joan Jewett,  (503) 231-6211
                 Valerie Fellows, (703) 358-2285

Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne today announced more than $57.9 million
in grants to 23 states and one territory -- including $12.3 million to
states in the Pacific Region -- to support conservation planning and
acquisition of vital habitat for threatened and endangered fish, wildlife
and plants.  The grants, awarded through the Cooperative Endangered Species
Conservation Fund, will benefit numerous species ranging in the Pacific
Region from the northern spotted owl to the Hawaiian stilt. Nationally, the
species that will benefit range from the red-cockaded woodpecker to the
Lake Erie watersnake.

“These grants build long-term partnerships with landowners who help to
conserve our nation’s imperiled species,” said Secretary Kempthorne. “They
are important tools that empower landowners and communities to safeguard
habitat and foster conservation stewardship efforts for future
generations.”

Authorized by Section 6 of the Endangered Species Act, the grants enable
States to work with private landowners, conservation groups and other
agencies to initiate conservation planning efforts and acquire and protect
habitat to support the conservation of threatened and endangered species.

This year, the cooperative endangered species fund provides $8.6 million
through the Habitat Conservation Planning Assistance Grants Program, $35.3
million through the Habitat Conservation Plan Land Acquisition Grants
Program and $14 million through the Recovery Land Acquisition Grants
Program, which includes approximately $1.5 million of funds carried over
from previous years or recovered from previous projects.  The three
programs were established to help avoid potential conflicts between the
conservation of threatened and endangered species and land development and
use.

Habitat Conservation Plans (HCPs) are agreements between a landowner and
the Service, allowing a landowner to undertake otherwise lawful activities
on their property that may result in the death, injury or harassment of a
listed species, when that landowner agrees to conservation measures
designed to minimize and mitigate the impact of those actions. HCPs may
also be developed by a county or state to cover certain activities of all
landowners within their own jurisdiction and may address multiple species.
Nationwide, there are more than 675 HCPs currently in effect covering
nearly 600 species on approximately 42 million acres.

Under the HCP Land Acquisition Program, the Service provides grants to
states or territories for land acquisition associated with approved HCPs.
The grants are targeted to help landowners who volunteer to conserve
imperiled species on their lands. Among recipients of today's HCP Land
Acquisition grants is the state of Washington , which is receiving two
grants totaling $7,087,781. A $5 million grant will be used to acquire
6,200 acres of ecologically critical animal movement corridors for grizzly
bears, gray wolves, Canada lynx and wolverines and their prey. A $2,087,781
grant will be used to acquire riparian habitat in the Rock Creek drainage
along the Naches River to benefit the northern spotted owl, bull trout,
grizzly bears, gray wolves, Canada lynx and a number of unlisted species.

The HCP Planning Assistance Program provides grants to states and
territories to support the development of HCPs through funding of baseline
surveys and inventories, document preparation, outreach and similar
planning activities.  For example, the state of Oregon will receive
$306,000 to help Deschutes Basin water users and other stakeholders start
work on a habitat conservation plan for the basin that, when completed,
will provide ecosystem benefits to large areas of the upper basin, which
includes the Metolius, Crooked and Deschutes river basins. The state of
Washington is receiving two grants totaling $1.3 million to finance
continued planning for two statewide, multi-species HCPs.

The Recovery Land Acquisition Grants Program provides funds to states and
territories to acquire habitat for endangered and threatened species with
approved recovery plans. Habitat acquisition to secure long term protection
is often an essential element of a comprehensive recovery effort for a
listed species.  One of this year’s grants will provide $1,471,500 to
acquire a conservation easement over 654 acres of high-priority private
forestland in the Kootenai Valley of northern Idaho .  The property provides
a critical link between the higher elevation public lands of the Selkirk
Mountains and more than 2,000 acres of low-elevation protected areas owned
by the Idaho Department of Fish and Game, Vital Ground Foundation and the
Owens Foundation for Wildlife Conservation.  The protection of this
property will contribute to the recovery of grizzly bears, mountain
caribou, bull trout, Canada lynx and the gray wolf. Under this same
recovery acquisition program, the state of Hawaii is receiving three grants
totaling $2.1 million for land acquisitions on the islands of Oahu and
Hawaii that will benefit nearly 100 species ranging from rare plants to
endangered birds.

Details of the grants awarded today to states in the Fish and Wildlife
Service’s Pacific Region are below:

Habitat Conservation Plan Land Acquisition Grants by State:

Washington

Plum Creek HCP – Okanogan -Similkameen Watershed, Phase 1 ( Okanogan County ,
WA ) $5,000,000.  This project will secure approximately 6,200 acres of
ecologically critical animal movement corridors for grizzly bear, gray
wolf, Canada lynx, and wolverine and their ungulate prey.  The corridors
will link the North Cascades Ecosystem with the Kettle/Selkirk Mountains
Ecosystem as well as the grassland/shrub-steppe habitat of southern British
Columbia with the shrub-steppe habitat of the Columbia Basin .  The
acquisition will provide benefits for at least 48 species listed by the
State, Federal, or Canadian governments.

Plum Creek HCP – Heart of the Cascades, Phase I ( Kittitas County , WA )
$2,087,781*.  This project will conserve biodiversity at the landscape
scale by conserving the checkerboard ownership pattern in the Central
Cascades.  This grant funding will acquire ponderosa pine, Douglas-fir
mixed conifer, and riparian habitats in the Rock Creek drainage along the
Naches River .  Benefits are expected for the northern spotted owl, bull
trout, grizzly bear, gray wolf, Canada lynx, and a number of unlisted
species.

Habitat Conservation Planning Assistance Grants by State:

Oregon

Upper Deschutes Basin Habitat Conservation Plan ( Jefferson , Crook, and
Deschutes Counties , OR ) $306,000.  This funding will assist the Deschutes
Basin water users and other stakeholders in the initiation of an HCP that
supports bull trout recovery and steelhead reintroduction above the Pelton
Round Butte Hydro-electric Project.  The HCP, when completed, will provide
ecosystem benefits to large areas of the upper Deschutes River basin , which
includes the Metolius, Crooked, and Deschutes River Basins .

Washington

Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, Wildlife Area HCP (Statewide,
all 39 counties, WA) $666,900.  This grant funds the fourth year of an HCP
process for the State’s wildlife areas covering a total of approximately
830,000 acres.  The HCP will offer benefits to protected species and land
users by providing certainty that land management activities meet Federal
species protection requirements.  Listed species that will benefit include
but are not limited to: pygmy rabbit, woodland caribou, snowy plover,
spotted owl, marbled murrelet, bull trout, Chinook salmon, steelhead,
Oregon silverspot, golden paintbrush, and Kincaid’s lupine.  Unlisted
species include greater sage-grouse, northern goshawk, burrowing owl,
Oregon spotted frog, Larch Mountain salamander, coho salmon, Mardon
skipper, Taylor ’s checkerspot, and giant Columbia River limpet.

Washington State Hydraulic Project Approval HCP (Statewide, all 39
counties, WA) $680,400.  Funding is for the fourth year of the HCP process
for the State’s primary fish-protection regulatory program, the Hydraulic
Project Approval (HPA) program.  Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife
seeks an HCP as a means of continuing conservation of fish and shellfish
species and habitat, while achieving long-term certainty that the HPA
program meets Federal species protection requirements.  Listed species that
will benefit include bull trout; steelhead; and Chinook, Coho, and sockeye
salmon.  Unlisted species include but are not limited to: coastal cutthroat
trout; green sturgeon; Pacific, river, and western brook lamprey;
California floater mussel; and giant Columbia River limpet.

Recovery Land Acquisition Grants by State:

Hawai’i

Kawa Bay Acquisition ( Hawaii County , HI ) $1,000,000.  The objective of this
acquisition is to acquire and permanently protect approximately 551 acres
in the District of Ka’u along the southeast coast of the Island of Hawaii .
The property provides approximately 2 miles of pristine coastline
containing nesting beaches for the endangered Hawaiian hawksbill turtle and
protecting offshore feeding areas for the threatened green sea turtle.  The
protection of this property would also benefit tidepools, coral reefs, an
intertidal brackish water pond, and coastal freshwater springs which
provide habitat for the endangered Hawaiian coot and the orange-black
Hawaiian damselfly, a candidate species.

Hamakua Marsh Watershed Acquisition ( Honolulu County , HI ) $740,000.  The
goal of the Hamakua Marsh Watershed acquisition project is to acquire and
permanently protect 65 acres of wetland and watershed lands and add them to
the existing Hamakua Marsh Wildlife Sanctuary administered by the
Department of State Land and Natural Resources, Division of Forestry and
Wildlife.  This acquisition will enhance ongoing recovery efforts for
endangered Hawaiian waterbirds and plant species in the Hamakua Marsh.
Species benefited include Hawaiian stilt, Hawaiian coot, Hawaiian
gallunule, Hawaiian duck, and the federally listed sedge – Cyperus
trachysanthos.

Honouliuli  Preserve Acquisition ( Honolulu County , HI ) $361,196*.  This
funding will contribute toward the acquisition and permanent protection of
the 3,582-acre Honouliuli property.  The Department of Land and Natural
Resources, Division of Forestry and Wildlife’s  acquisition of this area
will permanently protect habitat for over 90 rare species, including 38
threatened and endangered plants, one endangered bird, one endangered
pomace fly and two endangered tree snails.  There are 15 species (four of
them endangered) that can only be found on the Honouliuli parcel.  The area
represents the largest known population of ‘elepaio in the Wai’ane
Mountains and the second largest on the Island of O’ahu .

Idaho

Boundary Creek Conservation Easement ( Boundary County , ID ) $1,471,500.
This grant will support The Nature Conservancy’s acquisition of a
conservation easement over 654 acres of high-priority private forestland in
the Kootenai Valley of northern Idaho .  The subject property provides a
critical link between the higher elevation public lands of the Selkirk
Mountains Andover 2,000 acres of low-elevation protected areas owned by the
Idaho Department of Fish and Game, Vital Ground Foundation, and the Owens
Foundation for Wildlife Conservation.  The protection of this property will
contribute to the recovery of grizzly bear, mountain caribou, bull trout,
Canada lynx, and gray wolf.

*  Indicates partially funded projects.

For a complete list of the 2008 grant awards for these programs (Catalog of
Federal Domestic Assistance Number 15.615), see the Service’s Endangered
Species Grants home page at
http://endangered.fws.gov/grants/section6/index.html.

The mission of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is working with others to
conserve, protect and enhance fish, wildlife, plants and their habitats for
the continuing benefit of the American people. We are both a leader and
trusted partner in fish and wildlife conservation, known for our scientific
excellence, stewardship of lands and natural resources, dedicated
professionals and commitment to public service. For more information on our
work and the people who make it happen, visit www.fws.gov.