Friday
March 21, 2008
$6.2 Million Will Go
to 38 Native American Projects in 18 States for Wide Range of Conservation
Work
Source: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
"Tribal Wildlife Grants are much more than a fiscal resource for tribes. The projects and partnerships supported by this program have enhanced our commitment to Native Americans and to the United States' shared wildlife resources," Secretary Kempthorne said.
More than $34 million has gone to Native American tribes through the Tribal Wildlife Grants program in the past six years, providing funding for 175 conservation projects administered by 133 participating Federally-recognized tribes. The grants provide technical and financial assistance for the development and implementation of efforts that benefit fish and wildlife resources and their habitat, including species that are not hunted or fished.
"The Tribal Wildlife Grants program
has helped the Service to collaborate more effectively with Native
American tribes in conserving and restoring the vast diversity of fish and
wildlife habitat that they manage," added the Interior Department's
Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks Lyle Laverty.
The grants have enabled tribes to develop increased management capacity,
improve and enhance relationships with partners including State agencies,
address cultural and environmental priorities, and heighten interest of
tribal students in fisheries, wildlife and related fields of study.
Some grants have been awarded to enhance recovery efforts for threatened
and endangered species.
The grants are provided exclusively to Federally-recognized Indian tribal governments and are made possible under the Related Agencies Appropriations Act of 2002, and through a component of the State Wildlife Grant program.
During the current grant cycle, tribes submitted a total of 110 proposals that were scored by panels in each Service Region using uniform ranking criteria. A national scoring panel recommended 38 proposals for funding.
The grants cover a wide range of conservation projects, including:
- A grant for $49,791 for the Band of
Pomo Indians in California for the Big Valley Rancheria Clear Lake
Hitch Study Project. The Clear Lake Hitch is a culturally
significant native fish in Clear Lake. This multi-tribal effort will
seek to accelerate the recovery of this fish and to provide stock to
other streams in the watershed.
- A grant of $62,604 to the Iowa Tribe of
Oklahoma will help manage the Tribe's Wildlife Conservation Area,
which, among other things, includes the Grey Snow Eagle House (Bah
Kho-Je Xla Chi), the first Federally-funded eagle rehabilitation
facility in the United States. This facility cares for injured
eagles that cannot return to the wild, rehabilitates eagles that are
returned to the wild, and utilizes the eagles' natural molting process
to provide eagle feathers for Native American religious and other
ceremonies.
- A grant of $199,831 to the confederated
Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation, located in Washington State,
will help the tribe improve management of over-stressed meadow habitat
on their 1.4 million acre Yakama reservation in southcentral
Washington. Meadows and wetlands in the managed forest occupy
just over 8,600 acres and include many ecologically and culturally
important wildlife and plant species.
- The Lummi Nation of Washington State
will receive a grant of $200,000 to support endangered species
recovery work in the Nooksack River Basin. It will seek to restore
degraded habitat identified as limiting the production of bull trout,
steelhead, Chinook and other salmon.
- The Yurok Tribe of the Klamath River Reserve in northern California will get a $200,000 grant to reintroduce California condors to the Yurok Ancestral Territory. The condor is listed as an endangered species by Federal and State agencies.
Contact:
Craig Rieben
703-358-2225