North Carolina Awarded $1.5 Million to Conserve Wildlife

[NCangler]

RALEIGH, N.C. (June 1) – The N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission announced today that it has received $1.5 million to help fund projects and programs that protect and manage nongame wildlife in the greatest need of conservation, as identified in the N.C. Wildlife Action Plan.

The money is awarded by Congress through the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as part of the State Wildlife Grant Program. Since 2001, when North Carolina received its first State Wildlife Grant, the Commission and conservation partners have spent more than $11.5 million on programs and projects benefiting nongame wildlife and their habitats. A few of these programs and projects include:

• Green Growth Toolbox, a guide to help towns, cities and counties grow in a greener, more wildlife-friendly way. The guide contains information on the state’s most important habitats, as well as community-planning methods and site-design techniques that can help conserve North Carolina’s priority species.
  
• A captive-culture propagation program that aims to restore mussel populations in rivers throughout the state. State Wildlife Grant funding helped the Commission build a new Conservation Aquaculture Center at the Marion Fish Hatchery where all aspects of mussel culture — from the infestation of fish hosts to “grow-out” of juvenile mussels — are conducted.
  
• Collaborative studies with universities and the N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences to determine the distribution, abundance and population limiting factors on N.C. Wildlife Action plan priority species, such as the painted bunting, Swainson’s warbler, box turtle and grassland-dependent birds and mammals. State Wildlife Grant funding enables the Commission and its conservation partners to gather critical information about these species and to manage them to sustain populations in the face of dramatic habitat changes.

“State Wildlife Grants are increasingly important to the Commission and our conservation partners when we are all feeling the pain of the financial crisis,” said Chris McGrath, Wildlife Diversity Program coordinator. “Through these funds, matched by volunteer efforts and the generosity of North Carolinians continuing to contribute to the Nongame and Endangered Wildlife Fund, we and our partners will continue to pursue proactive conservation to ensure a bright future for wildlife and for North Carolina.”

The State Wildlife Grant Program provides annual funding to all 56 state and territorial fish and wildlife agencies with established State Wildlife Action Plans. The action plans collectively provide a nationwide blueprint of actions to conserve species with conservation needs and prevent them from becoming endangered. They were created in a collaborative effort that included biologists, conservationists, landowners, sportsmen and the general public. The action plans were reviewed by a national team that included the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and directors from state fish and wildlife agencies.

Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar said that more than $61 million will be distributed to fish and wildlife agencies of the 50 states, commonwealths, the District of Columbia and territories.
“The State Wildlife Grant program exemplifies the Department of the Interior’s strong support for conservation efforts by the states,” said Salazar in a news release issued by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on May 19. “Along with President Obama’s commitment to the Land and Water Conservation Fund, the State Wildlife Grants will provide states critical funding to help conserve their highest priority wildlife, plants and habitat.”

The State Wildlife Grants program provides grants to state and other eligible jurisdictions through a formula-based distribution calculated using the state’s land area and population. Congress initiated this grant program in fiscal year 2002 and funded it from the Land and Water Conservation Fund. Since the program’s inception, Congress has provided $502,246,708 for conservation work on state and private lands.

For more information on the programs that the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission is conducting on behalf of nongame wildlife and their habitats in North Carolina, visit North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission.