FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE            Contacts:        Ken Burton, 202-208-5657    

May 21, 2007                                                             Rachel F. Levin, 612-713-5311          

EA 07-50

Nearly $9 Million to Go to 60 Native American Projects

for an Extensive Range of Conservation Work

Nine Midwest Tribes to Share $1.1 Million

The Interior Department’s U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced today that almost $9 million in grants will go to 60 Native American conservation projects in eighteen states.

Nine tribes in the Fish and Wildlife Service’s Midwest Region are being awarded a total of more than $1.1 million of this to accomplish projects ranging from fish passage restoration to moose population research.

Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne called the Tribal Landowner Incentive and Tribal Wildlife Grant programs “an important tool in the department’s effort to support tribal culture and fish and wildlife resource management programs.”

The Tribal Landowner Incentive Program will provide more than $2.5 million to fund twenty four projects, and the Tribal Wildlife Grants program will fund thirty six proposals with more than $6.3 million.

The Tribal Landowner Incentive Program grants focus on the protection, restoration and management of habitat to benefit species at risk, including federally-listed endangered or threatened species, proposed or candidate species, as well as species of tribal concern.

The Tribal Wildlife Grant program provides funding to defray the cost of the implementation of programs that benefit fish and wildlife and their habitat, including species that are not hunted or fished.

The grants made to federally-recognized Indian tribes were made possible under the Related Agencies Appropriations Act of 2002, and through a component of the State Wildlife Grant program.

Five Tribal Wildlife Grants totaling $913,924 were awarded in the Midwest Region.  Four Tribal Landowner Incentive Grants were awarded, totaling $385,900.

2007 Tribal Wildlife Grants Awarded in the Midwest Region:

Michigan

Keweenaw Bay Indian Community - Native Fish Species Projects on the L’Anse Indian Reservation and Adjacent Waters - Phase II: Restore native fish species, including coaster brook trout, lake  trout, lake sturgeon and walleye, and promote interagency partnerships. The restoration work will directly benefit the fisheries of the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community and potentially all of Lake Superior.

Grant Amount: $176,466

Tribal Match: $26,582

Little River Band of Ottawa Indians - Operation and Evaluation of a Lake Sturgeon Stream-side Rearing Facility for Rehabilitation: Continue to promote the use of new strategies, including streamside rearing facilities, for management of lake sturgeon in the Great Lakes basin. The facility will be used to raise sturgeon and rehabilitate a small sturgeon population in the Manistee River in Michigan. The tribe will develop a long-term monitoring strategy for sturgeon recruitment and an operational plan addressing the effectiveness of current management activities.

Grant Amount: $137,752

Tribal Match: $76,200

Nottawaseppi Huron Band of Potawatomi - Wildlife Habitat Assessment and Restoration Plan Implementation Tactics: Implement the recommendations in the tribes Wildlife Habitat Assessment and Restoration Plan to restore lands to their historic conditions.  Project objectives include the restoration of critical habitat and the development of tribal regulations of hunting and trapping.

Grant Amount: $200,000

Tribal Match: $20,000

Minnesota

Fond du Lac (Lake Superior) Band of Chippewa - Moose Population Dynamics Research - Phase 2: Obtain long-term data of adult calf survival, determine the impacts of deer density and summer heat on moose survival rates and obtain data of the importance of forest cover types in providing temperature relief for moose.

Grant Amount: $199,706

Tribal Match: $131,271

Wisconsin

Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin – Menominee Tribal Wildlife Grant Project: Fish and wildlife management projects for the lake sturgeon, timber wolf and black bear, which are symbols of the tribe’s clan structure and play an important cultural role in the formation of the Menominee Tribe. Grant management activities include monitoring and evaluation of the effectiveness of management actions and regulations.

Grant Amount: $200,000

Tribal Match: $114,048

2007 Tribal Landowner Incentive Grants Awarded in the Midwest Region

Minnesota

Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe – Road Decommissioning and Wetland Restoration for the Enhancement and Protection of Habitat for Tribally Important Sensitive Species: Four sites totaling 3.7 miles of upland and 2.3 miles of wetlands are included in the restoration area. Decommissioning the roads and the restoring the wetlands they cross will benefit environmentally sensitive native plants, animals and other aquatic organisms.

Grant Amount: $120,000

Tribal Match: $52,649

Wisconsin

Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Chippewa – Coldwater Habitat Restoration Project: Remove barriers and impoundment on four coldwater streams, restoring and enhancing 13 miles of stream habitat. The native brook trout which will benefit from this habitat restoration exhibit "coaster" behavior and are of cultural and economic importance to the tribe.

Grant Amount: $106,900

Tribal Match: $53,681

Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa – Powell Marsh Bio-diversity Inventory and Management Strategy Project: This bio-diversity inventory and management strategy project includes four objectives and work plans. The products of this grant include a baseline inventory, management strategy, interpretive water trail and Powell Marsh Video.

Grant Amount: $120,000

Tribal Match: $40,280

Stockbridge-Munsee Community – Spring Hole Restoration: Restoration of a spring pond that was degraded by beaver activity will result in an improved environment for coldwater species, including native brook trout.

Grant Amount: $39,000

Tribal Match: $13,000

A new publication, Tribal Wildlife Grant and Tribal Landowner Incentive Program Periodic Report 2006, provides brief summaries of all grants awarded since the programs were initiated, with feature-length articles on twenty projects.  Copies of the report are available through the office of the Native American Liaison by contacting Patrick Durham at pat_durham@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 96-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-