MEDIA ADVISORY
(SOUTHAMPTON,
NY) -- Interior Secretary Gale A. Norton will announce Wednesday the
first grants under President Bush's new Private Stewardship Grant program
- which he originally proposed when he was Texas governor - including
an $82,500 grant to help the Nature Conservancy and five Long Island
towns protect the beach habitat of the threatened piping plover.
"This is the realization of a proposal President Bush made in June
2000, to empower local communities and private landowners to protect
and recover imperiled species," Norton said.
The Interior Department's U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is awarding
more than $9.4 million through the Private Stewardship Grants Program
to fund 113 conservation projects to protect federally listed endangered,
threatened and other at-risk species on private lands at locations throughout
the country.
Norton will present the $82,500 grant to he Nature Conservancy's Long
Island Chapter and the towns of East Hampton, Riverhead, Shelter Island,
Southampton and Southold. The grant will help fund their efforts to
protect nesting areas and other fragile beach habitats for the piping
plover and other species native to the beach ecosystems.
Who: Gale Norton,
Secretary of the Interior
Rep. Tim Bishop
What: Announcement
of first grants under President Bush's new Private Stewardship Grant program.
When: Wednesday,
May 28, 2003
9:30 a.m. Meeting with award recipients
10:00 a.m. Walking tour with media to project sites
10:15 a.m. Remarks by Norton and award recipients
10:45 a.m. Further media availability/photo op
Where: Quantuck Beach Club, Southampton, N.Y. (starting point for walking
tour). Take Sunrise Highway (Route 37) to Exit 63 (South). Continue south
past Gabreski Airport, crossing over Montauk Highway. At the five corners
intersection (movie theater on your left), continue south through the
intersection onto Potunk Lane. Make a left onto Main Street, Westhampton
Beach. Continue through the village. Make a right onto Beach Lane. Continue
across the bridge until you reach Dune Road. Make a left onto Dune Road
and continue approximately 1/4 mile to the Quantuck Beach Club.
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