$6.2 Million Will Go to 38 Native American Projects in 18 States for Wide Range of Conservation Work

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 21, 2008

Contacts:
Craig Rieben, 703-358-2225
Kyla Hastie, 706-613-9493, Ext. 234
Tom MacKenzie, 404-679-7291

Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne today announced more than $6.2 million in grants will go to 38 Native American projects in 18 states to fund a wide range of conservation projects nationwide. Two southeastern tribes, the Poarch Band of Creek Indians and the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida, will receive grants.

“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.
• A grant to the Yurok Tribe of the Klamath River Reserve in northern California for $200,000 to study the feasibility of reintroducing California condors to the Yurok Ancestral Territory. The condor is listed as an endangered species by Federal and State agencies.

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.

(Editors: A list of all Tribal grants follows.)

2008 Tribal Wildlife Grants

Alaska:

Native Village of Tetlin $198,396
Moose Management and Restoration Project on Tetlin Tribal Lands

Aleut Community of St. Paul $199,804
Establishing Long-term Trends of Winter Seaducks, Gulls and
Beach-cast Birds on the Pribilof Islands

Sitka Tribe of Alaska $180,316
Stock Identification of Pacific Herring in Sitka Sound

Native Village of Chickaloon $199,491
Matanuska Watershed Salmon Habitat Restoration and Research
Project

Alabama:

Poarch Band of Creek Indians $200,000
Gopher Tortoise Reintroduction in Restored Longleaf Pine Habitat
and Red Cockaded Woodpecker Safe Harbor Agreement

Arizona:

Colorado River Indian Tribes $82,967
Mesquite Resource Assessment and Mesquite/Wildlife Integrated
Resource Management Plan

California:

Big Valley Rancheria Band of Pomo Indians $49,791
Big Valley Rancheria Clear Lake Hitch Study

Habematolel Pomo of Upper Lake $48,498
Clear Lake Hitch Study and Recovery Project

Karuk Tribe of California $100,000
Bluff Creek Habitat Protection Project

Yurok Tribe $200,000
Yurok Tribe Condor Release Initiative

Robinson Rancheria $194,936
Clear Lake Hitch Study

Florida:

Miccosukee Tribe of Indians $199,938
Implementation of the Miccosukee Fisheries Management Plan

Iowa:

Sac and Fox Tribes of the Mississippi in Iowa (Meskwaki) $195,195
Meskwaki Buffalo Herd and Prairie Restoration

Idaho:

Nez Perce Tribe $200,000
Restoration of Bighorn Sheep and Habitat along the Main Stem
Salmon River

Idaho and Nevada:

Shoshone Paiute Tribe - Duck Valley Reservation $199,469
Restore Habitat and Monitor the Impacts of West Nile Virus on
the Duck Valley Reservation's Greater Sage-grouse Population

Maine:

Aroostook Band of Micmacs $48,957
Aroostook Band of Micmacs Wildlife Habitat Enhancement Project

Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians $114,645
Aquatic Habitat Study of the Meduxnekeag Watershed

Minnesota:

Grand Portage Band of Chippewa Indians $199,944
Viral Hemorrhagic Septicemia (VHS) Surveillance and Detection in
Grand Portage Waters and within the 1854 Ceded Territory

Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe $200,000
Assessment of Double-Crested Cormorant Predation Effects on
Selected Fish Species and Colonial Waterbird Management on the
Pelican Island Complex in Leech Lake

Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians $196,015
Gray Wolf Inventory, Monitoring, and Management Plan Development

Montana:

Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes $197,000
Restoration of Swift Fox on Fort Peck Indian Reservation and
Northeastern Montana

Crow Tribe $200,000
Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout Conservation and Restoration Program

New Mexico:

Mescalero Apache Tribe $186,762
Comprehensive Habitat Inventory for Restoration of Rio Grande
Cutthroat Trout on the Mescalero Apache Indian Reservation

Pueblo of Jemez $196,836
Developing Management Plans for Critical Species on Jemez Pueblo

Pueblo of Picuris $199,941
Developing Wildlife Management Capabilities and Baseline
Assessments for Key Species on the Pueblo of Picuris

Pueblo of Santa Clara $199,785
Riparian Wetland Restoration at the Black Mesa Oxbow

Nevada:

Moapa Band of Paiute Indians $65,397
Muddy River Habitat Enhancement Project

Oklahoma:

Iowa Tribe $62,604
Development of a comprehensive management plan for the Iowa
Tribe of Oklahoma’s Wildlife Conservation Area
Oregon:

Burns Paiute Tribe $11,554
Elimination of Fish Loss within a Burns Paiute Tribe Irrigation Site

Rhode Island:

Narragansett Indian Tribe $199,931
Indian Cedar Swamp Brook - Riparian and Wetland Restoration

South Dakota:

Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe $133,890
Black-footed Ferret Habitat, Recovery, and Monitoring

Lower Brule Sioux Tribe $200,000
Research and Management for Black-footed Ferret and Prairie
Dog Populations; Balancing Culture, Conservation and Conflict

Oglala Sioux Tribe $200,000
Kit Fox (Swift Fox) Society

Washington:

Cowlitz Tribe $199,700
Establishing a Cottonwood Island Sub-population of Columbia
White-tailed Deer

Lummi Indian Nation $200,000
South Fork of Skookum Reach Restoration Project

Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe $168,745
Establishing Baseline Ecological Information on the Indian and
Elwha Valley Elk Herds of the Olympic Peninsula

Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation $199,831
Meadow Habitat Restoration Project

Wisconsin:

Stockbridge Munsee Community $192,690
Stockbridge Munsee Fish and Wildlife Project