Cooperative Recovery Initiative
The Cooperative Recovery Initiative (CRI) was established in 2013 to restore and recover federally listed threatened or endangered species on national wildlife refuges and surrounding lands. It funds on-the-ground conservation projects that provide high conservation benefits.
Credit: Terry Tollefsbol/USFWS.
Biologists at Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge in southwest Montana are working with landowners and partners to ease the movement of grizzly bears in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem while reducing causes of human-bear conflict. The project team will implement conflict abatement measures, education and improve riparian corridors in sage-steppe landscape.
Cooperative Efforts at National Wildlife Refuge Encourage Grizzly Sustainability
One of 16 Projects Receiving Funding for Endangered Species Recovery Efforts on Refuges
Since 2013, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has funded 57 projects totaling $23.2 million through the Cooperative Recovery Initiative. In 2016, $6.86 million was provided to 16 projects across 27 states for recovery of some of the nation’s most at-risk species on or near national wildlife refuges. Besides the Yellowstone grizzly, species to benefit from funding include piping plover, freshwater mussels and bull trout.
Read the complete news release.