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Black
River Initiative
Receives Funding
Washington Wetland Conservation Project Receives Funding
From Migratory Bird Conservation Commission
The Migratory Bird Conservation Commission has approved
$618,000 in federal funding for the Washington State
Black River Riparian and Wetlands Conservation
Initiative (Black River Initiative). This initiative is
one of many projects receiving funding from the more
than $18 million being provided nationwide for the
protection and management of nearly 175,000 acres of
wetlands for ducks and waterfowl. The funds are part of
$39.4 million appropriated by Congress for fiscal year
2007 under the Migratory Bird Conservation Act of 1929.
The act also created the Commission, whose members are
appointed by the President.
Authorized under the North American Wetlands
Conservation Act (NAWCA), the funding supports projects
to conserve wetlands and associated habitats for the
benefit of migratory waterfowl. Also under NAWCA, $6.8
million was authorized to protect and manage more than
4.1 million acres of wetlands in Canada.
The Black River Initiative represents Phase 1 of an
extensive, landscape-scale conservation strategy that
will ultimately protect and restore more than 5,000
acres of significant floodplain wetland habitats and
associated uplands located within the Black River
watershed. Phase one will leverage matching funds to
allow partners to protect, restore, and enhance
approximately 1,100 acres of wetlands and associated
uplands spanning over 21 miles of floodplain and wetland
habitats, with an additional 1,000 acres addressed
through non-matching funds.
The Black River is a tributary of the Chehalis River,
the second largest watershed in Washington. The
watershed's wetland habitats make up one of the largest
undisturbed freshwater wetland systems remaining in all
of Puget Sound. The river's diverse habitats include
prairie oak woodlands, sphagnum bogs, wet prairies,
alder bottoms, and wetland conifer forests. The
watershed contains critical spawning and rearing habitat
and migration corridors for steelhead and cutthroat
trout and coho and chinook salmon.
This watershed also benefits at least 150 species of
migratory birds, including waterfowl and neotropical
songbirds, which use the wetland and riparian habitats.
The watershed is home to bald eagles, federally
protected marbled murrelets and the Olympic mud minnow
and is one of only three places where the Oregon spotted
frog is known to occur in Washington. The Oregon spotted
frog is a state-listed endangered species, and a
candidate for federal listing under the Endangered
Species Act.
This project will help to remove the pressures of real
estate development that threatens the critical
freshwater wetlands by protecting these lands in
perpetuity and managing them for long-term productivity
of the fish and wildlife species that depend on these
wetlands.
The wide ranges of partners involved with this project
have been working together for multiple years to
implement a broad protection and restoration strategy
for the Black River. Partners include the Chehalis
Tribe, non-governmental organizations, private citizens
and local, state and federal agencies.
The Nature Conservancy and The Capitol Land Trust, in
cooperation with Thurston County Conservation Futures
funding, will protect approximately 300 acres of
critical wetland habitats and associated uplands through
fee-title acquisition and perpetual conservation
easements. The Department of Natural Resources will
protect 12 acres through fee-title acquisition adjacent
to the 850 acre Mima Mounds Natural Area Preserve. The
Chehalis Tribe will protect 45 acres through fee-title
ownership. The Service will protect 328 acres through
fee acquisition and restore an additional 50 acres.
Private landowners will join the project with
conservation enhancements on 50 acres through the
Wetland Reserve Program. Finally, The Natural Resource
Conservation Service will provide $375,000 for
restoration of the 1,300 acres through the Wildlife
Habitat Incentive Program and the Wetland Reserve
Program.
In addition to permanent protection that this project
entails, it will also create more wetland habitat
through restoration and the creation of ponds for
waterfowl adjacent to the Black River. The restoration
project will further enhance the values of the
properties for waterfowl. Ducks Unlimited, Inc. has been
a continual supporter and advocate for restoration and
conservation activities that have taken place in the
Black River and will provide technical expertise and
$10,000 for wetland enhancement activities.
The Commission also approved nearly $10 million for the
purchase of 4,542 acres of wetlands for inclusion in the
National Wildlife Refuge System.
"National
Wildlife Refuges provide the vital wetland habitat
migrating waterfowl need for feeding and resting on
their long journey," said Department of the
Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne. "Adding
high-quality wetlands to these refuges is one of the
best investments we can make to ensure a future for
waterfowl, and the host of other creatures that live in
wetlands. The NAWCA program is the perfect
compliment to the National Wildlife Refuge System. And
combined they provide a solid foundation for partnership
projects public and private lands throughout North
America."
More than $6.8 million for NAWCA's Canadian Grants
Program was also approved by the commission to support
13 conservation projects in 12 Canadian provinces.
Combined with matching partner funds, these projects
will secure more than 16,500 acres of wetlands and
associated uplands, enhance more than 19,000 acres, and
manage more than 4 million acres of wetlands. In
addition, the more than $18 million will support 21
projects in 16 states under NAWCA's U.S. Standard Grants
Program. Partners in these projects will
contribute an additional $36.9 million in matching funds
to help conserve nearly 175,000 acres of habitat. The
grants are financed by annual Congressional
appropriations; fines, penalties and forfeitures under
the Migratory Bird Treaty Act; interest accrued to the
Pittman-Robertson Wildlife Restoration Act; and excise
taxes paid on small engine fuels through the
Dingell-Johnson Sport Fish Restoration Fund.
The Commission also approved the use of more than $9.3
million under the Migratory Bird Conservation Fund for
acquisition of more than 4,200 acres of resting and
feeding habitat at eight National Wildlife Refuges
located in six states. In addition, the Commission
approved the acquisition of a permanent easement of
Grasslands Wildlife management Area in California. The
fund receives revenue from Duck Stamp sales, import
duties on firearms and ammunition, and right-of-way
payments to the refuge system. Refuges that will secure
additional wetlands include:
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Assabet River National Wildlife Refuge, Middlesex
County, Massachusetts - 72 acre acquisition
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Grasslands Wildlife Management Area, Merced County,
California - 255 acres in permanent easement
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Lake Umbagog National Wildlife Refuge, Coos County,
New Hampshire - 727 acre acquisition
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Rappahannock River Valley National Wildlife Refuge,
Richmond County,Virginia - 174 acre acquisition
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Trinity River National Wildlife Refuge, Liberty
County, Texas - 1,598 acre acquisition
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Cache River National Wildlife Refuge, Woodruff County,
Arkansas - 1,140 acre acquisition
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Panther Swamp National Wildlife Refuge, Yazoo County,
Mississippi - 404 acre acquisition
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Silvio O. Conte National Fish and Wildlife Refuge,
Hampshire County, Massachusetts - 31 acre acquisition
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Wapanocca National Wildlife Refuge, Crittenden County,
Arkansas - 141 acre acquisition
While the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced in
August that overall waterfowl populations appear to be
on the rise, overall migratory birds populations
continue to face threats - loss of habitat continues to
be a problem for many bird species. The
Commission's NAWCA and refuge acquisition efforts using
Duck Stamp revenue serve as successful examples of
habitat conservation programs providing a bulwark
against these threats.
The Commission meets three times a year and includes
Senators Thad Cochran and Blanche Lincoln,
Representative John Dingell, Secretary of Agriculture
Mike Johanns, and Environmental Protection Agency
Administrator Stephen L. Johnson, with Interior
Secretary Dirk Kempthorne serving as Chairman.
Additional information about the Act can be found on the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Website at: http://www.fws.gov/birdhabitat/Grants/NAWCA/index.shtm
Summary Table Fact Sheet:
http://www.fws.gov/birdhabitat/Grants/NAWCA/Standard/files/2007
_September_StandardGrantSummaryTable.pdf
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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 97-million-acre National
Wildlife Refuge System, which encompasses 548 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.
Date:
September 25, 2007
Contact: Joan Jewett, 503-231-6120n
Joshua Winchell, 202-219-7499
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