By Lee Allen
April 23, 2009

“We fund projects, not programs,” says Pat Durham, Tribal Liaison for U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Washington, commenting on the release of $7 million to Native American tribes in 16 states to be used for habitat and wildlife conservation work. “The Tribal Wildlife Grant Program allows funding to tribes to work on what they have identified as their priorities,” says Durham who led the team that put this grant program together six years ago. Since 2003, over $55 million has been awarded on a competition basis to allow tribes to improve fisheries and wildlife resource management.

“Tribes manage nearly 100 million acres of land in the United States, land that provides important habitat for some of our most treasured species,” said Interior Secretary Ken Salazar. “This program provides crucial financial support to tribal governments to help manage and improve their fish and wildlife efforts for the benefit of all. Projects funded by these grants target some of the most imperiled species and habitats in the U.S. They’re also among the most effective because they involve well-thought-out plans that identify priorities where we can make the biggest difference.”

The grant program is both lengthy and competitive. Requests for proposals go out a year in advance of the award announcements. This year a total of 101 proposals were submitted --- 41 were selected for funding --- to a maximum of $200,000. The 2009 projects considered covered a lot of different territory from habitat restoration and invasive weed management to fisheries studies and wildlife surveys.

Several big winners in the Southwest received maximum awards for work involving America’s national symbol, the eagle. Oklahoma’s Iowa Tribe got funding to continue their work at the first federally-funded eagle rehabilitation facility in the U.S. that houses injured eagles and in the process gathers naturally-molted feathers for use in cultural ceremonies. Arizona’s Hopi tribe now has funds to map habitat of eagle prey and the Navajo Nation got monies to monitor golden eagle reproduction on Hopi and Navajo Nation lands.

“Funding over the years has been for diverse missions,” says Durham. “Maine’s Penobscot Tribe now works with other partners like the timber industry to survey moose or restore Atlantic salmon. The Siletz Tribe of Oregon has partnered with the Forest Service to build up a population of mountain goats that historically go back to the days of Lewis and Clark. Funds have also been made available to the Cocopah Tribe for riparian restoration along the Lower Colorado River and management plans for culturally significant wildlife of the Pueblo of Santa Ana Tribe in New Mexico as well as endangered species found on Oklahoma’s Osage Reservation.”

Successful conservation efforts require not only funding but partnerships between many parties, affiliations that are evident in this year’s awardees. Says FWS Regional Director Benjamin Tuggle: “Benefits of these grants will go far beyond their dollar amounts.”