U.S. States Get $70 Million For Habitat Conservation
by ANC Staff
The United States Interior Department recently awarded a total of $70 million in wildlife habitat conservation grants to 29 states, including Washington, Oregon, Idaho, California, Nebraska and Hawaii.
The grants were made available under Section 6 of the Endangered Species Act, and delivered via the $6.6 million Habitat Conservation Planning Assistance Grants Program, the $51.1 million Habitat Conservation Plan Land Acquisition Grants Program, and the $12.7 million Recovery Land Acquisition Grants Program. All three programs are designed to manage and mitigate the conflict of interest between wildlife habitat and land development for human use.
Most of the money will be used to fund habitat conservation plans, which are agreements enabling land developers to encroach upon a habitat needed by endangered species, and even to harm or kill individual animals, so long as they provide an alternative protected habitat for the animals elsewhere, and can show that the long term survival of the species will not be hindered as a result.
Habitat conservation plans "provide a good balance between environmental and business needs," commented Interior Department spokesman Hugh Vickery.
For example, the grants will enable oil and gas companies to commence drilling in Kern County, CA, in an area of endangered wildlife habitat; they will allow public utilities companies to make use of a watershed in Washington; and they will pay for the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway to take conservation measures to mitigate the impact of its development in Montana’s Great Bear Wilderness, on the grizzly bears that until now have had the habitat to themselves.
"Whenever possible, we in the federal government must encourage and empower states, local communities, tribes, businesses, citizen groups, private landowners and others to take conservation into their hands," said Interior Secretary Gale Norton at a July 14 press conference announcing the release of the grants.
© 2003 Animal News Center, Inc.
The United States Interior Department recently awarded a total of $70 million in wildlife habitat conservation grants to 29 states, including Washington, Oregon, Idaho, California, Nebraska and Hawaii.
The grants were made available under Section 6 of the Endangered Species Act, and delivered via the $6.6 million Habitat Conservation Planning Assistance Grants Program, the $51.1 million Habitat Conservation Plan Land Acquisition Grants Program, and the $12.7 million Recovery Land Acquisition Grants Program. All three programs are designed to manage and mitigate the conflict of interest between wildlife habitat and land development for human use.
Most of the money will be used to fund habitat conservation plans, which are agreements enabling land developers to encroach upon a habitat needed by endangered species, and even to harm or kill individual animals, so long as they provide an alternative protected habitat for the animals elsewhere, and can show that the long term survival of the species will not be hindered as a result.
Habitat conservation plans "provide a good balance between environmental and business needs," commented Interior Department spokesman Hugh Vickery.
For example, the grants will enable oil and gas companies to commence drilling in Kern County, CA, in an area of endangered wildlife habitat; they will allow public utilities companies to make use of a watershed in Washington; and they will pay for the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway to take conservation measures to mitigate the impact of its development in Montana’s Great Bear Wilderness, on the grizzly bears that until now have had the habitat to themselves.
"Whenever possible, we in the federal government must encourage and empower states, local communities, tribes, businesses, citizen groups, private landowners and others to take conservation into their hands," said Interior Secretary Gale Norton at a July 14 press conference announcing the release of the grants.
© 2003 Animal News Center, Inc.
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