Seven Cooperative Conservation Projects Funded in Alaska

WASHINGTON, DC, May 26, 2004 (ENS) - Interior Secretary Gale Norton has announced $445,000 in challenge cost-share grants to support seven cooperative conservation projects in Alaska, from improving management of caribou herds to restoring stream habitat for salmon.

The grants, announced Monday, are part of $21 million in challenge cost-share grants under President George W. Bush's Cooperative Conservation Initiative. Under this program the government has pledged to complete 377 conservation projects nationwide in conjunction with states, local communities, businesses, landowners and other partners.

The projects involve more than 1,100 partners in 43 states and will conserve, restore or enhance more than 565,000 acres. Overall funding for the projects totals more than $52 million including the matching contributions of partners.

"The goal of the Cooperative Conservation Initiative is to empower federal land managers to form partnerships within local communities to better care for the land and its wildlife," Norton said. "By promoting these partnerships, we not only leverage federal conservation dollars with private funds but also tap into the ingenuity and local knowledge of the people who live and work on the land."

Partners will contribute $892,000 in matching contributions to the seven Alaska projects, bringing the total for the state to $1.34 million.

For example, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is awarding a grant of $100,000 to restore access to more than 10 miles of king and silver salmon rearing habitat in the Kenai Peninsula's Silver Salmon Creek.

The Nature Conservancy of Alaska, N.C. Machinery, the Alaska Department of Community and Economic Development, the Cook Inlet Aquaculture Association, the Kenai Watershed Forum, and the Kenai Peninsula Borough are among the partners contributing to this project.

"The power of partnership produces results for conservation that far exceed the dollars we put into these partnerships," Norton said. "By empowering citizens, we are tapping into the greatest conservation resource we have--the American people themselves--and helping them to become citizen-conservationists."

A state-by-state breakout of the grants is available on the Interior Department website, at: www.doi.gov.