Ga. Events Mark 10th Anni. of Wildlife Grants
Tony Potts
09-02-2010
From monitoring swallow-tailed kites along the coast to surveying rare fishes in highland rivers, the
federal State Wildlife Grants Program has funded wildlife conservation
across Georgia since 2000. Yet most Georgians never knew it.
Next week, the state Department of Natural Resources will celebrate the
10-year anniversary of State Wildlife Grants with events highlighting
wildlife stories and successes the grants helped make possible.
Public events Sept. 10-11 will offer close-ups of rare creatures and
special habitats, like bog turtles at Chattahoochee Nature Center in
Roswell and pitcherplants at Doerun Pitcherplant Bog Natural Area near
Moultrie.
It’s all part of Teaming with Wildlife Week. Teaming with Wildlife is
a national coalition and the leading advocate of State Wildlife Grants.
Linda May, environmental outreach coordinator for DNR’s Nongame
Conservation Section, said the goal is raising awareness. The State
Wildlife Grants Program “is very crucial to the work we do,” May
said.
The grants fund work benefiting wildlife and their habitats,
specifically the 90 percent of our nation’s species not hunted, fished
for or on the Endangered Species List. The focus: Keep common species
common and prevent wildlife from becoming endangered, protecting them
and their habitats before they become too rare and more costly to
protect.
The stable funding for state fish and wildlife agencies has been
critical to the recovery and conservation of many species, fulfilling a
responsibility to save them for future generations.
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said that in the current economic
climate, “the program ensures that states will have the necessary
resources to help conserve their highest priority wildlife, plants and
habitats - an investment that will pay dividends for years to come.”
State Wildlife Grants have been used for land conservation such as the
acquisition of Silver Lake Wildlife Management Area near Bainbridge;
habitat restoration, including more prescribed burning to benefit
longleaf pine ecosystems; and research, such as sandhills surveys and
habitat assessments that could help keep the gopher tortoise -
Georgia’s state reptile - off the endangered species list.
Nongame Conservation Section Chief Mike Harris said the work is done
strategically, guided by the State Wildlife Action Plan. This
comprehensive plan required for State Wildlife Grants and developed by
Georgia scientists, sportsmen and the public guides DNR efforts to
conserve biological diversity.
State Wildlife Grants also draw matching money and work from
conservation partners. The overall impact is at least double the roughly
$1.5 million Georgia receives each year.
Jerry McCollum, president of the Georgia Wildlife Federation, which
helped found the state Teaming with Wildlife coalition, noted that the
grants program is not guaranteed. Congress decides funding annually.
“For sportsmen and conservationists in Georgia … a constant vigil
is required,” McCollum said.
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