Technical Assistance NATIONAL COASTAL WETLANDS CONSERVATION GRANT PROGRAM The Coastal Program and the Wildlife Restoration and Sport Fish Restoration Program collaborate to administer the National Coastal Wetlands Conservation Grant (NCWCG) Program. Annually, the NCWCG Program distributes $18-20 million to restore and/or protect coastal wetlands and uplands that provide valuable habitat for fish and wildlife. On average, the NCWCG Program leverages about 120% of its grant funds, which is derived from the Sport Fish Restoration and Boating Trust. The Coastal Program works with state agencies to identify and develop high quality conservation projects in priority coastal areas. Since 1992, the NCWCG Program has helped restore and/or protect over 360,000 acres of the coastal habitat.
Protected 1,374 acres adjacent to Lake Superior, Michigan
LANDSCAPE CONSERVATION PLANNING
Tijuana Slough National Wildlife Refuge, California
As chair of the Wetlands Managers Group (WMG) for the Southern California Wetlands Recovery Project (WRP), the Coastal Program is leading a diverse partnership of federal, state and local agencies, elected officials, academics, non-profit organizations, businesses, and citizens. The goal of the partnership is to improve wetland conservation through strategic landscape planning from Santa Barbara to the border of Mexico.
The Coastal Program’s involvement maintains the Service’s relationship with leading conservation partners, and provides an excellent opportunity to implement Strategic Habitat Conservation in southern California. The WRP has begun to update its strategic plan, with financial assistance from a Landscape Conservation Cooperative grant and a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency grant. As part of the update, WRP is collaboratively developing a science-based management framework that will set recovery objectives synthesized from historic and existing data, and future recovery goals. Background photograph: Mattamuskeet National Wildlife Refuge, NC: Allie Stewart (USFWS) Inset photographs (clockwise from top left): Abbaye Peninsula, Michigan: Keweenaw Land Trust; Marsh grass: Eric Drost (Flickr); Breaching Humpback Whales: Anna (Flickr); and Tijuana National Wildlife Refuge, California: Ralph Lee Hopkins with aerial support by LightHawk