At the Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies' recent Annual Meeting in St. Louis, Missouri voting members approved the recommendation of 14 projects to be funded through the 2015 Multistate Conservation Grants Program (MSCGP) cycle.
The total cost of the 14 projects recommended is $2,899,046 ($1,414,248 in Wildlife Restoration funds and $1,484,798 in Sport Fish Restoration funds). Funding for the MSCGP comes from a portion of the quarterly 10-11% federal excise tax paid by manufacturers and importers of fishing, hunting and shooting-sports equipment.
The projects recommended are as follows:
Fully fund:
1) State Fish and Wildlife Agency Administration and Coordination (Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies)
2) State Fish and Wildlife Agency Director Travel Administration and Coordination (Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies)
3) Coordination of the Industry, Federal and State Agency Coalition (Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies)
4) Educating lawyers, law students, students of all ages, the judiciary and the general public on state fish and wildlife management: Implementing AFWA’s 2013 – 2015 Strategic Plan Goal 2 (Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies)
5) Hunting, Fishing, and Sport Shooting Recruitment and Retention: A Practitioner’s Guide (National Shooting Sports Foundation)
6) National Survey of Ownership and Use of Traps by Trappers in the United States and evaluation of the use and implementation of BMPs by state fish and wildlife agencies (with a focus on documenting changes since 2004) (Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies)
7) Promoting Strategic Fish Habitat Conservation through Regionally Coordinated Science and Collaboration (National Fish Habitat Partnership)
8) Development and Implementation of a National Initiative for Hunter and Shooting Sports Recruitment, Retention, and Reactivation (Wildlife Management Institute / The Council to Advance Hunting & the Shooting Sports)
9) Boosting Fishing Participation by Boat Owners (American Sportfishing Association)
10) Professional Development Workshops for effective communication and outreach regarding regulated trapping, established Best Management Practices, and furbearer management (Max McGraw Wildlife Foundation)
Fund Year One (2015 cycle) Fund Year Two (2016 cycle):
11) Multistate Conservation Grant Program Coordination (Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies
12) Coordination of Farm Bill Program Implementation to Optimize Fish and Wildlife Benefits to the States (Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies)
13) Understanding Trends in Public Values toward Wildlife as a Key to Meeting Current and Future Wildlife Management Challenges (Midwest Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies / Western Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies)
14) Improving the Conservation of Fish and Wildlife Populations and Habitats During Energy Exploration, Development and Transmission Through Enhanced Industry/Agency Coordination (Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies)
For the 2015 MSCGP cycle, the Association received 33 Letters of Intent from state and federal fish and wildlife agencies, regional associations and non-governmental organizations, and 19 applicants were invited to submit full proposals from which the 14 were selected.
The Association’s priority list of project recommendations will be sent to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) as established by the Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration Programs Improvement Act of 2000 (Pub. L. 06-408). The USFWS will announce the grant awards in December and grant funding will be available January 1, 2015.
MSCGP Grants are awarded on a calendar-year basis for one, two or three years and must benefit at least 26 states, a majority of states in a USFWS region or regional associations.
photo courtesy of Hayley Lynch
