DEP Announces New Wildlife Grant Applications

 Property owners interested in protecting habitat management for wildlife can apply for technical and financial assistance under the state’s Landowner Incentive Program, which is announcing a new “open application period” for grants to private landowners.

The program, offered through the state’s Department of Environmental Protection, provides technical advice and cost assistance for habitat management on private lands that help protect, restore, reclaim, enhance and maintain habitats that support fish, wildlife and at-risk plants.

The initiative is underwritten by grants from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which helps states with the stewardship of at-risk species, according to a statement released today by the DEP.

“The biggest threat to plants and animals is loss of habitat,” said Rick Jacobson, Director of the DEP’s Wildlife Division. “With at least 90 percent of Connecticut lands under private ownership, landowners play a vital role in conserving habitat for rare species.”

Because funding is limited, grants are awarded through a competitive process.  Landowners, including individuals, land trusts, conservation organizations, landowner associations, corporations and sportsman’s clubs are encouraged to propose projects that provide maximum benefit to species at-risk.

The program can provide up to 75 perccent of a project’s the cost of a project, but  minimum 25 percent non-federal match is required. Landowners, or partnering organizations, can provide the match through a variety of services, such as brush mowing, invasive plant control, bird monitoring, educational outreach, or actual dollars. The application can be downloaded from the DEP website. Applications must be submitted by May 15, 2011.

Over 150 applications were received during the first two application periods held in 2005 and 2006. To date, 37 grants have been awarded, 27 of which have been completed and 10 of which are underway or close to initiation.

Projects have included forest openings or expansion on Nature Conservancy property in Haddam and on lands in

Marlborough, Newtown, and Norfolk. Other projects have included tidal marsh restoration in Old Saybrook, Lyme, New Haven, and Westport.

Current on-going projects include controlling common reed in freshwater wetland systems, conserving state-listed plants, and enhancing diverse wetland habitat. Other projects have helped create, restore and manage early successional habitats, such as young forests, reverting fields, thickets, shrublands, meadows and grasslands.

 These habitats have been declining throughout Connecticut, along with the species that depend on them.

For more information on the Landowner Incentive Program contact Judy Wilson, Private Lands Program coordinator for the DEP Wildlife Division, at the CT DEP Eastern District Headquarters, 209 Hebron Road, Marlborough, CT 06447 (judy.wilson@ct.gov; 860-295-9523) or by visiting the Landowner Incentive Program.

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