State gets $550,000 in federal grants for conservation projects

North Carolina has received two grants totaling more than $550,000 to support studies and programs to identify and improve habitat threats fish and wildlife.

USFWS gives $460,000 to study robust redhorse sucker

North Carolina has received two grants totaling more than $550,000 from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, with most of it going to the recovery and habitat of the robust redhorse sucker.

The USFWS has announces grants for a total of $5.1 million to 11 states to fund large-scale conservation programs to conserve and record species of “greatest conservation need” and their habitats.

“The projects funded by these grants target some of the most imperiled species and habitats in the United States,” said Dan Ashe, the director of USFWS. “These projects are receiving funding because they are tied to well-thought-out conservation plans that identify the highest-priority areas where we can make the biggest difference for imperiled species.”

North Carolina received a $460,000 grant to study the robust redhorse sucker, a large fish found in only three river drainages in the Southeast that is listed as an endangered species in North Carolina. The U.S. Geological Survey, N.C. State University and the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission and S.C. Department of Natural Resources will collaborate on field sampling and laboratory analysis to help determine how habitat and water-quality changes have affected the fish and 52 other species, then determine how best to stop the downward slide of the species. The USFWS grant will be matched by $225,000 in state money.

North Carolina also received more than $94,000 to revise the North Carolina State Wildlife Action Plan to better identify habitat threats and “Conservation Opportunity Areas.” The money, which will go to the Commission, the USGS and N.C. State, will be matched by more than $31,000 in state money.

For more information about each of the grant projects, visit: http://wsfrprograms.fws.gov/Subpages/GrantPrograms/SWG/SWG2013FundedProjects.pdf

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