The Interior Department today announced the award of ~$91 million for 55 grants to support landscape-scale conservation projects in 42 states, 3 territories, and 14 tribal nations. The grants were issued as part of the “America the Beautiful Challenge” and support projects that conserve, restore, and connect habitats for wildlife while improving community resilience and access to nature.
Interior Sec. Deb Haaland said that the projects “advance collaborative conservation utilizing the best available science, innovative practices, and Indigenous Knowledge to help conserve and protect our lands and waters” and will “create jobs, strengthen our economy, address equitable access to the outdoors, and help tackle the climate crisis.”
DOI said that the projects will remove or improve over 57 barriers to fish and aquatic organism passage, restore over 1,900 acres of wetlands, and reconnect over 1,300 miles or stream or river, among other things. The projects will be carried out in areas including Bristol Bay, East Gulf Coastal Plains (Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi), Louisiana, Columbia River Gorge (Washington), Oregon, Delaware River (Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York), St. Croix River (Maine), Florida, Massachusetts, Michigan, North Carolina, New Jersey, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Maui, American Samoa, and Puerto Rico.
