S. Dakota Habitat Conservation Fund finances wildlife projects
The South Dakota Habitat Conservation Fund Board of Directors recently approved a total of $608,000 in grants to improve wildlife habitat across the state. This is the Fund’s first grant cycle for projects being completed in 2016.
Projects receiving funds in 2016 will
Restore productivity and create wildlife habitat on saline soils.
Reseed road rights of way with native grasses to improve wildlife habitat.
Enhance nesting habitat on Conservation Reserve Program acres as well as secure public access on those acres.
Restore wetlands and improve surrounding habitat.
Enhance diversity in Conservation Reserve Program acres.
Enhance Conservation Stewardship and Environmental Quality Incentives programs in the James River Watershed Project Area.
Fund a pilot project to work with landowners in Brookings County to increase wildlife habitat on working lands.
The Fund provides a permanent funding source for habitat work and was established through the South Dakota Community Foundation in November 2014 as a result of one of the eight recommendations of the Governor’s Pheasant Habitat Work Group. The Fund is seeking both public and private funds to improve South Dakota’s wildlife habitat and to award grant projects that will improve and increase wildlife habitat as a supplement to existing habitat programs.
The Fund has received contributions from Pheasants Forever, Izaak Walton League, National Wild Tukey Federation, The Nature Conservancy, other private donors and an appropriation of state funds from the 2015 Legislature.
To donate to the Fund or for more information, visit http://habitat.sd.gov/resources/habitatconservationfund.aspx.
For more information specific to the grant projects that received funding, please contact Wayne Winter at 605-773-4503.
–South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks
