DNR grants available for landowners to help rare plants and animals
The Department of Natural Resources is accepting applications for the Landowner Incentive Program, which gives assistance to landowners who agree to manage their property to benefit rare and threatened plants and animals.
The DNR is now taking applications for grants to be awarded in the spring of 2009. "The ultimate goal of this program is to support the recovery of rare species and natural communities, and to prevent their further decline," said Signe Holtz, director of the Bureau of Endangered Resources.
In 2009, the funding will be keyed toward two areas, prairie and oak savanna habitat and the northern Lake Michigan coastal ecological landscape.
Prairie and oak savanna habitat is found in the southwestern two-thirds of the state, and it was once the dominant landscape.
There is now only about 500 acres of oak savanna and only 8,000 acres of original prairie remain. "The remaining habitat may be the last refuge for many prairie and savanna plants, birds and other animals," the DNR said.
The other major effort will be in the
Northern Lake Michigan coastal habitat which includes much of the
coastal area which surrounds Green Bay and the Door County
peninsula. Door County, the DNR says, harbors one of the highest
concentrations of rare species in the state.
"Many of these species and natural communities are uncommon or nonexistent elsewhere in Wisconsin and throughout the United States," the department said.
Coastal habitat includes coastal wetlands, dune habitat and other habitat for at-risk species.
"The biggest threat to rare species is loss or degradation of habitat," Holtz said. "With more than 85 percent of Wisconsin's landscape under private ownership, landowners play a key role in helping conserve the beauty and diversity of Wisconsin's natural heritage for future generations."
Projects eligible for the Landowner Incentive Program include control of invasive species and woody species, replanting of native vegetation, controlled burns and other projects to manage or restore habitat for at-risk species.
Applications for grants must be made by Nov. 14 and can be made at the Landowner Incentive Program Web site or by contacting Heidi Nelson at (608) 267-0797.
