The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) and partners today announced $2.2 million in grants to reforest legacy mine lands, improve forest habitat management for birds, implement riparian buffers on agricultural lands and restore aquatic connectivity in Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia. The grants will generate $1.9 million in matching contributions for a total conservation impact of $4.1 million.
The grants were awarded through the Central Appalachia Habitat Stewardship Program (CAHSP), a partnership between NFWF and the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service and Forest Service, the U.S Fish and Wildlife Service, the Richard King Mellon Foundation, Altria Group and Cleveland-Cliffs.
“NFWF’s Central Appalachia Habitat Stewardship Program places the people and wildlife of this culturally rich and biodiverse region at the center of its work,” said Jeff Trandahl, executive director and CEO of NFWF.
“The grants announced today will restore streamside forest habitats and advance sustainable farming practices to improve water quality for focal aquatic species, support the voluntary restoration of public and private forests for native birds and support novel strategies to jumpstart population recovery for the eastern hellbender through propagation and release. These investments will also help support local economies and catalyze future opportunities for residents throughout the region.”
“Central Appalachia is home to some of the nation’s most imperiled species and ecosystems,” said Wendi Weber, regional director for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Northeast Region. “By restoring vital forest and aquatic habitats and bolstering populations of freshwater mussels and native fish, this program helps safeguard our wildlife resources and the benefits they provide to people and communities in the region now and for future generations.”
Central Appalachia boasts some of the most biologically diverse forests and aquatic systems in the United States. The projects announced today will plant more than 164,000 native trees, restore 16 miles of streamside forest, remove nine barriers to fish passage, and propagate and release more than 97,000 freshwater mussels into their historic habitat. This work will also benefit declining populations of forest birds, including the golden-winged warbler, wood thrush and cerulean warbler.
The Central Appalachia Habitat Stewardship Program was established in 2017 and has invested in 91 science-based, on-the-ground restoration and planning projects to restore the quality of forest and freshwater habitats in the central Appalachian region, including portions of New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia. To date, the program has awarded grants totaling more than $21.8 million and leveraged more than $23.7 million in matching contributions from grantees for a total of $45.5 million in on-the-ground conservation impact.
A complete list of the Central Appalachia Habitat Stewardship Program grant awards is available here.