South Carolina Lowcountry Wetlands Initiative V
Grant Request: $1,000,000Non-Federal Partner Contributions: $2,753,854
Acres: 1,749 (E)
This South Carolina Lowcountry Wetlands Initiative V NAWCA proposal will enhance important wetlands and uplands in four Atlantic Coast Joint Venture Focus Areas for all four major bird groups in the South Atlantic Migratory Bird Initiative (SAMBI). This proposal will enhance five tracts, totaling 1,749 acres, including 532 acres purchased in part by SCDNR with NAWCA funding (Bonneau Ferry, 2004 NAWCA project). Grant and match funds will be used to enhance habitats on all tracts, including 357 acres on the ACE Basin NWR (11,815 acres), 1,344 acres on a State Wildlife Center (Tract 2) and two State Wildlife Management Areas (WMA) (Tracts 3 and 4). These habitats support migratory waterfowl, shorebirds, songbirds and several threatened and at risk species. Lastly, Drayton Hall (Tract 5) is the last remaining intact plantation on the Ashley River.
Maine Coastal Refuges
Grant Request: $1,000,000 Non-Federal Partner Contributions: $2,536,544
Acres: 581(P)
The Maine Coastal Refuges (MCR) Project will protect 581 acres that have been identified as among the top 25% of lands proposed for protection within Acquisition boundaries of three National Wildlife Refuges (NWR) in coastal Maine: Rachel Carson NWR, Petit Manan NWR, and Cross Island NWR. The MCR Project permanently protects high value coastal wetlands (salt marshes, mudflats and rocky shore) along with adjacent upland buffer including islands, thickets, grasslands, forests and freshwater wetlands for breeding, migrating, and wintering waterfowl, high-priority seabirds and waterbirds, and shorebirds.
South Carolina Wetlands Landscape Initiative II
Grant Request: $1,000,000 Non-Federal Partner Contributions: $2,000.416
Acres: 1,041(P) 2,679(E)
This South Carolina Wetlands Landscape Initiative II proposal is a landscape-level approach to planning and implementing conservation projects on both private and public lands within the Ducks Unlimited (DU) Lowcountry Initiative (Initiative), bringing together eleven partners to accomplish wetlands protection and enhancement projects that support the goals and objectives of the North American Waterfowl Management Plan and Atlantic Coast Joint Venture (ACJV). Grant, match, and federal non-match funds will be used to protect and enhance 3,720 acres of wetlands and associated uplands on four tracts within two ACJV focus areas: ACE Basin and Santee River. This project will provide increased foraging capacity and important habitat for six NAWCA high priority waterfowl species, five NAWCA other priority waterfowl species and seven other species of waterfowl. Additionally, ten NAWCA Priority Species of wetland-dependent migratory birds from BCR 27 will benefit from increased foraging, nesting or roosting habitat. Seven federally endangered, threatened or proposed candidate species may benefit from proposal activities.
Pocomoke River Partnership III
Grant Request: $1,000,000 Non-Federal Partner Contributions: $2,888,000
Acres: 1,600 (P) 75 (E)
This is Phase III of five anticipated NAWCA proposals that contribute to a long-term, large landscape-scale effort to protect and restore wetland habitat in the Maryland portion of the Pocomoke River watershed, a major watershed of the Chesapeake Bay. This phase involves the fee-simple purchase of two large properties: Shockley Tract and Taylor Tract, together totaling 1,600 acres of forested, scrub-shrub, and emergent wetlands and forested uplands. The 900-acre Shockley Tract, consisting of 525 acres of forested, scrub-shrub and emergent wetlands and 375 acres of forested upland, is approved for residential development and a golf course. MD DNR will own and manage the Shockley property, for migratory waterfowl, songbirds and other forest-interior wildlife as part of its 16,500-acre Pocomoke Forest system. TNC will own the Taylor Tract, as part of its 10,000 acre Nassawango Creek Preserve. Ultimately, restoration will occur on both tracts. Some 75 acres on the Shockley tract will be hydrologically restored as part of this grant; NRCS will pay for wetland restoration on the Taylor tract (700 acres), which is not part of this grant.
Delaware’s Declining Wetland Habitats
State(s): Delaware BCR: New England/Mid-Atlantic (30)
Grant Request: $1,000,000 Non-Federal Partner Contributions: $2,046,510
Acres: 1380 (P) 159 (R) 528(E)
The purpose of this proposal is to protect, restore, and enhance 2,067 acres of wetland and associated uplands on private lands, the Ted Harvey Wildlife Management Area and Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge. Easements will be acquired on 1,380 acres of wetlands and associated uplands using agricultural conservation easements; restoration of 159 acres and enhancement of 528 acres will be carried out on private conservation lands, a flagship state WMA and Bombay Hook NWR. The proposal area is an important part of a major migration corridor for waterfowl and other wetland-associated migratory birds in the Atlantic Flyway. A variety of habitat types, including 645 acres of palustrine emergent wetlands, 776 acres of palustrine forested/scrub-shrub wetlands, and 135 acres of estuarine intertidal emergent wetlands, will be protected, restored or enhanced through this proposal. An emphasis has been placed on wetland types exhibiting decreasing historical trends and adjacent uplands.