Program supports government/landowner projects to enhance habitat;
Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks will have $667,000 available for landowners

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has announced nearly $19 million in competitive funding for fish and wildlife agencies in 37 states, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands under the Bush Administration's Landowner Incentive Program (LIP). The program supports cooperation between private landowners and state agencies to conserve natural habitat for species at risk, including federally-listed endangered or threatened species and proposed or candidate species.

LIP, funded through competitive grants with money from the Land and Water Conservation Fund, establishes or supplements existing landowner incentive programs that provide technical or financial assistance to private landowners. Recipients must provide at least 25 percent of the cost from a non-federal source.

Under the program, the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks (KDWP) will receive $500,000 and match $167,000 to provide private landowners with financial and technical support to implement projects in the Shortgrass Prairie Conservation Region and the Central Mixed Grass Prairie Conservation Region identified in the agency's Wildlife Action Plan. At-risk species to benefit from habitat enhancement and restoration work include lesser prairie chicken, black-tailed prairie dog, ferruginous hawk, northern pintail, American avocet, black tern, Cassin’s sparrow, whooping crane, green toad, flathead chub, Arkansas darter, and Topeka shiner.

Landowners interested in participating in LIP should contact KDWP LIP coordinator Murray Laubhan at 620-672-5911. For more information about the grant programs, go online to federalaid.fws.gov/lip/lip.html. The Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance reference number is 15.633.

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