Posts Tagged ‘Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program’
25th Anniversary of the Service’s Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program
Tuesday, August 14th, 2012
Mission: To efficiently achieve voluntary habitat restoration on private lands, through financial and technical assistance, for the benefit of federal trust species.
The Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program was officially established by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 1987. The Partners Program provides technical and financial assistance to private landowners and tribes that are willing to work with partners on a voluntary basis to help meet the habitat needs of our Federal trust species.
Partners Biologist Gib King with private landowner, certifying completion of a habitat restoration project.
The program can assist with projects in all habitat types which conserve or restore native vegetation, hydrology, and soils associated with imperiled ecosystems such as longleaf pine, bottomland hardwoods, tropical forests, native prairies, marshes, rivers and streams, or otherwise provide an important habitat requisite for a rare, declining or protected species.
Locally-based field biologists work one-on-one with private landowners and other partners to plan, implement, and monitor their projects. Partners Program field staff help landowners find other sources of funding and help them through the permitting process, as necessary. This level of personal attention and follow-through is a significant strength of the program that has led to national recognition and wide support.
Growth has been tremendous during the past 25 years. The program now provides assistance to all 50 states and U.S. territories. The program has gained national recognition as a vanguard in the new era of cooperative conservation based on the premise that fish and wildlife conservation is a responsibility shared by citizens and the government.
Since 1987, PFW has worked with over 44,000 private landowners and more than 3,000 partnering organizations. PFW has also restored and enhanced 3,235,000 acres of uplands, 1,260,000 acres of wetlands and 9,200 miles of stream habitat
For more info, find your state coordinator at http://www.fws.gov/partners/contactUs.html
Recognizing 25 Years of the Partners for Fish & Wildlife Program
Tuesday, March 20th, 2012
Pheasants Forever's Dave Nomsen (left) and U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Director Dan Ashe (right)
Last week at the North American Wildlife & Natural Resources Conference, it was my pleasure to present United States Fish & Wildlife Service Director Dan Ashe with a plaque commemorating 25 years of the Service’s Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program.
During the presentation, I reflected back on the Program’s 25-years of habitat successes and the people responsible for those achievements. My fond memories included folks like Jim Gritman, who initiated the Partners program, and Carl Madsen, who wrote the very first private land contract under the Program.
Today at Pheasants Forever & Quail Forever, we work with some great U.S. Fish & Wildlife Partners staff; including, the teams Heather Johnson (Region 6) and Lori Nordstrom (Region 3) supervise.
Just two weeks ago it was my honor to help Partners program biologist Kurt Forman brief the Migratory Bird Conservation Commission on the plights of prairies and wetlands due to the loss of acres enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program. We also discussed the variety of ways CRP is of critical importance to the Prairie Pothole region that includes North and South Dakota, Minnesota, and Iowa.
It’s been a great partnership and Pheasants Forever was pleased to offer our congratulations to the entire Partners program team. They’ve done a great job helping private lands farmers and ranchers complete wildlife habitat projects these past 25 years.
The D.C. Minute is written by Dave Nomsen, Pheasants Forever’s Vice President of Government Relations.
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