The U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service has awarded $200,000 each for conservation work to the Native Village of Tyonek and Telida Village Council under the Tribal Wildlife Grant program. The Native Village of Tyonek, in partnership with Tyonek Tribal Conservation District, will be using funds to remove a barrier to fish passage on Old Tyonek Creek, opening up 8 miles of river to Chinook and coho salmon. The Telida Village Council will be checking for up to 24 metals in the moose of the upper Kuskokwim River, working with the Fish and Wildlife Service, Alaska Department of Fish and Game, and the communities of McGrath, Takotna, Nikolai and Telida.

With these two new grants, nine Tribes will be working on ten projects under the Tribal Wildlife Grant program funded at $1.6 million. Twenty-nine Alaska Tribes have been funded for 39 projects since 2003. Tribal Wildlife Grants are used to provide technical and financial assistance to Tribes for the development and implementation of programs that benefit fish and wildlife resources and their habitat.

Tribal Wildlife Grants are available only to federally recognized tribes through a competitive process. Tribal organizations and other entities may participate as sub grantees or contractors to federally recognized tribes. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and other federal, state, or tribal agencies and conservation organizations can assist tribes with planning and implementing a project. Submitted proposals are reviewed and ranked within the Region, and then nationally ranked against proposals from all Regions of the Service.

In 2015, 90 Tribes submitted proposals totaling $16 million for the $4 million in funding available. The Fish and Wildlife Service is requesting a $2 million increase for the Tribal Wildlife Grant program in the President’s 2016 Budget. Proposals for the 2016 grant cycle are due October 28, 2015.

For additional information about Native American conservation projects and the Tribal Wildlife Grants application process, visit https://www.fws.gov/nativeamerican/grants.html.

  fish and wildlife, grant, salmon, telida, tribal, tyonek, united states