Wildlife trust set to give biggest grant to date

December 10, 2008

LANDER – Unless the state Legislature shoots it down, the Wyoming Wildlife and Natural Resources Trust is about to allocate its largest single grant to date — $1 million for a conservation easement.

The Trust board met in Douglas on Monday to review and decide on 37 wildlife preservation and habitat improvement projects. The projects had already received site visits from trust officials this fall.

The board allocated nearly $5.3 million for 28 projects throughout the state, according to Bob Budd, executive director of the trust. Applicants had requested about $9 million.

“This was one of the hardest meetings we’ve had,” Chairman Delaine Roberts said in a media release on Tuesday. “I think this is the first time we looked at every single project on the ground, and all of them had merit.”

Fifteen of the grants are for $200,000 or more — or are continuations of projects that cost that much — and, by law, will have to be approved by the state Legislature.

The biggest single grant approved, by far, was $1 million for a 19,000-acre conservation easement on the Green River in western Wyoming.

Called the Sommers Grindstone easement, the project is sponsored by the Wyoming Game and Fish Department.

The total value of the easement is expected to be $22 million. If the Game and Fish Department is successful, much of the money will eventually be raised from a variety of different sources, a department spokesman said.

A conservation easement is a voluntary commitment by a landowner, and in Wyoming, these easements are usually purchased from ranchers. The landowners basically donate or sell their rights to develop their land, to ensure it remains open space. In most cases the land owners donate a portion of the total value. But they also retain ownership, and almost always opt to continue living and ranching on the land.

A conservation easement is generally permanent, so future owners are also restricted from developing the land.

The Sommers Grindstone easement, once complete, will include two neighboring ranches on the Green River, both family ranches dating back to the 1870s, Budd said.

The land is near the Pinedale Anticline natural gas field, which is expected to explode with development in the coming years.

The land is important to a variety of critters, and it will only become more critical as nearby development continues, Budd said.

“This is going to end up, we think, as a possible overflow zone for deer being temporarily displaced by development,” he said.

There are also several sage grouse mating grounds on or adjacent to the easement, he said, and the land is important for songbirds, water fowl, sand hill cranes, mule deer, moose, antelope and many other creatures.

“Over 80 species that are considered species of critical concern in the state are found in that area,” Budd said.

Eric Keszler, spokesman for the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, said the easement will also create about 5 miles of public access along the Green River.

“There is a lot of habitat value in this area,” Keszler said. “It is an important migration corridor for mule deer and antelope. It is important for its sage grouse and riparian habitats. It provides a connection from the Bridger-Teton [National Forest] down to the river.”

The Game and Fish Department, with the help of sportsmen’s and conservation groups, is working to secure funds from a number of other sources for the project, including the Jonah Interagency Office and the Wyoming Landscape Conservation Initiative, Keszler said.

“It’s a huge project and I hope we can make it happen in an area that’s very important for wildlife,” he said.

The state Legislature created the wildlife trust fund in 2005, with the support of Gov. Dave Freudenthal, and with the intent of eventually endowing the trust with $200 million.

The total endowment is currently about $88 million.

Trust fund contributions are matched and usually are exceeded by other private and public entities.

Once the trust is fully funded, it should be self-sufficient, according to the law, allocating money for conservation and improvement projects solely from interest earned.

In his supplemental budget this year, Freudenthal is recommending the Legislature add an additional $20 million to the wildlife trust during the coming legislative session.

The trust allocates funds twice a year, with the next group of projects to be decided on in June, Budd said. The deadline for the next round of applications will be the end of March, he said.

Source: Casper Star Tribune

Written by fandw08 · Filed Under Environmental News