[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 164 (Thursday, August 23, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 42674-42676]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-18235]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Fish and Wildlife Service
[FWS-HQ-WSFR-2018-N088; 91400-5110-0000; 91400-9410-0000]
The Fiscal Year 2017 Multistate Conservation Grant Program Award
List
AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of receipt of priority list and publication of grant
awards into the Federal Register.
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SUMMARY: We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, announce the Fiscal
Year (FY) 2017 priority list of grant awards for the wildlife and sport
fish conservation projects from the Association of Fish and Wildlife
Agencies (Association). As required by the Wildlife and Sport Fish
Restoration Programs Improvement Act of 2000, the Association submits a
list of projects to us each year to consider for funding under the
Multistate Conservation Grant Program. We have reviewed the list and
recommended all for award to the Director. The Director approved the
list of projects for award and we have awarded all projects from the
list.
ADDRESSES: John C. Stremple, Multistate Conservation Grants Program
Coordinator; Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration Program; U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service; 5275 Leesburg Pike; MS: WSFR; Falls Church, VA 22041-
3808.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: John C. Stremple, (703) 358-2156
(phone) or [email protected] (email).
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Fish and Wildlife Programs Improvement
and National Wildlife Refuge System Centennial Act of 2000 (Improvement
Act, Pub. L. 106-408) amended the Pittman-Robertson Wildlife
Restoration Act (16 U.S.C. 669 et seq.) and the Dingell-Johnson Sport
Fish Restoration
[[Page 42675]]
Act (16 U.S.C. 777 et seq.) and established the Multistate Conservation
Grant Program. The Improvement Act authorizes us to award grants of up
to $3 million annually from funds available under each of the
restoration acts, for a total of up to $6 million annually. Projects
can be funded from both funds, depending on the project activities. We
may award grants to projects from a list of priority projects
recommended to us by the Association. The Service Director, exercising
the authority of the Secretary of the Interior, need not fund all
projects on the list, but all projects funded must be on the list.
The Improvement Act provides that funding for Multistate grants is
available in the year it is appropriated and for the following year.
Total funding available for new FY 2017 Multistate Conservation grants
was $2,522,000. This total was made up of funding that was carried over
from FY 2016, added to the funding that was previously sequestered, and
subtracted committed funds ($3,261,027) for FY 2017. Those committed
funds were directed into the three components of the 2016 National
Survey of Fishing, Hunting, and Wildlife-Associated Recreation (parts A
and B).
Grantees under this program may use funds for sport fisheries and
wildlife management and research projects, boating access development,
hunter safety and education, aquatic education, fish and wildlife
habitat improvements, and other purposes consistent with the enabling
legislation.
To be eligible for funding, a project must benefit fish and/or
wildlife conservation for at least 26 States, a majority of the States
in any one Service Region, or one of the regional associations of State
fish and wildlife agencies. We may award grants to a State, a group of
States, or one or more nongovernmental organizations. For the purpose
of carrying out the National Survey of Fishing, Hunting, and Wildlife-
Associated Recreation, we may award grants to the Service, if requested
by the Association, or to a State or a group of States. Also, the
Association requires all project proposals to address its National
Conservation Needs, which the Association announces annually at the
same time it requests proposals. Further, applicants must provide
certification that no activities conducted under a Multistate
Conservation Grant will promote or encourage opposition to regulated
hunting or trapping of wildlife, or to regulated angling or taking of
fish.
The Association committees and interested nongovernmental
organizations that represent conservation organizations, sportsmen's
and women's organizations, and industries that support or promote
fishing, hunting, trapping, recreational shooting, bowhunting, or
archery review and rank eligible project proposals. The Association's
National Grants Committee recommends a final list of priority projects
to the directors of the State fish and wildlife agencies for their
approval by majority vote. By statute, the Association then transmits
the final approved list to the Service for funding under the Multistate
Conservation Grant program by October 1 of the fiscal year. For FY
2017, the Association sent us a list of 17 new projects, plus the three
previously approved components of the 2016 National Survey of Fishing,
Hunting, and Wildlife-Associated Recreation that they recommended for
funding. The Director approved all projects on this list and all have
been awarded. The list follows:
Multistate Conservation Grant Program
[FY 2017 Projects]
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PR funding DJ funding Total 2017
ID Title Submitter \1\ \2\ grant
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1.................. State Fish & Wildlife AFWA................. $51,040 $51,040 $102,080
Agency Technical
Workgroup for the 2016
National Survey.
2.................. State Fish and Wildlife AFWA................. 80,241 80,241 160,482
Agency Coordination and
Communication.
3.................. Coordination of Farm Bill AFWA................. 76,510 76,510 153,020
Implementation.
4.................. Multistate Conservation AFWA................. 42,000 42,000 84,000
Grant Program
Coordination.
5.................. Management Assistance Team AFWA................. 270,376.63 270,376.63 540,753.26
and the National
Conservation Leadership
Institute.
6.................. State Fish & Wildlife AFWA................. 50,000 50,000 100,000
Agency Director Travel-
Enabling Coordination and
Planning of National
Level Conservation
Initiatives.
7.................. Increasing Awareness and AFWA................. 50,000 50,000 100,000
Knowledge of Fish and
Wildlife Management
Through Legal Education
that Instructs on the
North American Model of
Wildlife Conservation and
the Public Trust.
8.................. Preserve State Agencies' AFWA................. 33,600 33,600 67,200
Authority to Manage
Wildlife Resources and
Promote Their Interest in
the Implementation of
International Treaties.
9.................. Implementation of the CAHSS................ 171,000 0 171,000
National Hunting &
Shooting Sports Action
Plan.
10................. Telling the State Story to AFWA................. 42,600 42,600 85,200
Ensure Fish and Wildlife
Agency Relevancy.
11................. Coordination of the AFWA................. 77,130 77,130 154,260
Industry, Federal, and
State Agency Coalition.
12................. 2017 National WSFR-- WMI.................. 94,874 94,874 189,748
Federal Aid Coordinators
Meeting.
13................. Applying Wildlife WMI.................. 49,680 49,680 99,360
Governance Principles to
Enhance Leadership and
Relevance of State
Wildlife Agencies.
14................. 2017--Raising Awareness of WMI.................. 86,864.50 86,864.50 173,729
the WSFR Program and
Improving Industry
Relations To Ensure the
Long-term Stability of
the Program.
15................. Advancing the Objectives AFWA/NFHB............ 0 143,711.87 143,711.87
of the National Fish
Habitat Action Plan
through Regional and
Collaborative Science and
Priority Setting.
16................. Quantifying and NSSF................. 98,000 0 98,000
Communicating the
Economic Significance of
Hunting and Shooting
Sports.
17................. Quantifying and ASA.................. 0 99,200 99,200
Communicating the
Economic Significance of
Sportfishing.
NS................. Coordination of the 2016 FWS.................. 131,560 131,560 263,120
National Survey Efforts
(part A).
NS................. National Level Results for FWS/U.S. Census 884,824 884,824 1,769,648
the 2016 Survey of Bureau.
Fishing, Hunting, and
Wildlife-Associated
Recreation (Part A).
NS................. 2016 Fifty State Surveys Rockville Intitute 614,129.50 614,129.50 1,228,259
Related to Fishing, (Westat).
Hunting, and Wildlife-
Associated Recreation
(Part B).
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2,904,429.63 2,878,341.50 5,782,771.13
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\1\ PR Funding: Pitman-Robertson Wildlife Restoration funds.
\2\ DJ Funding: Dingell-Johnson Sport Fish Restoration funds.
AFWA: Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies.
[[Page 42676]]
ATA: Archery Trade Association.
ASA: American Sportfishing Association.
CAHSS: Council to Advance Hunting and the Shooting Sports.
NFHB: National Fish Habitat Board.
NS: 2016 National Survey of Fishing, Hunting, and Wildlife- Associated Recreation.
NSSF: National Shooting Sports Foundation.
WMI: Wildlife Management Institute.
Dated: June 22, 2018.
James W. Kurth,
Deputy Director for U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Exercising the
Authority of the Director for U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
[FR Doc. 2018-18235 Filed 8-22-18; 8:45 am]
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