Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar announced the funding recipients through the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's 2011 National Coastal Wetlands Conservation Grant Program on December 22. Twenty-four projects protecting coastal habitats on nearly 6,000 acres in 12 states will be awarded a total of more than $19 million, reports the Wildlife Management Institute. An additional $21 million in matching funds from local partners, including state and local governments, conservation organizations and private landowners will augment the federal grants.

"Our nation's coastal wetlands encompass large areas of vital habitat for countless species of wildlife while providing important economic resources and recreational opportunities for the American people," Secretary Ken Salazar said. "These grants will offer additional protection, restoration and enhancement of these precious habitats."?

According the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, coastal areas comprise less than 10 percent of the nation's land area yet support the majority of wildlife species, including 75 percent of migratory birds, nearly 80 percent of fish and shellfish and about half of all threatened and endangered species. Coastal habitats also provide an important buffering function, improving water quality and protecting inland areas from major storms. However coastal habitats are facing significant threats through coastal development and have the potential to see the greatest impacts from climate change through sea level rise.

The 2011 grants will fund projects in Oregon, Washington, Wisconsin, Alabama, Florida, North Carolina, Delaware, Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Alaska and California. Along the Eel River Estuary in California, a $1 million grant will help fund restoration of more than 334 acres of estuarine habitat and 110 acres of upland habitat around the Salt River Delta. In Massachusetts, the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation, partnering with the Essex County Greenbelt Association, the Great Marsh Land Protection Team and the Town of Ipswich, will permanently protect 78 acres of coastal salt marsh, freshwater marsh and ponds, and associated upland buffer around the Great Marsh through a $1 million conservation easement.

The National Coastal Wetlands Conservation Grant program is funded through excise taxes on fishing equipment and motorboat fuel through the Sport Fish Restoration program. Established in 1990 and first funded in 1992, the program has provided nearly $260 million dollars for coastal conservation.(jas)