Wildlife Conservation Board Funds Environmental Improvement and Acquisition Projects

By: KATHERINE M. CLEMENTS

The Wildlife Conservation Board (WCB) approved approximately $70.14 million in grants to help restore and protect fish and wildlife habitats throughout California at its Jan. 13 meeting. The t hree projects approved will benefit fish and wildlife via funding tools that support biodiversity, watershed restoration, c limate resiliency, and working landscapes that integrate economic, social, and environmental stewardship practices beneficial to the environment, landowners, and the local community.

F unding for these projects comes from the General Fund, Budget Act of 2022. It supports the 30x30 Initiative— the goal to conserve 30 percent of California’s lands and coastal waters by 2030, and nature-based solutions.

Funded projects:

• A $26 million grant to Point Blue

Conservation Science for a cooperative project with local volunteer educators and students. This project w ill implement wildlife habitat restoration on working lands in multiple counties across California.

• A $24.73 million grant to Point Blue Conservation Science for a cooperative project with the National Fish a nd Wildlife Foundation, U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), and Sierra Meadows Partnership to plan. This project w ill implement and monitor meadow restoration in the Sierra Nevada a nd Cascade mountains spanning 23 California counties.

• A $19.41 million grant to the California Association of Resource Conservation Districts for a cooperative project with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, the California Department of Food and Ag- riculture, the California Department o f Conservation, the USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service, a nd USFWS. This project will expand monarch, pollinator, and other w ildlife habitats on public and private lands and assist landowners in i mplementing carbon farm practices that create habitat and sequester c arbon in multiple counties across California.

For more information about the WCB, please visit wcb.ca.gov.