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NEVADA STATE OFFICE NO. 2004-43

FOR RELEASE: May 24, 2004

CONTACT: Jo Simpson at (775) 861-6586

Interior Secretary Norton Announces \$982,000 in Grants

to Support 15 Cooperative Conservation Projects in Nevada

Interior Secretary Gale Norton today announced \$982,000 in challenge
cost-share grants to support 15 cooperative conservation projects in
Nevada, from constructing water catchments for wildlife to restoring
desert tortoise habitat.

The grant is part of \$21 million in challenge cost-share grants under
President Bush's Cooperative Conservation Initiative to complete 377
conservation projects nationwide in conjunction with states, local
communities, businesses, landowners and other partners. The projects
involve more than 1,100 partners in 43 states and will conserve, restore
or enhance more than 565,000 acres. Overall funding for the projects
totals more than \$52 million including the matching contributions of
partners.

"The goal of the Cooperative Conservation Initiative is to empower
federal land managers to form partnerships within local communities to
better care for the land and its wildlife," Norton said. "By promoting
these partnerships, we not only leverage federal conservation dollars
with private funds but also tap into the ingenuity and local knowledge
of the people who live and work on the land."

A state-by-state breakout of the grants announced by Norton today is
available on the Interior Department Web site,
[www.doi.gov](http://www.doi.gov/).

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Interior Secretary Norton Announces \$982,000 in Grants -- 2222

Partners will contribute \$1.2 million in matching contributions to the
15 Nevada projects, bringing the total for the state to \$2.2 million.

For example, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is awarding a grant of
\$88,000 to restore desert tortoise habitat near Las Vegas. Clark
County, Outside Las Vegas, Partners in Conservation, community
volunteers and the Boy Scouts are contributing \$138,000 to the project.

President Bush proposed the challenge cost-share grants in 2003 as a
tool for federal land managers to use in creating cooperative
conservation projects. Last year, the department awarded \$12.9 million
in grants in 40 states and Puerto Rico. For Fiscal Year 2004, the
President proposed and Congress appropriated an increase of more than
\$8 million, or 62 percent, in the program.

Overall, the department has awarded nearly \$34 million in grants over
the past two years to help more than 1,500 partners complete 633
projects. These projects have conserved, restored or enhanced more than
700,000 acres of wildlife habitat.

The Cooperative Conservation Initiative challenge cost-share grants are
part of an overall commitment by the Bush administration to support
cooperative conservation efforts. Over the past three years, the
Interior Department has provided more than \$1.3 billion in grants to
states, tribes, local governments and private landowners.

The projects supported by these grants have restored millions of acres
of habitat, removed invasive exotic species, replanted native grasses,
improved riparian habitat along thousands of miles of streams, conserved
limited water resources and developed conservation plans for endangered
species and their habitat.

Interior Secretary Norton Announces \$982,000 in Grants -- 3333

The President is proposing to build on this success in his Fiscal Year
2005 budget, which includes more than \$507 million to support
Interior's cooperative conservation programs.

"The power of partnership produces results for conservation that far
exceed the dollars we put into these partnerships," Norton said. "By
empowering citizens, we are tapping into the greatest conservation
resource we have -- the American people themselves -- and helping them
to become citizen-conservationists."

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