SUCCESS THROUGH PARTNERSHIPS
U.S. Department of the Interior

ii Cooperative Conservation
U.S. Department of the Interior

1 Cooperative Conservation

COOPERATIVE CONSERVATION:

SUCCESS THROUGH PARTNERSHIPS

President George W. Bush with Interior Secretary Gale A. Norton 

at Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area

• A commitment to cooperative conservation to 

benefit resources on public and private lands 

through partnerships that recognize the views of 

local communities and individuals;

• Improved forest and rangeland health through 

the President’s Healthy Forests Initiative, which 

includes administrative improvements, increased 

fuels treatments, and implementation of the 

bipartisan Healthy Forests Restoration Act;

• Dramatic efforts to address the National Parks 

maintenance backlog through increased and better 

targeted funding focused on priority needs and a 

first-ever facility condition assessment program to 

measure progress; 

• Significant partnership activities benefitting many 

species through thousands of acres of improved 

habitat and expanded coastal protection;

• Improved quality of life for over 3 million people 

living near dangerous abandoned coal mine lands;

• Establishing a framework to address Western water 

needs in the 21st century through the Water 2025 

initiative and the Colorado River Quantification 

Settlement Agreement; and

• Continued commitment to energy and 

environmental conservation in Interior’s own 

operations, including award-winning recycling 

programs and the use of renewable energy.

Under the leadership of President Bush and Secretary Norton, the Department of the Interior is advancing cooperative conservation to achieve significant on-the-ground results. Over three years, these 

accomplishments include:

“My administration will adopt a new spirit of respect and cooperation, because, 

in the end, that is the better way to protect the environment we all share — a new 

environmentalism for the 21st century. Citizens and private groups play a crucial role... 

Our challenge is to work in partnership. We must protect the claims of nature while also 

protecting the legal rights of property owners.”

President George W. Bush 
U.S. Department of the Interior

2 Cooperative Conservation

“Environmental progress ultimately resides 

in the efforts of all of us to apply a caring hand to the landscape. 

It resides in our actions in our own backyards, at our places of work, 

on our farms and ranches, and in our communities.”

 Secretary Gale A. Norton

Secretary of the Interior Gale A. Norton

INTERIOR’S RESPONSIBILITIES INCLUDE:

• Managing approximately 1 in every 5 acres of 

land in the United States;

• Operating nearly 900 dams and reservoirs;

• Overseeing water projects that irrigate 

lands producing 60 percent of our Nation’s 

vegetables;

• Managing lands and waters that generate onethird of the Nation’s domestic energy supply;

• Undertaking research and providing scientific 

information to advance our knowledge of our 

surroundings;

• Serving Native Americans, Alaska Natives, and 

affiliated island communities;

• Working with States to restore abandoned 

mine land sites and protect communities; and

• Managing 387 national park units and 544 

wildlife refuges.
U.S. Department of the Interior

3 Cooperative Conservation

PROMOTING PARTNERSHIPS FOR CONSERVATION

The Bush Administration is promoting partnerships with the American people to advance conservation. 

Over the past three years, the Department of the 

Interior has provided over $1.3 billion in grants

to States, Tribes, local governments, and private 

landowners through programs that preserve open 

space, restore habitat for wildlife, and protect 

endangered species. These partnerships are achieving 

substantial conservation benefits. With our partners, 

we 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.

These partnerships exemplify Secretary Norton’s 

cooperative conservation vision. Seeking to foster a 

culture of responsibility, Secretary Norton is advancing 

a stewardship ethic for America that is citizen-led 

and landscape-based. By focusing conservation on 

community cooperation and voluntary action, Interior 

is working with the American people to achieve healthy 

lands and thriving communities across the Nation.

Conservation requires more than action by the 

Federal government alone. By partnering with 

States, Tribes, community organizations, and 

individual citizens, the Department of the Interior 

is achieving Conservation through Cooperation, 

Communication, and Consultation — what Secretary 

Norton calls the 4 C’s.

These partnerships are increasing in size, scope, and 

substance. By taking responsibility for the local lands 

where they live, work, and play, citizen stewards are 

working with us to preserve habitat for wildlife and 

recreation, while maintaining working landscapes that 

support dynamic economies across the Nation.

THE 4 C’S: CONSERVATION THROUGH COOPERATION

COMMUNICATION & CONSULTATION

• Cooperation:

Cooperation signifies the Department’s emphasis on voluntary action, partnerships, 

collaborative work, and respect for property rights. Cooperation also represents Interior’s 

commitment to work in concert with all partners to attain common conservation goals.

• Communication:

Communication highlights Interior’s commitment to transparency and accountability, 

innovation that occurs through the exchange of ideas, and the recognition that environmental 

progress depends to a large degree upon environmental and conservation entrepreneurs. 

Communication highlights the dedication of Interior to dialogue and to the tools that 

promote the ongoing dialogue that is the foundation for future environmental innovation.

• Consultation:

Consultation signifies Interior’s commitment to integrated decision-making, to landscapelevel action consistent with legal rights and the views of local communities and constituents, 

and to the institutional arrangements by which economic, environmental, and community 

goals can be blended and sustained. Consultation stresses Interior’s commitment to using 

local information and knowledge to address placed-based conservation challenges, and to 

actively seek out and involve those parties whose knowledge and experience is integral to all 

modes of conservation.
U.S. Department of the Interior

4 Cooperative Conservation
U.S. Department of the Interior

5 Cooperative Conservation

COOPERATIVE CONSERVATION: 

THE PAST AS PROLOGUE

Secretary Norton is helping foster cooperative conservation. This culture of responsibility through 

citizen stewardship has a rich history. Aldo Leopold, 

a visionary 20th century conservationist, imagined a 

nation of citizen stewards. Environmental progress, he 

proposed, ultimately resides in the efforts of all of us to 

apply a caring hand to the landscape. It resides in our 

own actions, in our backyards, at our places of work, 

on our farms and ranches and factories, and in our 

communities.

The first Earth Day in 1970 was a wake-up call — an 

appeal to Americans that all was not well with our 

air, our water, and our lands. The wake-up call of 

that first Earth Day led to an unfurling of many of the 

Nation’s now-familiar environmental statutes. Over 

the next several years, Congress enacted the Clean Air 

Act, Clean Water Act, Endangered Species Act, and 

many more laws.

Many who aspired for a better environmental future 

pinned their hopes on the regulatory foundations set 

forth in these tools. Those regulations have achieved 

significant progress — the air is cleaner and rivers no 

longer catch fire as pollutants ignite. Yet with these 

successes also has come high conflict and sometimes 

unintended consequences.
U.S. Department of the Interior

6 Cooperative Conservation

Over the past 30 years, this emphasis on statutes 

and regulations has allowed the upwelling of citizen 

stewards across America to go unnoticed. Step by step, 

Aldo Leopold’s dream of a nation of citizen stewards 

began to emerge. Individuals, alone and together, 

began to restore riverbank habitat, plant or reestablish 

native grasses, and innovate to prevent pollution. 

With their focus on conservation results, these 

citizen stewards embody President Bush’s vision of a 

new environmentalism — one built on principles of 

entrepreneurship, local action, and respect for private 

property. These same principles underlie Secretary 

Norton’s 4 C’s. 

Most people understand that nearly all human action 

leaves some environmental footprint. The central 

challenge is how to lighten that footprint while 

maintaining thriving communities, enabling people 

to pursue their livelihood, and applying American 

ingenuity to promote conservation so our children 

and grandchildren can flourish in a pleasant and 

prosperous world. 

What we have under way with these and other 

experiences in cooperative conservation is a discovery 

process. These efforts have resulted in a spontaneous 

search for answers to four questions that have been 

under-explored as the Nation has built the institutional 

foundations of environmental protection.

First, how can we better foster innovation? 

Environmental entrepreneurs engage in a continuous 

search for solutions tailored to locale while using new 

tools. With an eye for innovative proposals, the goal is to 

spur new ideas and foster new land-use practices that can 

apply across regions and serve as models for ecologically 

healthy and economically vibrant working landscapes.

Second, how can we better draw upon local insights 

and information so that chosen actions take into 

account local circumstances? With their familiarity 

of local places, citizen stewards have knowledge of 

time, place, and situation — the devilish details that 

make one location different from another and put 

boundaries on what is doable. Citizen stewards have 

the sort of “on-the-ground, in-the-dirt, everyday, 

nose-to-the-grindstone” knowledge that improves land 

management decisions.

Third, how can we inspire people to join hands as 

citizen stewards? Inspiration and incentives lie at 

the heart of human action. Implementing policies 

and programs that encourage people to engage in 

conservation voluntarily can broaden on-the-ground 

results and reduce conflict.

Fourth, how can we generate more integrated, less 

fragmentary, decisions? The environmentalism of 

the past three decades, which centered on a suite of 

issue-specific statutes, has often generated piecemeal 

decisions and inconsistent or conflicting mandates. 

Protection plans unfold for one species at a time; or 

air-pollution plans take shape in isolation from plans 

to reduce water pollution. The list of segregated and 

isolated decisions is long and pervasive.

“Aldo Leopold, one of the nation’s greatest leaders in the early conservation movement, 

had a vision of a nation of citizen stewards. He eloquently imagined that each of us would 

serve as stewards of our environment. The goal of government must be to empower people 

to be citizen conservationists while respecting the need to make a living off the land just 

as Leopold envisioned. America’s future must include both a healthy environment and a 

dynamic economy.”

 Secretary Gale A. Norton 

 April 20, 2002
U.S. Department of the Interior

7 Cooperative Conservation

“I lost several calves over the years. Since we fenced, I haven’t lost a one.” 

 Ralph Nevela, Washington County farmer

“There’s a different tune in the music around, Mother Nature has returned to us.”

 Ron Ristimacki, Washington County farmer

Buffalo Creek, Pennsylvania

Dairy and beef cattle have traditionally wandered at will 

along Buffalo Creek in Washington County, Pennsylvania. 

Through our Fish and Wildlife Service Partners for 

Fish and Wildlife Program, farmers are now engaged in 

stream bank fencing. They are keeping the cattle out of 

the streams, allowing the trees and brush to regenerate, 

and protecting the banks from erosion. The new 

vegetation also provides shade for the stream that lowers 

its temperature, making it more hospitable for fish and 

other fauna and flora. Stream bank shrubs also are hosts 

to ground-nesting birds whose habitats had previously 

vanished. 

What benefits do the farmers derive from this 

partnership? Moving the cattle out of the streams and 

fencing off the stream have allowed farmers to practice 

rotation grazing. These actions have also reduced 

the bacterial count in the stream from 2,500 bacterial 

colonies per milliliter to 25 bacterial colonies per 

milliliter. That means healthier cows — less waterborne 

hoof disease and fewer spontaneous abortions during 

calving season resulting from waterborne diseases. 

Farmers are also planting native warm season grasses, 

but not where timothy and alfalfa are normally planted. 

Our Fish and Wildlife agents are working with farmers 

to find less productive areas to plant these grasses. 

These efforts expand forage for cows and provide better 

habitat for wildlife.

At Buffalo Creek we see a vision of cooperation and 

partnering where people are applying caring hands to 

the landscape. They are achieving healthy lands and 

waters, thriving communities, and dynamic economies.

Farmer unraveling spool for fencing
U.S. Department of the Interior

8 Cooperative Conservation

of drought. The provisions of the easement allow the 

ranchers to move their cattle onto the grass bank when 

forage on their own lands becomes sparse. Again, 

a cooperative approach is producing healthy lands, 

thriving communities, and a stronger economy.

“The Malpai Borderlands Group is proud of what our collaborative efforts with the Fish 

and Wildlife Service’s Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program and the Bureau of Land 

Management have achieved. We have successfully completed projects involving prescribed 

fire, endangered species, and watershed protection. These accomplishments would have 

been considered almost impossible just a few years ago. 

Now both the agencies and the Malpai Group have come to expect these kinds of results 

from working together.” 

 Bill McDonald, Malpai Borderlands Group

Malpai Borderlands 

New Mexico and Arizona

Along the southwest boot heel of New Mexico and 

the southeast corner of Arizona, ranches have been 

held in the same family for four or five generations. 

It’s a land that experiences only a few inches of 

rainfall a year and is home to a number of threatened 

species — the Chiricahua leopard frog, ridge-nosed 

rattlesnake, and others.

Ranchers in the Borderlands have something of 

a hardscrabble life; they face water challenges, 

erosion, and, increasingly, threats from development. 

Subdivisions are beginning to move out from some of 

the border towns. Ranches need wide open spaces.

As a result of all these issues, ranchers in the Malpai 

region partnered with The Nature Conservancy, an 

environmental group that owns and manages many 

environmentally sensitive lands throughout the United 

States. They also worked with Interior’s Fish and 

Wildlife Service and Bureau of Land Management 

and others as they created the Malpai Borderlands 

Group. So far, the Group has developed a joint fire 

management plan to use controlled burns to reestablish herbaceous plant cover to improve wildlife 

habitat; re-seeding and best management practices 

programs; and cooperative relationships with research 

and management organizations, including university, 

State, and Federal government entities — all intended 

to benefit the watershed.

One of the most interesting accomplishments of the 

Malpai Group is the creation of a 300,000-acre “grass 

bank”, a conservation easement set aside in perpetuity 

for grass and prairie conservation. This area also 

serves as an insurance policy for ranchers in periods 

Gila monster

Chiricahua leopard frog
U.S. Department of the Interior

9 Cooperative Conservation

Safe Harbors

Ben Cone, a landowner and conservationist, sought 

to manage his forestlands to attract red-cockaded 

woodpeckers and other species. But there was a catch. 

Each time he succeeded in creating woodpecker 

habitat, he faced the prospect of being told he could no 

longer engage in logging on that land. To do so might 

violate the Endangered Species Act. Fortunately for 

Mr. Cone, others worked with him on a “safe harbor” 

agreement so he could enhance habitat, protect the 

endangered woodpeckers, and manage his lands 

productively. This “safe harbor” tool helped create a 

context in which Mr. Cone had strong incentives to 

proceed with his conservation efforts.

Red-cockaded woodpecker

“Norfolk Southern is proud to do its part to aid in population recovery efforts 

for the red-cockaded woodpecker. The Safe Harbor Agreement has allowed 

Norfolk Southern to increase the red-cockaded woodpecker population 

without incurring additional property devaluation.” 

Steve Tobias, Vice Chairman and Chief Operating Officer, 

Norfolk Southern Corporation.

“This agreement allows us to help the Schaus swallowtail butterfly and provide 

educational opportunities to our customers and staff without worrying that we will 

be liable later. ” 

 Julie Olsen, Cheeca Lodge, Florida
U.S. Department of the Interior

10 Cooperative Conservation

In contrast to fragmented decision-making, consider 

the cooperative conservation examples set forth 

throughout this document, where partners are 

putting all the pieces together in a set of coordinated 

landscape decisions. Out of this discovery process 

centered on cooperation, a new environmentalism is 

emerging. The new environmentalism seeks to find 

ways to foster innovation, to inspire stewardship, to tap 

the local information of local people, and to provide 

more integrated decision-making. It does so with an 

emphasis on results.

With this new environmentalism comes new 

challenges. If we are to move beyond conflict toward a 

more cooperative approach to environmental progress, 

we must emphasize stewardship and partnerships. To 

create a culture of responsibility, we need to enhance 

opportunities for citizen stewards to work together. 

We need to generate and share scientific and other

information that can inform conservation and land 

management decisions. We need the tools to assess 

results. Above all, we need partnership capacity and 

skills. Over the past three years, Secretary Norton has 

worked to build that partnership capacity and those 

skills at Interior to achieve conservation results. 

Our accomplishments include:

• Creating new grant programs and increasing 

funds for existing grant programs that invest in 

cooperative conservation;

• Implementing policies to achieve cooperative 

conservation results;

• Creating partnerships and administrative 

actions to address complex, landscape-level 

challenges; and

• Building cooperative conservation capacity 

through new science tools, more monitoring, and 

training.

President George W. Bush, 

January 2002

“Most of our Nation’s civic work is being done without the aid of the Federal 

Government. But we believe the Federal government can work to enhance 

opportunities for Americans to serve their neighbors and their Nation.”
U.S. Department of the Interior

11 Cooperative Conservation

THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR IS RESPONSIBLE FOR MANAGING

APPROXIMATELY 1 IN EVERY 5 ACRES OF LAND IN THE UNITED STATES.

Note: Map includes Forest Service, TVA, and other agencies not under the Interior Department.
U.S. Department of the Interior

12 Cooperative Conservation

The Department of the Interior works with 

thousands of partners. Below is a small sample:

Alaska Flyfishers

All 50 State Wildlife Agencies

American Electric Power

Arizona Mule Deer Association

Blackfeet Community College

California Conservation Corps

Chesapeake Bay Foundation

Corvallis Audubon Society

Ducks Unlimited

Hawaii Trail and Mountain Club

Kansas Association of Wetland and Streams

Kenai River Sportfishing Association

Mecklenburg Garden Club

Mellon Foundation

Minnesota Waterfowl Association

National Fish and Wildlife Foundation

National Wild Turkey Federation

Navajo Nation 

Northern Michigan University

Oregon Dept of Agriculture

Peregrine Fund

Pheasants Forever

Quail Unlimited

Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation

South Dakota State University

The Nature Conservancy

Unilever

University of Idaho

University of Washington

West Virginia University

Youth Conservation Corps

CURRENT COOPERATIVE CONSERVATION PARTNERS
U.S. Department of the Interior

13 Cooperative Conservation

WORKING TOGETHER: COOPERATIVE CONSERVATION GRANTS

“Citizen stewards often are our most effective conservationists. President Bush’s 

goal — and our goal at the Interior Department — is to empower these citizens to do 

what the government cannot do alone” 

 Gale A. Norton, September 16, 2003 

Nature knows no jurisdictional boundaries. Through partnerships, Interior’s land 

managers can work with landowners and other 

citizen stewards to tackle invasive species, reduce 

erosion along stream banks, and enhance habitat 

for threatened and endangered species. Over the 

past three years, the Department of the Interior 

has provided over $1.3 billion [2002-2004] in grants 

to States and private landowners. Together, we 

have restored millions of acres of habitat; removed 

invasive exotic species and replanted native grasses 

and shrubs; improved riparian habitat along 

thousands of miles of streams; conserved limited 

water resources to benefit fish and other species; 

and developed conservation plans for endangered 

species and their habitat.

To help achieve our cooperative conservation 

vision, the President’s 2005 budget includes $507 

million for cooperative conservation programs, an 

increase of over $371 million, or 270 percent, above 

2000. These grants include:

• $90 million for cooperative endangered 

species grants, an increase of $67 million or 

290 percent above 2000;

• $80 million for State and Tribal fish and wildlife 

programs; 

• $60 million for the Landowner Incentive 

Program and Private Stewardship Grants 

Program, two programs initiated by this 

Administration; 

• $54 million for challenge cost share programs, 

an increase of $38.9 million or 260 percent 

above 2000;

• $54 million for the North American Wetlands 

Conservation Fund, an increase of $39 million 

or 261 percent above 2000; and

• $50 million for the Partners for Fish and 

Wildlife Program, an increase of $19.5 million 

or 66 percent above 2000.

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U.S. Department of the Interior

14 Cooperative Conservation

Ochs Ranch Easement, Colorado

Haven to an at-risk population of Gunnison 

sage grouse, Colorado’s Ochs Ranch is the site of 

an innovative partnership between the Federal 

government, the State of Colorado, and local 

conservation organizations.

Called “sage chickens” by many locals, these bantamsized birds are commonly noted for their flamboyant 

mating practices with males puffing up big air sacks 

on their necks and emitting loud booming calls while 

strutting for potential mates.

The goal of this collaborative partnership is to protect 

through permanent easement approximately 2,766 

acres of important Gunnison sage grouse habitat along 

the Ohio Creek in Gunnison County, Colorado. The 

partnership purchased the Ochs Ranch and enabled 

eight neighboring ranch families to work the land in 

exchange for easements on their ranches or for cash, 

leading to the protection of approximately 4,500 acres. 

This project serves as a model that demonstrates the 

compatibility of habitat conservation and productive 

agricultural activities. The bird has been listed as a 

candidate for Federal threatened or endangered status.

“The private lands conservation programs of the Department of the Interior 

are essential to our Nation. They are cost effective, form valuable partnerships, 

and most of all, bridge the gap between the conservation the public demands

and what the private sector would normally provide.”

James L. Cummins, Executive Director, Mississippi Fish & Wildlife Foundation

Gunnison sage grouse

Innovation through Cooperation

The Interior Department provides opportunities 

for the American people, working together and with 

Federal and other agencies, to carry the torch of 

conservation into the 21st century. Our cooperative 

conservation programs have two simple goals:

• Remove institutional barriers that limit citizen 

participation; and

• Provide the help that is needed to fulfill the 

environmental promise of citizen stewardship. 

With an eye for innovative proposals, Interior is 

awarding grants on a competitive basis for land 

restoration projects, conservation programs, and 

collaborative partnerships to accomplish conservation 

outcomes. In each case, the goal is to spur new ideas 

and foster new land-use practices that can apply 

across regions and serve as models for ecologically 

healthy and economically vibrant working landscapes. 

Weaving together these purposes is a common thread: 

the interdependence of people and the land upon 

which they live, work, and play. 
U.S. Department of the Interior

15 Cooperative Conservation

Willamette Valley, Oregon

Flanked by the Coast Range and the Cascades, the 

Willamette Valley takes its name from the river that 

flows through it. Historic cities and towns, settled 

more than 100 years ago by immigrants from all over 

the world, are found throughout the region, but 

the area is perhaps best known for its diverse flora 

and fauna. A collaborative effort among a number 

of conservation partners, this innovative project 

is restoring riparian, prairie, and oak woodland 

habitat for a total of 21 separate populations of 

seven Federally listed species including Fender’s 

blue butterfly, Oregon chub, Willamette Valley 

daisy, Bradshaw’s lomatium, streaked horned lark, 

and five Federal species of concern, including 

northwestern pond turtle, yellow-breasted chat, and 

white-tip aster. In addition, the project is providing 

additional benefits for eight at-risk species, including 

the western meadowlark (the State bird) and the 

western gray squirrel, and will enhance existing 

at-risk species benefits at five important sites in the 

Willamette Valley eco-region. 

This cooperative conservation project is also 

providing a foundation of restored habitat and 

restoration capacity on which to base coordinated 

species recovery efforts on targeted private lands 

throughout the Willamette Valley.

Species Protection Partnership Program

The Interior Department protects thousands of native 

plant and animal species, including more than 1,200 

with special status under the Endangered Species Act.

The Fish and Wildlife Service, acting on behalf of the 

Interior Department, has a number of specific duties 

under the Endangered Species Act. They include 

listing species as threatened or endangered; working 

to recover species from the brink of extinction to a 

healthy, self-sustaining level; protecting species that are 

candidates to be listed; consulting with other Federal 

agencies to ensure that their actions do not jeopardize 

listed species or destroy or adversely modify their 

habitat; and developing Habitat Conservation Plans 

with non-Federal landowners to offset the potentially 

negative effects that development may have on 

threatened or endangered species.

The President’s budget emphasizes investments that 

work through partnerships to help improve habitat 

and recover populations of at-risk, threatened, and 

endangered species. The Interior Department, along 

with State, Tribal, local and other public and private 

conservationists, shares a common goal of protecting 

threatened, endangered, and other at-risk species and 

ensuring that Federal activities do not further endanger 

these species while fostering dynamic local economies.

Building on Secretary Norton’s vision of cooperative 

conservation, in 2002, the Department launched 

two new conservation initiatives: the Landowner 

Incentive Program and the Private Stewardship 

Grants Program (referred to collectively as the Species 

Protection Partnership Program). Both programs 

offer incentives for private landowners to protect 

imperiled species and restore habitat, while engaging in 

traditional land management practices like farming or 

ranching. The Landowner Incentive Program is based 

on the highly successful Texas Landowner Incentive 

Program initiated by then-Governor Bush in 1997 to 

involve landowners in voluntary efforts to benefit 

imperiled species in several Texas counties.

Nationally, the Landowner Incentive Program offers a 

positive, non-regulatory opportunity for landowners 

and Tribes to protect at-risk and endangered species, 

most of which depend upon private land for habitat.

Together, the Landowner Incentive Program and Private 

Stewardship grants reflect a cooperative way of doing 

business — working in partnership with landowners. 

The response from landowners is overwhelmingly 

positive. The President’s 2005 budget includes a $23 

million increase for these programs.
U.S. Department of the Interior

16 Cooperative Conservation

In 2003, through the Landowner Incentive 

Program, the Fish and Wildlife Service provided 

$34.8 million to States and private landowners 

to develop comprehensive programs to conserve 

and enhance habitat; provide thousands of acres 

of wetland habitat for breeding water birds and 

listed species; remove invasive plants; and provide 

training and technical assistance to private 

landowners.

The State of Oregon, for example, received $1.7 

million to coordinate its new landowner incentive 

program and restore important tributary riparian 

habitat benefiting endangered salmon.

The State of Colorado also received $1.7 million 

to establish a program to provide technical and 

financial assistance to landowners and enter into 

agreements to protect 3,000 acres of habitat for 

the Gunnison sage grouse and protect three miles 

of riparian habitat critical to the recovery of the 

Preble’s meadow jumping mouse.

On February 25, 2004, the Interior Department 

announced the 2004 grant awards for the 

Landowner Incentive Program. Forty States 

and one Territory received over $25.8 million to 

establish or supplement their landowner incentive 

programs that provide technical or financial 

assistance to private landowners (Tier I capacity 

building grants) and to implement projects that 

protect or restore habitat for listed and at-risk 

species (Tier II grants). In many States, the grants 

will continue important conservation activities 

initiated in 2003.

The Private Stewardship Grant program helps 

communities and landowners conserve species. 

Through this program, the Fish and Wildlife 

Service provides competitive grants and other 

assistance to individuals and groups engaged in 

local, private, and voluntary conservation efforts 

that benefit Federally listed, candidate, or other 

at-risk species. A diverse panel of representatives 

from Federal and State governments, agriculture 

and private development interests, and scientific 

and conservation communities assess and make 

recommendations regarding the funding for these 

awards.

Under this program, the Fish and Wildlife Service 

provided $100,000 grant to the Comanche Pool Prairie 

Resources Foundation to help continue a rancher-led 

initiative that has successfully enhanced mixed-grass 

and prairie stream habitat for at-risk species, such as 

the black-tailed prairie dog, the lesser prairie chicken, 

and the Federally listed Arkansas River shiner fish and 

the Arkansas darter fish. Participating ranchers will use 

a variety of resource management tools, such as altered 

grazing management, prescribed burning, cutting 

of invasive woody species, and stream restoration to 

improve habitat for these species.

Cooperative Conservation

Challenge Cost Share

The Challenge Cost Share program emphasizes 

building partnerships for the conservation of natural 

resources and provides expanded opportunities for 

land managers to work with landowners and others to 

participate in creative conservation partnerships on 

lands adjacent to and among Federal, State, and private 

land. The goal is simple: to use the government and its 

resources to remove barriers to citizen participation 

and to provide the help that is needed to fulfill the 

environmental promise of citizen stewardship. 

Through partnerships, citizen stewards can work in 

concert to tackle such tasks as eradicating invasive 

species, reducing erosion along stream banks, and 

enhancing habitat for threatened and endangered species. 

Also, through partnerships, Interior can build the new 

environmentalism called for by President Bush. The 

Challenge Cost Share program is the cornerstone of this 

vision and builds on existing conservation partnership 

programs that have successfully established productive 

relationships with local communities and citizens.

Nationwide, the Challenge Cost Share cooperative 

conservation program funds a wide variety of projects, 

including restoring wetland prairie habitat in Oregon, 

building water catchments for endangered species in 

New Mexico, and restoring forested wetlands damaged 

by a tornado in Maryland. In 2003, the program 

funded 256 projects with more than 700 partners in 

40 States and Puerto Rico. The ratio of non-Federal 

funds to Federal funds was nearly 2:1, with the Federal 

portion at $12.9 million and total funding at $36 million. 

Dynamic partnerships with individuals, Tribes, States, 
U.S. Department of the Interior

17 Cooperative Conservation

“ Cooperative conservation expands the President’s commitment to conservation 

through partnerships, civic involvement, and economic incentives.”

Mrs. Laura Bush, First Lady of the United States

March 3, 2003

local governments, non-profit organizations, and others 

support an array of projects that restore damaged habitats 

and lands and achieve the conservation goals of the 

Department’s land management agencies. Projects require 

a one-to-one match or better, thereby at least doubling the 

impact of Federal dollars.

Cooperative Endangered 

Species Conservation Fund

More than half of all species currently listed as endangered 

or threatened spend at least part of their life cycle on 

privately owned lands. The Cooperative Endangered 

Species Conservation Fund provides grants to States and 

Territories to participate in a wide array of voluntary Habitat 

Conservation Plans and projects for candidate, proposed, 

and listed species. Habitat Conservation Planning assistance 

grants provide funds to States and Territories to support 

the development of Habitat Conservation Plans, through 

baselines surveys and inventories, document preparation, 

outreach, and planning activities. 

For example, through the program, a $75,000 grant in 

2003 helped fund development and implementation 

of the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway Habitat 

Conservation Plan in Glacier and Flathead Counties, 

Montana. This project provides a unique opportunity 

to benefit a large number of species in a geographic area 

adjacent to Glacier National Park and the Great Bear 

Wilderness area. The plan focuses on minimizing and 

mitigating the effects of railroad operations on grizzly bears 

and will minimize effects on other predators, including 

gray wolves, wolverines, black bears, and mountain lions. 

Efforts to enhance habitat will also benefit a variety of 

other species, including bald eagles, bull trout, west slope 

cutthroat trout, moose, elk, mule deer, whitetail deer, 

beaver, mink, otter, and waterfowl. 

Karner Blue butterfly
U.S. Department of the Interior

18 Cooperative Conservation

Aroostook National Wildlife Refuge, Maine

At Aroostook National Wildlife Refuge in Maine, 

the Fish and Wildlife Service, in partnership with 

the Maine Army National Guard, is treating 30 acres 

to remove exotic and invasive plants, thereby reestablishing native grasslands, shrubs, and forested 

lands. The project will improve conditions in shrub 

and forest habitats, benefiting several species of 

neotropical migratory birds as well as several species 

of resident wildlife, such as moose, black bear, and 

fisher and brook trout. Each partner is contributing 

$10,000 for a total project of $20,000.

Black Bear

Padre Island National Seashore, Texas

In Texas, challenge cost-share funds support the 

restoration of the endangered Kemp’s Ridley and 

other sea turtles at the Padre Island National Seashore 

with a total of $489,000 – one-half of which comes 

from partners including the National Fish and 

Wildlife Foundation, the National Park Foundation, 

the Western National Parks Association, the Alvin 

and Lucy Owsley Foundation, the Help Endangered 

Animals Ridley Turtles Norcross Wildlife Foundation, 

the University of Alabama at Birmingham, the 

College of Charleston, the Texas Parks and Wildlife 

Department, Shell Oil Company, Unilever, and 

individual volunteers. Working with these partners, 

NPS released 1,299 endangered Kemp’s Ridley sea 

turtle hatchlings at the most important nesting beach 

in the United States.

SUCCESS STORIES

Kemp’s Ridley Turtle
U.S. Department of the Interior

19 Cooperative Conservation

Ducktrap River, Maine

The Ducktrap River cuts through many jurisdictions 

and across many plots of private land. It traverses woods 

used by hunters, recreationists, and hikers. Along its 

course lies an occasional gravel pit. In some places, 

eroded banks spill sediment into the river.

Those hoping to conserve the many values of this river 

faced — as we so often do — complex challenges. How 

could they restore and maintain habitat? How could they 

stitch together so many pieces of a landscape quilt? How 

could they protect salmon while maintaining thriving 

communities and the enjoyment and use of the river?

Community entrepreneurs responded to these 

challenges by creating the Ducktrap Coalition, an 

association of 28 partners including conservationists, 

farmers, a local snowmobile association, the Fish and 

Wildlife Service, and many others. The Coalition 

began unpacking problems into bite-sized chunks. 

They applied new technologies to prevent erosion. 

They rehabilitated gravel pits, transforming them into 

vernal pools. They created an educational partnership 

with the snowmobile association to maintain 

recreational opportunities on those trails least subject 

to environmental impacts. They acquired conservation 

easements to achieve enduring protections. 

This partnership is bringing miles of restoration to the 

river. It has produced permanent protection of land 

and water, blended with continued community use. It 

has generated data through monitoring by volunteers, 

recognizing that the true test of conservation resides 

in the results achieved and sustained.

Atlantic salmon

“Thanks to the effective partnership of 28 organizations and more than 40 landowners, 

the Ducktrap River Coalition has protected 82 percent of the riparian land on 

the Ducktrap River, home to one of eight remaining endangered Atlantic salmon 

populations in the United States. The Fish and Wildlife Service, one of the founding 

members of the Coalition, has provided the expertise, leadership, and support that has 

been essential to the success of our combined efforts to save this extraordinary river”. 

Scott Dickerson, Ducktrap River Coalition.

COOPERATIVE INNOVATION
U.S. Department of the Interior

20 Cooperative Conservation

The Fish and Wildlife Service funded 98 projects dedicated to a full range of activities including invasive 

weed removal and establishment, or expansion of, habitat for a range of species, including water fowl. 

For example: 

Eugene, Oregon

The city of Eugene, Oregon matched BLM’s $150,000 in 

Cooperative Conservation funds with $525,000 to be 

used to restore the Willow Corner historic wetland and 

upland prairie habitat. Willow Corner, owned by the 

city, is in a BLM conservation easement and contains 

the largest known populations of the Fenders’ blue 

butterfly and its host plant, the Kincaid’s lupine, both 

Federally listed species. 

The project activities will remove fill from 8.9 acres of 

historic prairie wetlands, grade it to natural levels, and 

plant the area with native seeds. This restored habitat 

will also benefit a variety of wildlife species, including 

neotropical migratory birds, the camas pocket gopher, 

the gray-tailed vole, the chorus frog, and the western 

pond turtle.

Under the Challenge Cost Share Program, the Bureau of Land Management funded 88 projects in 2003 to 

fund wetland restoration, riparian habitat restoration, and water development for wildlife. For example:

The National Park Service has 72 projects that will protect and restore habitat for threatened and 

endangered species and control invasive species. For example:

Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona

The NPS partnered in a cost share project to restore 

the native fish in Grand Canyon National Park by 

removing non-native salmonids (rainbow and brown 

trout) from certain key tributaries to the Colorado 

River. Partners including the Glen Canyon Dam 

Adaptive Management Program, Arizona Game and 

Fish Department, and the Navajo Nation cost-shared 

this $557,000 project on almost a one-to-three ratio. 

Trout are the most abundant and prolific exotic fish 

species within these tributaries and are thought to 

compete with native species for spawning and foraging 

resources. Removal of these non-native species will 

open the habitat for the eventual establishment of 

core aggregations of native species, specifically, the 

threatened humpback chub.

Prairie Habitat Restoration, Iowa

The project initiates FWS involvement in a regionwide conservation effort directed at helping 

landowners accomplish on-the-ground invasive 

species control and habitat restoration. Deep loess 

soil deposits, created by glaciers, wind, and water, 

in this form are only found in parts of the Missouri 

River bluffs of Iowa and Missouri and have since 

developed a unique landform including plant and 

animal communities. Species include cactus, yucca, 

Plains pocket mouse, Skipper butterflies, and Sharptailed grouse. This project will allow landowners, 

contributing labor, equipment, and materials valued 

at no less than $100,000 to do fire pre-supression and 

fuel reduction work in preparation for burning. The 

Fish and Wildlife Service contribution of $100,000 

will assist land owners with site preparation, assist 

with vegetation restoration, and offer technical 

assistance relating to grassland management. The 

Golden Hills Resource Conservation District and 

Loess Hills Alliance will provide technical and 

administrative assistance. More than 500 acres of 

land will be improved, restored, and protected by 

removing invasive species, establishing fire breaks, 

and restoring native grasses common to the Loess 

Hills region.

CHALLENGE COST SHARE AT WORK
U.S. Department of the Interior

21 Cooperative Conservation

High Plains Partnership

Partners for Fish and Wildlife

Since more than 90 percent of the High Plains region 

is privately owned, public/private partnerships play 

a vital role in meeting the shared goals of conserving 

declining and at-risk species, while preserving and 

maintaining working landscapes on private lands. The 

High Plains Partnership is a public/private initiative 

across the eleven-State High Plains region to conserve 

declining species and habitats on private lands. In 

the spirit of the Secretary’s 4 C’s, this partnership is a 

cooperative effort between the Fish and Wildlife Service, 

State fish and wildlife agencies, several agencies within 

the Department of Agriculture, private conservation 

organizations, and private landowners. 

In 2005, Interior has requested $5.0 million to fully 

implement this initiative. The High Plains Partnership 

builds upon ongoing Partners and endangered species 

program activities in this eleven-State region as part 

of a new, region-wide initiative. The High Plains 

Partnership will facilitate the creation of partnerships 

with landowners and others throughout the High Plains, 

focusing on restoring, enhancing, and protecting two 

million acres over the next ten years. In 2005, the High 

Plains Partnership will leverage new funding and a new, 

regional focus on expanded partnerships. Through 

these projects, Partners program biologists will restore 

approximately 34,000 acres of uplands, 1,000 acres of 

wetlands, and 1,000 acres of riparian habitat within the 

High Plains region. Working with other agencies and 

private organizations, the Fish and Wildlife Service will 

enroll approximately 50,000 acres into conservation 

agreements in 2005. Ultimately, this program will 

reduce the potential for listing candidate species, 

assisting in recovering or downlisting species, and 

preclude the need to list grassland species in decline.

“Our partnerships are about on-the-ground results that take into account environmental 

goals, thriving communities, and dynamic economies. We want healthy lands and 

waters, while also ensuring that we have energy to warm our homes and minerals to 

produce goods that make our lives comfortable and convenient.” 

Assistant Secretary P. Lynn Scarlett 

November 16, 2003
U.S. Department of the Interior

22 Cooperative Conservation

Partners for Fish and Wildlife 

The Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program has allowed 

the Fish and Wildlife Service to establish productive 

relationships with communities, conservation partners, 

Tribes, and over 30,000 landowners while providing 

them with both financial and technical assistance. 

Since its creation in 1987, the Partners for Fish and 

Wildlife Program has established over 28,000 agreements 

with landowners resulting in the restoration of 1,060,000 

acres of uplands, 649,300 acres of wetlands, and 4,670 

miles of riparian and in-stream habitat. 

Through the Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program, 

the Interior Department works closely with private 

landowners, recognizing that over 60 percent of our 

Nation’s land is in private ownership and the health 

of many populations depends on habitat found on 

private lands. State resources agencies work closely 

with the Fish and Wildlife Service to help establish 

priorities and identify focus areas. With just a little 

encouragement or assistance from the Fish and 

Wildlife Service, our partners have undertaken 

thousands of restoration projects.

Voluntary grant programs, such as our Partners for Fish and 

Wildlife Program, give landowners the tools needed to make 

private lands working landscapes that benefit wildlife while 

maintaining productive activities.

Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program 

Accomplishments FY 2001-2003

Wetland acres restored 151,097 acres

Prairie, native grasslands, 703,723 acres

and upland acres restored 

Stream and streamside 2,361 miles

habitat restored 

Fish barriers removed 156

Landowner agreements 8,957
U.S. Department of the Interior

23 Cooperative Conservation

Coastal Program

The Coastal Program leads Fish and Wildlife Service 

conservation efforts in bays, estuaries, and watersheds 

around the U.S. coastline. The Coastal Program 

leverages Federal funding with partners at a ratio of 1:4. 

Through this program, the Fish and Wildlife Service and 

its partners conserve fish and wildlife and their habitats 

to support healthy coastal ecosystems by:

• Providing assessment and planning tools to identify 

priority habitats that should be protected and 

restored;

• Conserving pristine coastal habitats through 

voluntary conservation easements and locally 

initiated land acquisition;

• Restoring degraded coastal wetland, upland, 

and stream habitats by working with partners to 

implement on-the-ground projects; and

• Focusing resources through conservation alliances 

that leverage the financial and technical resources 

of our partners and multiply the impact of the 

taxpayer dollar. 

In Winyah Bay, South Carolina, for example, the Coastal 

Program partners with a task force to protect coastal 

wetlands. Sandy Island was identified by the Winyah 

Bay task force for protection because of potential 

development related to access by a bridge to the 

mainland. The task force includes diverse members 

such as private landowners, the Fish and Wildlife 

Service, The Nature Conservancy, the South Carolina 

Department of Natural Resources, the Historic Rice 

Fields Association, Ducks Unlimited, International 

Paper Company, and the Low Country Open Land 

Trust. Sandy Island supports a significant population 

of the endangered red-cockaded woodpecker. The 

Coastal Program office has worked closely with the 

task force to identify regionally significant habitats and 

to protect these areas to benefit coastal resources at 

a landscape scale. The Waccamaw National Wildlife 

Refuge was recently established with the support of 

the task force, and includes Sandy Island within its 

boundary.

Coastal Program 

Accomplishments FY 2001-2003

Wetland acres restored 215,097 acres

and protected 

Upland acres protected 751,852 acres

Stream and streamside habitat 3,105 miles 

restored and protected 

Fish barriers removed 23

Partenership agreements 323

Seagrasses are nurseries for many marine 

species. Above are before and after photos 

of seagrass restoration efforts at a coastal 

project in Galveston, Texas.
U.S. Department of the Interior

24 Cooperative Conservation

“The Prairie Pothole Joint Venture is good science, it’s good policy, 

it’s good for the ducks, pheasants, and other wildlife.” 

Joe Duggan, Vice President of Corporate Relations and Marketing

Pheasants Forever.

“The California Waterfowl Association has applied for and received four grants 

through the North American Wetlands Conservation Act totaling over $3.5 million. 

These grants leveraged $57 million in partner funds, positively impacting 65,000 acres 

of habitat in the Central Valley. The Association’s network of programs is only 

possible thanks to the many partners, donors, and volunteers who offer their 

assistance and support. Together, we are taking a stand for the future of 

waterfowl, wetlands, and hunting.” 

Becky Easter, California Waterfowl Association

One Joint Venture project focuses its efforts on 

the American black duck.

North American Wetlands Conservation Fund

The North American Wetlands Conservation Act 

program, an internationally recognized program 

that provides grants throughout the United States, 

Canada, and Mexico, is one of the key instruments for 

conservation of waterfowl and other migratory birds. 

Through voluntary grant partnerships, the program 

has protected and improved the health and integrity 

of the landscapes in which people reside and work in 

harmony with our fish and wildlife resources. Primarily, 

the grants act as catalysts in bringing partnerships 

together to support wetland projects and leverage nonFederal funding that fosters public and private sector 

cooperation for migratory bird conservation, flood 

control, erosion control, and water quality.

In FY 2003, North American Wetlands Conservation 

Act project proposals supported over 125 partnership 

wetlands conservation projects. Over 460 partners 

are participating in these projects which, when 

completed, will protect over 1.3 million acres and 

restore, enhance, or create over 380,000 acres of 

habitat. In FY 2004, the program is expected to fund 

approximately 95 projects that will protect, enhance, 

or restore over 1.1 million acres. As of April, 43 project 

proposals, together with over 190 diverse partners, 

have been approved. When completed, these approved 

projects will protect over 3 million acres and enhance, 

restore, or create about 190,000 acres of habitat for 

migratory birds and other wildlife. Up from $37.5 

million enacted in 2004, the 2005 budget request for the 

program is $54 million.

Before wetland restoration, Pennsylvania

After wetland restoration, Pennsylvania
U.S. Department of the Interior

25 Cooperative Conservation

Efforts Continue to Reintroduce Migratory 

Whooping Cranes in Eastern U.S.

The whooping crane, one of North America’s rarest 

birds, has benefited from a vibrant partnership to 

bring them back to the flyways of the United States. 

In spring 2003, 16 whooping crane chicks hatched 

at Patuxent Wildlife Research Center in Maryland. 

Following their transfer to Necedah National Wildlife 

Refuge in Wisconsin, the chicks spent the summer 

training behind ultralight aircraft and on October 

16, 2003, they began their ultralight-led migration 

south to Chassahowitzka National Wildlife Refuge 

in Florida. The birds and their human support team 

completed the migration on December 8, 2003. 

This was the third group of juvenile whooping cranes 

to take part in a project designed to reintroduce a 

migratory flock of whooping cranes to a portion of 

their former range in eastern North America. The 

eastern migratory flock of whooping cranes now has 

20 adult and juvenile whooping cranes and 16 new 

cranes from this year’s reintroduction. All of these 

whooping cranes spent the winter in Florida.

The Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership — a 

coalition of nonprofit organizations, individuals, 

flyway State agencies, the Fish and Wildlife Service, 

and the U.S. Geological Survey — coordinates this 

Cranes following ultralight

Migratory Bird Joint Ventures

The Migratory Bird Joint Ventures program, originally 

formed to implement the North American Waterfowl 

Management Plan, has broadened to include other 

conservation partnership initiatives, such as Partners 

in Flight, the U.S. Shorebird Conservation Plan, and 

the North American Waterbird Conservation Plan. 

This model for achieving migratory bird conservation 

goals through cooperation and consultation with 

partners and coordinated project implementation 

has increased the interest and number of potential 

partnerships for important habitat conservation 

projects. For instance, the 2005 budget will allow the 

Fish and Wildlife Service to accelerate operations at 15 

existing Joint Ventures and fund the Northern Great 

Plains and Central Hardwoods Joint Ventures.

Also part of the North American Wetlands 

Conservation Act, through the Migratory Bird 

Conservation Commission, the Fish and Wildlife 

Service announced on March 4, 2004, $15.8 million 

for habitat conservation to States and other partners 

to benefit migratory birds, including its 500th project. 

The 500th project will conserve over 6,000 acres in 

Nebraska. The $15.8 million will fund 17 projects 

to protect or restore more than 270,000 acres of 

wetlands and associated upland habitats in 13 States.

unprecedented reintroduction effort. More than 60 

percent of the estimated $1.8 million budget comes 

from private sources in the form of grants, donations, 

and corporate sponsors.
U.S. Department of the Interior

26 Cooperative Conservation

Sturgeon

State and Tribal Wildlife Grants

The State and Tribal Wildlife Grant program assists 

States and Federally recognized Tribes in the 

development and implementation of activities that 

benefit wildlife. The President’s 2005 budget for these 

grants proposes $80 million. 

The funding benefits a broad range of species, including 

species not fished or hunted, and their habitats. Since 

so many issues related to wildlife conservation are 

not contained by jurisdictional borders, the Fish and 

Wildlife Service and the States are working together 

to coordinate efforts to conserve endangered and 

threatened species, manage migrating birds, and lay 

foundations for good wildlife management. 

For example, the Pennsylvania Game Commission is 

using Federal money to protect more than 30,000 bats 

at two mines in Pennsylvania. The State will install 

special gates at the entrances to the bat caves — called 

hibernacular or winter homes — to prevent disturbance 

and vandalism during periods when these species are 

highly vulnerable. 

Of the 2005 amount, $14 million has been proposed 

to reach Federally recognized Tribes. One project 

recently awarded the Tribal Wildlife Grant will 

establish, restore, and maintain a harvested lake 

sturgeon population in the Lac du Flambeau Chain of 

Lakes by the Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior 

Chippewa Indians of Wisconsin. The Lake sturgeon 

is culturally significant to this Tribe and economically 

important to the State of Wisconsin.

“The State Wildlife Grants program is now the Nation’s core program for preventing species 

from becoming endangered in every State. In my State of Vermont, it has more than doubled 

the funding available for these purposes, as it has for many other States. By providing real, 

tangible support through funding for on-the-ground conservation, this program is letting us 

get ahead of the game. Instead of reacting to crises, we now have the ability to take preventive 

action to keep wildlife populations healthy and avoid conflicts over endangered species.”

Ron Regan, Director of Operations, Vermont Dept. of Fish and Wildlife

Bat gate
U.S. Department of the Interior

27 Cooperative Conservation

Working on Wildlife 

and Habitat Management

Under the Bush Administration, new hunting and 

fishing access at more than 50 National Wildlife 

Refuges has been approved. The Fish and Wildlife 

Service supports fishing through over 60 Fish 

and Wildlife Resource Management field stations 

located in 33 States. In addition to the National Fish 

Hatchery program, the Fish and Wildlife Service 

works in partnership with others to improve fish 

habitat and stream corridors. Interior also considers 

hunting to be an important tool for wildlife 

management. Hunting gives resource managers a 

valuable tool to control populations of some species 

that might otherwise exceed the carrying capacity 

of their habitat and threaten the well-being of other 

wildlife species, and in some instances, that of 

human health and safety. 

Today, a total of 316 refuges are open to hunting and 

275 are open to fishing. To further improve access 

to public lands for sportsmen and sportswomen, 

the Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Land 

Management, and the Forest Service have signed 

an agreement with 17 organizations to improve 

hunting and fishing access to Federal lands. The Fish 

and Wildlife Service has listened to State agencies, 

sportsmen and sportswomen, and conservation 

organizations as it has worked on policies governing 

the operation of the refuge system, migratory birds, 

fish hatcheries, chronic wasting disease in deer, and 

other issues.

Several hunting and fishing excise taxes provide 

funds to States. These programs include the Sport 

Fish Restoration Program, which collects funds 

from a 10 percent excise tax on fishing equipment, a 

3 percent tax on electric trolling motors and sonar 

fish finders, taxes on motor boat and small engine 

fuel, and import duties on fishing tackle and pleasure 

boats. Distribution of sport fish restoration funds 

to States is based on the land and water area and the 

number of fishing license holders in each State. In 

2004, more than $464 million in excise taxes have 

been apportioned to States.

On April 22, 2004, President Bush furthered his 

pledge to wetland habitat restoration by moving 

beyond a policy of “no net loss” of wetlands to an 

overall increase of wetlands across the Nation each 

year. The President’s goal is to create, improve, and 

protect at least three million wetland acres over the 

next five years in order to increase overall wetland 

acres and quality. To meet this goal, the President’s 

2005 budget request, which includes $4.4 billion 

for conservation programs that include funding for 

wetlands — an increase of $1.5 billion, or 53 percent 

over 2001. The 2005 budget proposes to spend $349 

million on the Fish and Wildlife Service’s two key 

wetlands programs — the Wetlands Reserve Program 

and the North American Wetlands Conservation Act 

Grants Program — which is an increase of more than 

50 percent over 2001.
U.S. Department of the Interior

28 Cooperative Conservation

Take Pride in America

Re-launched by Interior on April 16, 2003, Take Pride 

in America empowers volunteers from every corner 

of America to improve our parks, refuges, recreation 

areas, and cultural and historical sites. Outstanding 

volunteer efforts are rewarded with presidential 

recognition. Since July 2003 there have been over 100 

Take Pride in America events involving over 10,000 

individuals. For example, on National Public Lands 

Day, the US Army Corps of Engineers of Orland, 

California hosted nearly 160 Boy Scouts and leaders 

to clean 40 miles of shoreline at a lake. And, on 

December 31, 2003, working with Southern California 

Friends of Take Pride, a New Year’s Resolution 

Volunteer Pledge Drive was initiated to solicit 10 hours 

per volunteer for work on vast areas devastated by wild 

fires in the fall of 2003. Volunteers will help plant trees, 

clean up recreation sites, restore trails, and perform 

tasks needed to rehabilitate damaged land. These 

400,000 volunteer hours are equivalent to more than 

190 full-time employees working for one year.

Through the program, agencies also work with 

governors and other partners to launch volunteer 

conservation projects. Over 40 governors are 

participating and have appointed liaisons to work with 

the national Take Pride in America office. Through 

these liaisons, Federal and State land managers identify 

volunteer opportunities and enlist public service 

commitments from citizens. In addition, Senators and 

Representatives have responded to Take Pride’s call to 

action and will participate in Take Pride at events in their 

States and districts in 2004.

More than 100 charter partners — including 

major corporations, conservation groups, service 

organizations, and trade associations — have signed on 

to help Take Pride. By establishing formal partnerships 

with State governments, Federal and State land 

managers work to identify volunteer opportunities and 

to enlist public service commitments from citizens. 

These and other organizations assist by sponsoring 

Take Pride in America cleanup days and by committing 

blocks of volunteer service time for local restoration 

efforts. 

Part of President Bush’s USA Freedom Corps volunteer 

service initiative, Take Pride in America strives to 

dramatically increase the number of volunteers by 

expanding participation among youth, senior citizen, 

Hispanic- and African-American, faith-based, and 

union organizations. Take Pride also emphasizes service 

to inner city and urban sites, such as parks, trails, historic 

monuments, and playgrounds. 

Volunteers help maintain and sustain our national 

parks, national wildlife refuges and fish hatcheries, BLM 

public lands, water resource management activities, and 

assist in carrying out our scientific research programs. 

This program has a track record of success. During 

the initial launch from 1986 to 1993, volunteers logged 

an estimated 10 million hours in service to our public 

lands. Since the program was re-launched, Take Pride 

in America continues the tradition of citizen stewards. 

This past year an estimated 200,000 volunteers 

— almost three times the number of employees in our 

paid workforce — contributed their time and effort on 

lands managed by Interior. The high quality work they 

perform results in significant savings to the American 

people and allows us to offer more programs and 

services to our Nation’s citizens.

Secretary Norton with Take Pride in America volunteers
U.S. Department of the Interior

29 Cooperative Conservation

ACHIEVING RESULTS: NEW TOOLS FOR COOPERATIVE CONSERVATION

Complementing funding increases for cooperative conservation, the Interior Department is 

broadening its policy toolkit to support citizen 

stewardship and partnerships. These efforts target key 

conservation challenges including forest and rangeland 

health and endangered species protection. They 

also build partnership opportunities for individuals, 

organizations, and communities. New efforts to 

enhance results include: the President’s Healthy 

Forests Initiative, strengthening efforts for protecting 

endangered and threatened species, improving the 

National Environmental Policy Act, and resolution of 

long-term conflicts.

Healthy Forests Initiative

On December 3, 2003, after months of working with a 

bipartisan coalition of Members of Congress, President 

Bush signed into law the Healthy Forests Restoration 

Act of 2003 to reduce the threat of catastrophic 

wildfires, improve forest and rangeland health, and 

encourage public participation in project selection and 

implementation. This law builds upon the President’s 

Healthy Forests Initiative, announced on August 22, 

2002. The Act:

• Strengthens public participation in developing high 

priority forest health projects; 

• Reduces the complexity of environmental analysis, 

allowing Federal land agencies to use the best 

science available to actively manage land under 

their protection; and

• Provides a more effective appeals process by 

encouraging early public participation in project 

planning.

Forest Health Benefits of Forest Thinning: Lessening fuel 

loads improves the health of forests, woodlands, and 

rangelands in two ways. First, by reducing hazardous 

fuels, the Healthy Forests Initiative helps prevent such 

unwanted fire-caused environmental changes such 

as excessive, widespread, and undesirable mortality 

in wildlife and plants; habitat destruction; erosion; 

siltation in streams, lakes, ponds, wetlands, and 

reservoirs; and damage to the physical structure of 

soil and the death of soil organisms. Second, removal 

of hazardous fuels improves landscape conditions by, 

among other things, promoting biological and habitat 

diversity, protecting spawning areas, and protecting 

water quality. 

Treated Untreated

Benefits of Forest Thinning
U.S. Department of the Interior

30 Cooperative Conservation

“I saw that firsthand when we were flying over Oregon, magnificent trees 

just exploding as we choppered by. The resulting devastation damages the 

habitats of endangered species, causes flooding and soil erosion, harms air 

quality, oftentimes ruins water supplies. These catastrophic fires destroy 

homes and businesses; they put lives at risk, especially the lives of the 

brave men and women who are on the front line of fighting these fires.”

President George W. Bush

December 3, 2003

With the steady accumulation of fuels, fire danger 

in our forests has increased over time, and forests 

have become more dense. Around 190 million acres 

of Federal forests and rangelands face high risks of 

catastrophic fire. Drought conditions make these 

lands even more vulnerable to hot, fast-moving fires. 

With more and more people living near these forests, 

firefighting challenges mount in order to protect people 

and their homes.

Our firefighters do an outstanding job, controlling 

98 percent of wildland fires on initial attack. But 

when fires escape initial efforts to control them, they 

create damaging, destructive fires. The key task lies in 

reducing fuel build-up to lower the risk of catastrophic 

fires and return our forests to healthy conditions. Some 

forests now have tree densities more than 15 times 

greater than historic conditions. Timber thinning and 

removal of dense build up of underbrush can ensure 

thriving forests while reducing risks of catastrophic fire.

Millions of acres need restoration work. These areas 

require extensive, sustained effort and partnerships to 

restore forests. Partnerships with forest management 

enterprises through stewardship contracts can augment 

available resources and expertise. The exchange of 

forest management by-products (small-diameter 

timber, underbrush, and other biomass) for services 

to thin forests and remove underbrush makes possible 

forest and woodland restoration that would otherwise 

be too expensive for agencies to undertake.

Good governance is a key part of the solution. 

Procedural delays and paperwork overload can stall 

fuel-thinning projects. Maintaining healthy forests 

requires active management and timely decisions.

President Bush inspecting 

Squires Fire damage in Oregon

In Nevada’s Great Basin, for example, pinyon pine and 

juniper trees as well as highly flammable non-native 

cheatgrass have expanded their ranges over the past 

several decades, resulting in loss of biological diversity, 

dramatic changes in stream and riparian habitat, and 

a significant reduction in streamflow over large areas. 

By facilitating removal of these fuels from Great Basin 

landscapes, the Healthy Forests Initiative will improve 

shrubland and woodland environments. 
U.S. Department of the Interior

31 Cooperative Conservation

Interior, working with the Forest Service, the Western 

Governors Association, the National Association of 

Counties, local governments, and Tribes has developed 

a 10-year comprehensive strategy to rejuvenate our 

forests. Finally, Interior and the Forest Service are 

implementing a number of changes to expedite 

planning, development, and implementation of 

projects that will reduce fuel loads in priority forests 

and rangelands. 

Administrative Improvements: Under President Bush’s 

leadership, the Federal land management agencies have 

implemented several administrative initiatives to help 

expedite projects to restore forest and rangeland health, 

as called for under the HFI, including:

• New procedures, provided for under the National 

Environmental Policy Act, to now allow priority 

fuels reduction and forest restoration projects 

identified through collaboration with State, local, 

and Tribal governments and interested parties to 

move forward more quickly; 

• Guidance to Federal agencies makes consultations 

under the Endangered Species Act more timely 

and better accounts for long-term benefits to 

threatened and endangered species; and

• Guidance from the Council on Environmental 

Quality improves environmental assessments 

(EAs) for priority forest health projects. By early 

2004, the agencies had completed EAs using the 

enhanced process on 13 of 15 pilot projects.

Stewardship Contracting: In December 2002, Congress 

enacted legislation expanding stewardship contracting 

authority, a key component of the HFI. The legislation 

allows Federal agencies to enter into long-term (up to 

10 years) contracts with small businesses, communities, 

and nonprofit organizations to reduce wildfire risk and 

improve forest health.

• Long-term contracts foster a public/private 

partnership to restore forest and rangeland health 

by giving contractors the incentive to invest in 

equipment and facilities needed to productively 

use material from forest thinning to make useful 

wood products or to produce biomass energy, all at 

a savings to taxpayers; and

• The Forest Service and Bureau of Land 

Management have approved stewardship contracts 

using the new authority requested by the President 

and provided by Congress. In 2003, the Forest 

Service awarded more than 30 stewardship 

contracts and expects to award an additional 60 

in 2004. BLM expects to carry out 39 stewardship 

contracts in 2004.

Record Amounts of Hazardous Fuels Restoration Work: 

With new tools, strong management, more funds, 

and better tracking of performance, agencies are 

accomplishing more on-the-ground results. 

• In 2002, Federal land management agencies 

restored a record 2.25 million acres, an increase of a 

million acres over FY 2000 levels;

• In 2003, the agencies exceeded that level, restoring 

2.7 million acres, including 1.6 million acres in the 

wildland urban interface; and
U.S. Department of the Interior

32 Cooperative Conservation

• From 2001-2003, agencies treated a total of 7 

million acres. In FY 2004, the agencies plan to treat 

an additional 3.7 million acres (2.6 million under 

the National Fire Plan and 1.1 from other related 

activities), bringing the combined total since 2001 

to nearly 11 million acres.

Improved Coordination: In 2002, the Departments 

of Agriculture and Interior formed the Wildland 

Fire Leadership Council to further implement the 

National Fire Plan and to combat wildland fires more 

effectively. The Council provides a coordinated, 

seamless management structure to all aspects of 

wildland fire policy under the Healthy Forests 

Initiative and integrates Federal fire activities with 

those of States, Tribes, and local governments, 

including land restoration and rehabilitation.

 “Conservation, and especially the conservation of imperiled species, must be a 

partnership between the American people and their government. By making these 

grants, we are empowering citizens to restore habitat on their land and take other steps 

to protect and recover endangered, threatened, and at-risk species.”

Gale A. Norton, May 28, 2003

President Bush signs the Healthy Forests 

Restoration Act
U.S. Department of the Interior

33 Cooperative Conservation

Endangered and Threatened Species: 

Strengthening Incentives

Conservation Banking: In May 2003, Interior issued 

the first comprehensive Federal guidelines designed 

to promote the establishment of conservation banks, 

which ensure perpetual protection for endangered 

species that are adversely affected elsewhere. The 

banks are lands acquired by third parties, managed 

for specific endangered species, and protected 

permanently by conservation easements. Banks may 

sell a fixed number of mitigation credits to developers 

to offset adverse effects on a species elsewhere. 

Traditionally, developers have been asked to preserve 

a portion of the developed area, which can translate 

into scattered, small parcels of land. Conservation 

banks provide for much larger acreage, where species 

protection is more effective as well as more efficient.

Safe Harbor Improvements: In addition, Interior has 

proposed rule changes that provide greater private 

landowner protections under safe harbor agreements 

and improve procedures relating to enhancement 

of survival permits (actions intended to improve 

survival or habitat of a species). The safe harbor 

permit improvements will make the process easier to 

understand and will provide participating landowners 

greater certainty regarding their responsibilities as they 

protect species.

National Environmental Policy Act: 

Best Practices

Interior is incorporating administrative improvements 

and existing best practices into its National 

Environmental Policy Act processes across the 

Department. These improvements will help reduce 

conflict, enhance public participation, and expand 

“on-the-ground” results. The reforms cover a number 

of areas, including:

• Consensus-based management;

• Public participation;

• Community-based training;

• Use of integrated analysis;

• Adaptive management; and

• Tiered and transferred analysis.

Each of these concepts gives field staff tools to tailor 

their approach to the NEPA process to local needs 

and interests. These concepts will provide field staff 

with tools to tailor the NEPA process to community 

needs and interests. For example, the 500,000-acre 

Steens Mountain Cooperative Management and 

Protection Area will be collaboratively managed by the 

BLM and a new Steens Mountain Advisory Council to 

conserve, protect, and manage the long-term ecological 

integrity of the Steens Mountain area. Within this 

area, cooperative and innovative management projects 

will be maintained and enhanced among the BLM, 

private landowners, Tribes, and other public interests. 

Sustainable grazing and recreational use, including 

fishing and hunting, will continue where consistent 

with the purpose of the enabling legislation. 

The best known example of consensus-based 

management on BLM lands is the Las Cienegas 

Las Cienegas National 

Conservation Area

National Conservation Area near Tucson, in southeast 

Arizona. In the early 1990s, the BLM initiated a 

traditional planning process for creation of the EmpireCienegas Resource Conservation Area. Poor planning, 

lack of public participation, and exclusion of private 

and State trust land parties in the process cut short 

the Federal process. Shortly afterwards, citizens, local 

government, and conservation groups concerned over 
U.S. Department of the Interior

34 Cooperative Conservation

Grazing Rule Improvements

The Bureau of Land Management lands are managed 

for many recreation and productive uses, including 

grazing. The BLM manages 261 million acres of public 

land, of which about 160 million are authorized for 

grazing by some 18,000 permit and lease holders. The 

actual acreage grazed during any one-year period is less 

than 160 million acres because grazing use is affected 

by such factors as drought, wildfire, and permittee 

business decisions. 

In December 2003, the BLM issued draft grazing 

regulations that will improve grazing management, 

enhance stewardship of the public lands, and allow for 

improved public participation in the planning process. 

The BLM continues to work with ranchers, recreation 

enthusiasts, the conservation community, and others to 

manage public lands in ways that accommodate both 

ranching and wildlife habitat needs on grazing lands.

The proposed rule would, among other things, ensure 

that BLM managers consider and document the social, 

cultural, and economic consequences of decisions 

affecting grazing. In addition, the rule would:

• Allow the BLM and a grazing permittee to share 

title of permanent range improvements, such as a 

fence, well, or pipeline; 

• Require assessments and monitoring of resource 

conditions to support BLM evaluations of whether 

an allotment is meeting rangeland health standards; 

• Allow a more realistic timeframe (24 months 

rather than the current 12 months) for deciding 

on grazing-related actions needed to achieve 

rangeland health standards; 

• Remove the current three-consecutive-year limit 

on temporary non-use of a grazing permit by 

allowing livestock operators to apply for nonuse for up to one year at a time (whether for 

conservation or business purposes); and

• Make clear how the BLM will authorize grazing 

if a grazing permit decision is stayed (postponed) 

pending administrative appeal.

the health of Cienegas Creek Watershed and believing 

that any comprehensive approach to its restoration 

required inclusion of State trust and private lands, 

joined with the BLM to establish (with Congressional 

approval) the Las Cienegas National Conservation 

Area. Unlike other National Conservation Areas, the 

creation of Las Cienegas was driven from the bottomup — by the collaborative Sonoita Valley Planning 

Partnership. It is a voluntary association of Federal, 

State, and local agencies, communities, organizations, 

and people who share a common interest in the future 

of land resources in the Sonoita Valley. 
U.S. Department of the Interior

35 Cooperative Conservation

In eastern Tennessee, this photo from the early 

1970s shows an unreclaimed contour mine. 

Without any reclamation, the dangerous 

unstable highwall is exposed and left to erode 

and pollute nearby streams.

Reclamation of an abandoned steep-slope mine 

under the AML program. The project eliminated 

the safety and environmental problems and 

restored the natural beauty of the area.

Abandoned Mine Lands Reclamation

Since enactment of the Surface Mining Control and 

Reclamation Act in 1977, Interior has partnered with 

States, Tribes, local governments, and others to reclaim 

over 225,000 acres of damaged and dangerous mine 

lands. Despite these accomplishments, dangerous 

abandoned coal mines remain within one mile of 

the homes of more than 3.5 million Americans. In 

Pennsylvania alone, at least 45 deaths and 19 injuries at 

abandoned mine sites have occurred in the past 30 years. 

The primary impediment to completing reclamation 

of abandoned mines is the fundamental imbalance 

between the goals of the 1977 Act and the requirements 

for allocating funds under the Act. The statutory 

allocation formula limits the ability of the Office of 

Surface Mining to meet its primary objective of abating 

the highest-priority abandoned coal mines. The 

majority of funding in the program is distributed to 

States on the basis of current production. Yet there is 

no relationship between current coal production and 

the number of priority clean up sites in each State, 

which is a function of pre-1977 production. 

Over the past 25 years, the allocation formula 

has enabled some States and Tribes to complete 

reclamation of all abandoned coal mines. Others 

are decades away from completing work on the most 

critical, high-priority sites. It is estimated to take 60 

years to reclaim dangerous abandoned mine sites in 

Pennsylvania and 50 years in West Virginia under the 

current formula.

The Office of Surface Mining has proposed to correct 

this problem. Through proposed legislation, we will 

direct reclamation grants to sites where the danger 

is greatest. The proposal will allow all States to 

eliminate significant health and safety problems 

within 25 years and would remove 142,000 people 

from risk annually. At the same time, by shifting 

funds to speed resolution of serious health and safety 

problems, the proposal will reduce fee collections and 

spending by more than $3 billion over the life of the 

program.

Under the proposal, States and Tribes that have 

certified completion of high-priority projects will be 

paid their accumulated State share balances in the 

abandoned mine lands fund as of September 30, 2004. 

These payments will be made over a ten-year period. 

Going forward, the grants would be distributed for 

high-priority mine reclamation projects. 
U.S. Department of the Interior

36 Cooperative Conservation

Water 2025

Some areas in the Western United States receive less 

than one-fifth of the annual precipitation than other 

areas of the country. Adding explosive urban growth 

to existing uses in these areas increases pressure on 

a limited resource — water. Chronic water supply 

problems in the West will continue to challenge the 

Nation in the coming decades. Crisis management is 

not an effective way to address long-term water-supply 

challenges. Recent crises in the Klamath River and 

Middle Rio Grande River basins, where water shortages 

have affected Native Americans, farmers, urban 

residents, and fish and wildlife, vividly demonstrate 

the consequences of failing to address strategically 

the problem of competing demands for constrained 

water supplies. Water conflicts can have serious social, 

economic, and environmental impacts. Through Water 

2025, the Department of the Interior will use these key 

Expected water crisis areas by 2025 highlighted 

in Red, Orange, Yellow, and Brown.

tools to help prevent future conflict and crises over 

water in the West: 

• Water conservation and efficiency;

• Markets;

• Collaboration; 

• Technology; and

• System optimization.

Improved water management requires knowledge of 

basin-specific problems. The Bureau of Reclamation 

analyzed potential water supply crises and conflicts by 

the year 2025. This analysis is based on a combination 

of technical and other factors, including population 

trends and potential endangered species needs for 
U.S. Department of the Interior

37 Cooperative Conservation

water. The Department of the Interior has sought 

extensive input from States, Tribes, and the public on 

this analysis and expects that it will be revised and 

improved through this effort.

Water 2025 will foster conservation, enhance water 

supplies, and manage water resources in cooperation 

with States, communities, and Tribes. In some cases, 

collaborative approaches and market-based transfers 

can help communities meet emerging water needs. 

Federal investments in research and development will 

provide more affordable water treatment technologies, 

such as desalination, to increase water supplies in 

critical areas. The 2005 budget includes $20 million for 

the Bureau of Reclamation and $1 million in the U.S. 

Geological Survey to implement Water 2025.

“Water 2025 provides a basis for public discussion of the realities that face the West, so 

that decisions can be made at the appropriate level in advance of water supply crises.”

Assistant Secretary Bennett Raley, 

January 26, 2004
U.S. Department of the Interior

38 Cooperative Conservation

ACHIEVING RESULTS THROUGH PARTNERSHIPS

Everglades Restoration

The intergovernmental effort to restore the Everglades 

is the largest watershed restoration program in the 

world and is a model for collaborative conservation. 

In partnership with Federal, State, Tribal, and local 

governments, the Department of the Interior is moving 

forward with numerous projects to restore habitat, 

protect species, and improve conditions on hundreds of 

thousands of acres in southern Florida. 

The Interior Department is achieving on-the-ground 

results. For example, the National Park Service has 

acquired virtually all the lands at Everglades National 

Park, thereby providing permanent protection for this 

important resource. At Dry Tortugas National Park, with 

the extensive involvement and support of commercial 

fisherman, a no-take zone/Research Natural Area 

was established to ensure the conservation of marine 

resources. At A.R.M. Loxahatchee National Wildlife 

Refuge, the State is partnering to increase efforts to 

control invasive exotics and restore habitat. Last year we 

treated 18,000 acres and plans are in place to treat 36,000 

acres in 2004. A similar effort is underway at Everglades 

National Park where a partnership with Miami-Dade 

County is restoring 6,200 acres of habitat at a total cost 

to the county of $75 million dollars. Furthermore, the 

invasive melaleuca plant has virtually been eliminated 

and reduced to controlled levels at Big Cypress National 

Preserve.

Improvements for water quality, water management, 

and endangered species require significant collaboration 

among many parties to achieve effective solutions. 

For example, implementation of agricultural best 

management practices and completion of storm water 

treatment areas are cleaning up the pollution and 

elevated nutrient levels entering the Everglades. Among 

many other collaborative efforts, we have worked with 

Indian River County to develop the county’s first Habitat 

Conservation Plan to address the critical threats of coastal 

erosion on beach front properties and the conservation 

needs of nesting sea turtles. A Safe Harbor Agreement 

in the Florida Keys has been developed for the Schaus 

swallowtail butterfly and have initiated recovery efforts 

for the Key deer through population translocation.

The FY 2005 President’s Budget proposes $231 million for 

Interior and Army programs, an increase of $24 million 

in total federal Everglades funding. The proposal for 

Interior is $106 million, which is $36 million over 2004. 

With these funds, Interior agencies will continue to 

collaborate with our partners to preserve and improve 

natural habitat; protect and recover endangered and 

threatened species; support Tribal partners; and obtain 

the necessary science to guide decision-making. 

Klamath Basin Initiatives

Interior is working to find a long-term resolution to the 

conflict in the Klamath Basin involving water needs for 

farmers, endangered species, and Tribes. The President 

created the Klamath Basin Working Group in March 

2002 to provide advice “on immediate steps and longterm solutions to enhance water quality and quantity, 

and to address other complex issues.” 

Accomplishments include: 

• A proactive Trinity River flow release of 

approximately 33,000 acre feet of water in the fall 

of 2003 to aid salmon migration;

• A commitment to expand the water bank in 2004 

and 2005; 

• A pilot project with the Klamath Basin Rangeland 

Trust to test potential water savings and water 

quality improvement from irrigation reductions 

and cattle management in the Wood River Valley; 

Klamath River, Oregon
U.S. Department of the Interior

39 Cooperative Conservation

• Studies to evaluate options for increasing water 

storage capacity; 

• Installation of fish screens to prevent entrainment; 

and 

• Research to improve our understanding of the 

behavior and environmental needs of threatened 

and endangered species.

Through partnerships, Interior is restoring streams 

and wetlands in the upstream and downstream 

reaches of the Klamath River and its tributaries; 

removing the Chiloquin Dam, which impedes passage 

of endangered suckers and other fish to spawning 

habitat on the Sprague River; acquiring land to allow 

habitat restoration and increased water storage on land 

adjacent to Agency Lake Ranch to restore fisheries 

habitat and to create water banking; and enhancing 

water supply and water quality activities. 

The Upper Klamath River Basin restoration initiative 

is an ongoing cooperative effort involving Federal, 

State and local agencies, tribal governments, public 

organizations, and individuals to restore the Klamath 

Basin ecosystem while fostering economic vitality. 

Watershed restoration activities in the Upper Klamath 

Basin emphasize on-the-ground activities, including 

erecting fences to control cattle grazing, excavating 

swales to reconnect oxbows to the river, and planting 

native trees and shrubs for shade and stream bank 

stabilization. These projects directly restore habitats 

for the Federally endangered Lost River and short-nose 

suckers, and the sensitive redband trout.

As part of our efforts in the Klamath Basin, the Partners 

for Fish and Wildlife program will restore 1,555 acres 

of wetlands and 55 miles of stream and shoreline. The 

Fish and Wildlife Service will also provide technical 

assistance to private landowners, resulting in improved 

water quality and potentially increasing water quantity.

Preserve America

On March 3, 2003, Mrs. Laura Bush, First Lady of 

the United States, announced the Preserve America 

initiative to encourage and support community efforts 

for the preservation and enjoyment of our cultural 

and natural heritage. In conjunction with the Advisory 

Council for Historic Preservation, the Department of 

the Interior, and Department of Commerce, Preserve 

America advances greater shared knowledge about the 

Nation’s past, increases local participation in historic 

preservation, and acts as a stimulus of local economies 

through heritage tourism. 

This call for citizen stewards will support community 

efforts to demonstrate sustainable uses of their historic 

and cultural sites, along with the economic and 

educational opportunities related to heritage tourism. 

Currently, 26 States have some form of heritage tourism 

program, a strong economic development tool that 

creates jobs and increases property values and tax 

revenues.

Preserve America acknowledges exceptional community 

examples by designating them as a Preserve America 

community, which provides national recognition for 

“Our Nation’s cultural and natural resources are important parts of our heritage. 

Preserve America will promote historic and cultural preservation and encourage greater 

public appreciation of our national treasures.”

Mrs. Laura Bush, First Lady of the United States

 March 3, 2003

Mrs. Laura Bush, First Lady of the United States
U.S. Department of the Interior

40 Cooperative Conservation

communities that protect, use, and celebrate their 

heritage assets. Since First Lady Laura Bush announced 

the Preserve America community designation awards 

on September 15, 2003, approximately 150 applications 

have been received. As of May 1, 2004, close to 60 

communities had been designated, representing 

approximately half of the 50 States. 

Invasive Species Partnerships

Invasive species threaten the ecological and 

economic health of the Nation. Threats posed by the 

uncontrolled spread of invasive species include native 

species diversity loss and alteration of ecological 

structure and function. The costs associated with 

invasive species exceed an estimated $100 billion 

per year. Invasive species eradication is difficult; an 

estimated 5,000 – 6,000 invasive species have already 

become established in the United States. In some cases, 

eradication will require traditional approaches as well 

as molecular, biological, and/or chemical defenses 

that have yet to be discovered. Strategies for the early 

detection of invasive species, spread prediction, and 

constricting pathways to introduction are important to 

prevent the establishment of further invasive species.

“Invasive species impact the lands and mission of the Interior Department across 

the Nation. Invasive weeds cover 1.5 million acres of National Park Service lands alone. 

Invasive species are a leading cause of species being listed as threatened or endangered 

with extinction. They diminish the value of BLM grazing lands, destroy wetlands 

in our National Wildlife Refuge System, and disrupt water delivery by the 

Bureau of Reclamation. They also impact our ability to enjoy recreational 

opportunities including hunting and fishing both on public and private lands.” 

Gale A. Norton, October 30, 2003

. 

New High-Speed Models 

Improve Tracking and Forecasting 

of Invasive Weeds in Colorado

USGS, NASA, Colorado State University, and the 

Colorado Agriculture Experiment Stations developed 

the high-performance computing infrastructure 

required to analyze past, present, and future 

distributions of harmful invasive species in Colorado. 

The cooperators synthesized more than 30 different 

datasets for invasive weeds in the State and used a 

suite of predictive geostatistical models in a clustercomputing environment to document, map, and 

predict the locations of noxious weeds. The approach 

increased model performance by more than 1,000 

times. Spatial models that took 16 days to run are now 

completed in less than five minutes. The investigators 

also developed and tested methods that successfully 

enabled several predictive models to run at the smaller 

scales used for decisions on management responses to 

weed invasions. These major technological advances 

are also facilitating development of a point-and-click 

process for assimilating data from new species reports, 

and re-running the models to obtain real time updates 

of weed distributions. When testing is completed, the 

project will provide the State’s first integrated database 

on weed distributions and a model for a national system 

for tracking and forecasting invasive weeds.
U.S. Department of the Interior

41 Cooperative Conservation

Tamarisk Treatment in Nevada

The Bureau of Land Management, in cooperation 

with local communities, the Fish and Wildlife Service, 

and “Outside Las Vegas”, a nonprofit organization, 

treated five acres of tamarisk in 2003 using mechanical 

methods. Because this area is part of the Southwest 

Willow Flycatcher nesting area, the treatment was 

planned and coordinated with the Fish and Wildlife 

Service. Limited treatment was done in 2003 due to the 

Southwest Willow Flycatcher-nesting season. This 

project was a high priority because the vegetation 

is in Condition Class 3. Fire regimes on these lands 

have been significantly altered from their historical 

ecosystem components, the threat from fire is high, 

and the fire threat to the wildland urban interface is 

high. The treatment also benefited other threatened 

and endangered species to the area such as the Wound 

Fin Minnow, Virgin River Chub, Yuma Clapper Rail, 

and Desert Tortoise. The project is the first in a tenpart strategy to reduce hazardous fuels in the wildland 

urban interface along the Virgin River. A total of 95 

acres of treatments are scheduled for 2005 and 100 acres 

per year for the next several years thereafter.

Invasive Species Success Stories within DOI

Tamarisk trees in lower Grand Canyon

Tide Turning in War on 

Melaleuca in Florida

The National Park Service at Big Cypress National 

Preserve recently celebrated the completion of the 

initial treatment of the exotic plant melaleuca within 

the 729,000 acre preserve in south Florida. Since 

efforts began, approximately 14.5 million stems have 

been eradicated. The battle will, however, continue. 

Melaleuca was introduced to Florida in 1906 as an 

ornamental tree from Australia and was planted 

extensively to create forests in the swamp in the 1930s. 

It grows rapidly to 50-80 feet, soaks up large quantities 

of water, and out-competes native vegetation. 

Also, in the Everglades, the mostly treeless “river of 

grass”, in some places has become the “river of trees”, 

a completely alien habitat to the plants and animals 

that have evolved to live in the Everglades. However, 

progress has been made. At one point, melaleuca 

infested more than 500,000 acres of the Everglades. 

Due to an effective multi-agency effort on Federal 

and State lands in the Everglades protection area, the 

infestation has been reduced to about 350,000 acres. 

The National Park Service has teamed up with the 

Florida Department of Environmental Protection for 

two projects that will allow for follow-up treatment 

and eventual total eradication of melaleuca. With 

initial treatments completed, follow-up treatments, 

such as this partnership example, are imperative in 

order to protect our initial investments and prevent 

new growth from reaching a seed bearing state and reinfesting an area. To date, 1.4 million stems have been 

treated through the follow-up process, and with the 

two challenge cost share projects, approximately 3.5 

times the acres originally envisioned will be treated.

Melaleuca tree located in Big Cypress National 

Preserve, Florida
U.S. Department of the Interior

42 Cooperative Conservation

Carbon Sequestration – Lower Mississippi 

Valley Initiative

The Fish and Wildlife Service is leading an effort 

which recognizes that hardwood forests are highly 

effective at naturally removing carbon dioxide from the 

atmosphere and sequestering it in forest biomass. 

The Fish and Wildlife Service, in conjunction with 

private, State, and Federal conservation partners 

associated with the Lower Mississippi Valley Joint 

Venture, has achieved restoration of nearly 65,000 

acres of bottomland hardwood forests involving over 

120 projects on State and Federal refuges across the 

Southeast since 1999. Building on this success, the Fish 

and Wildlife Service has identified roughly 150,000 

acres of inholdings within the established boundaries 

of National Wildlife Refuges in the Lower Mississippi 

Valley where they could enter into partnerships with 

industry to reforest the properties. Several projects are 

underway, and others are under consideration.

“With the generous support of our partners, we will be able to better manage wildlife 

habitat and provide recreational and educational opportunities for the public.”

Sam D. Hamilton

Southwest Region Director of the 

Fish and Wildlife Service

Before and after reforestation at Bushley Bayou, Louisiana
U.S. Department of the Interior

43 Cooperative Conservation

BUILDING CAPACITY & MEASURING RESULTS

USGS Geographic Analysis 

and Monitoring Program

The U.S. Geological Survey’s Geographic Analysis and 

Monitoring Program conducts geographic assessments 

to improve the understanding of the rates, causes, 

and consequences of natural and human-induced 

processes that shape and change the landscape over 

time. Scientists use socio-economic information, 

land remote sensing, and other natural science data 

to quantify rates, identify key driving forces, and 

forecast future trends of landscape change. Studies are 

conducted within a geographic context and at a range 

of spatial and temporal scales so that investigations 

provide comprehensive information needed to 

understand the environmental, resource, and economic 

consequences of landscape change.

The need for better information about causes and 

implications is especially evident for changes induced 

by fire, agricultural production, urbanization, forests 

maintenance, and other factors operating at broad 

regional scales. Studies are also being conducted 

about land surface change, environmental and human 

health, fire and urban ecology, and natural hazards. 

Monitoring Programs

Protecting the Nation’s natural resources requires 

monitoring the relative health of flora, fauna, water 

quality, and air quality on public and other lands. 

The National Park Service, the Bureau of Land 

Management, the Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. 

Geological Survey, and the Bureau of Indian Affairs 

monitor and track the health of various plant and 

animal species and air and water quality throughout 

the lands managed by Interior. Monitoring programs 

assist Interior in identifying and addressing factors 

that cause detrimental impacts to natural resources. 

These programs also enable natural resource managers 

to make well-informed decisions while anticipating 

the potential implications for the vitality of the natural 

resources under their purview. In 2005, the President’s 

budget request funds for the Natural Resource 

Challenge; funds the USGS Geographic Analysis and 

Monitoring Program; provides new funding to launch 

the BLM Resource Monitoring program; and increases 

funding for monitoring through the Fish and Wildlife 

Service Migratory Bird Management program.

Natural Resource Challenge 

Through the NPS Natural Resource Challenge, 

the Department monitors conditions within park 

boundaries. Two key initiatives of the Natural 

Resource Challenge include vital signs monitoring and 

water quality monitoring. Vital signs monitoring tracks 

measurable features of the environment that indicate 

the health of park ecosystems, as well as the health 

of individual plant and animal species. Water quality 

monitoring tracks water conditions to preserve pristine 

waters and improve impaired waters in parks and 

surrounding areas. The NPS has developed a system of 

32 multi-park, multi-agency vital signs and water quality 

monitoring networks sharing similar geographical and 

natural resource characteristics to complete this task. 

The 2005 budget requests an additional $4.1 million and 

$500,000 for vital signs and water quality monitoring, 

respectively. The requested increase for vital signs 

monitoring will provide funding for six additional 

networks, or a total of 28 of 32 networks altogether. 

The 2005 budget increase for water quality monitoring 

will complete funding for the remaining seven of 32 

water quality monitoring networks. 
U.S. Department of the Interior

44 Cooperative Conservation

Migratory Bird Management

Currently, 38 percent of migratory bird populations 

face some sort of risk. The proposed $4.6 million 

increase for this program in 2005 will provide more 

resources for the Migratory Bird Management program 

to fulfill its leadership role in conserving and managing 

migratory birds and their habitats at self-sustaining 

levels. 

The year 2005 marks the 50th anniversary of the Fish 

and Wildlife Service Migratory Bird Management 

program, making these data sets among the longest 

running for any wildlife species on this continent. The 

primary purpose of the surveys is to collect information 

on population status that is necessary to make 

scientifically based regulatory decisions, especially 

in establishing annual hunting seasons for migratory 

game birds. Only through knowledge of the status and 

trends of species and their habitats can managers take 

appropriate actions. Proper management requires 

information such as population size and trend, 

geographical distribution, annual breeding effort, the 

condition of their breeding and wintering habitats, 

and for hunted species, the number of hunters and the 

anticipated harvest. 

The data collected by the Migratory Bird Management 

program have been widely used by scientists from 

within and outside the Fish and Wildlife Service to 

understand both the importance of habitat integrity 

to maintaining healthy bird populations and how 

bird populations respond to annual and long-term 

variations in weather and climate. The long-term 

nature of these datasets makes them an invaluable tool 

for monitoring the health of the environment.

The 2005 proposal includes a $2.1 million increase for 

survey and monitoring activities such as surveying, 

monitoring, and assessing shorebird, water bird, 

and land bird needs; improving migratory game bird 

harvest strategies and adaptive harvest management 

procedures; and expanding national migratory bird 

survey, monitoring, and assessment operations. 

Pintails during migration

Improved understanding and information about 

the consequences of landscape change are needed 

to help decision-makers in land-use planning, land 

management, and natural resource conservation.

BLM Resource Monitoring 

Monitoring lies at the heart of cost-effective, 

accountable resource management informed by 

scientific information. The 2005 BLM budget 

request proposes a $4 million increase to enhance 

BLM resource monitoring capabilities. 

Successfully executing its multiple-use mandate 

and sustainably managing its natural resources 

require that BLM maintain information and trends 

on resource health. This information assists BLM 

in developing and revising long-term resource 

management plans and forms the basis for dayto-day, on-the-ground operational and permitting 

decisions. Recurring monitoring enables BLM 

to ensure that land use plans and management 

decisions are having their intended effect. It also 

allows BLM to practice adaptive management 

by providing feedback to resource managers so 

they can adjust actions, as necessary, to achieve 

the desired outcomes. The monitoring proposal 

builds on the $1.9 million for resource monitoring 

included in the 2004 President’s budget. It will 

build capacity for comprehensive monitoring 

of resource conditions is needed to support 

management decisions and to assess the impacts of 

restoration activities. 
U.S. Department of the Interior

45 Cooperative Conservation

Thirty-four years after the first Earth Day, it is now time 

for the focus to be directed towards on-the-ground results. 

Cooperation and entrepreneurship — in the workplace, on 

the lands, in our forests — lie at the heart of environmental 

progress. Interior is encouraging environmental innovations 

like the use of ultralight aircraft to assist whooping cranes 

through their flyways to technological innovations in 

alternative energies to the many other opportunities for 

lightening our environmental footprint through new ideas 

and practices.

For generations, Americans have turned to their public 

lands for the recreation and enjoyment that they provide. 

The American people are giving back their time, effort, 

CONCLUSION

and devotion to the same lands through their efforts in 

cooperative conservation. By doing so, they are fostering a 

culture of responsibility.

With a new environmentalism centered on cooperation, 

Interior and its many partners are finding common ground. As 

the next generation of Americans become involved, our Nation 

will have healthier lands and self-motivated citizen stewards. 

King Salmon River
U.S. Department of the Interior

1849 C Street, NW

Washington DC 20240

www.doi.gov