Idaho LIP Awards for 2007

Idaho Landowner Incentive Program awards for more than $645,000 were made to three conservation projects for 2007. The three projects awards are:

• $235,200 for a conservation easement through the Teton Regional Land Trust in partnership with two landowners in Driggs, benefiting sandhill cranes, Columbian sharp-tailed grouse and other species.
• $402,300 for a conservation easement of a Palouse Prairie remnant in partnership with the Latah Soil and Water Conservation District, private landowners and the Palouse Land Trust.
• $8,000 for a restoration project on Duck and Kelly Springs creeks for a fish barrier removal in partnership with the Idaho Department of Fish and Game, the Henrys Lake Foundation and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Partners for Wildlife Program and a private landowner.

Awards distributed to landowners in the 2007 conservation priority areas - Palouse Prairie, Upper Henrys Fork and the Bear River Basin - come from an annual appropriation by the Interior Department to the Fish and Wildlife Service and then through a competitive grant process to the state fish and wildlife agency.

A six-member ranking team, with two members from nongovernmental agencies, one private landowner, one from Fish and Wildlife, and two from Fish and Game, review and rank all project proposals. The final decisions are based on the ranking of each proposal and the money available.

The Landowner Incentive Program encourages conservation efforts to protect and restore fish and wildlife habitat on private lands before species are threatened with extinction. Program goals are:

• To increase conservation partnerships across the state.
• To provide technical and financial help to landowners for conservation and restoration projects.
• To protect, restore and conserve habitat for the benefit of all wildlife species, with a special focus on species-at-risk, which are federally listed endangered, threatened or candidate species or state listed species of greatest conservation need.
• To protect the connectivity of populations and habitats of species-at-risk within the three conservation priority areas.