Wildlife Conservation Board Grants $8 Million For Habitat Improvement

The following press release is courtesy of the  California Department of Fish and Wildlife: 

At its March 7 quarterly meeting, the Wildlife Conservation Board (WCB) approved approximately $8 million in grants to help restore and protect fish and wildlife habitat throughout California. Some of the 21 approved projects will benefit fish and wildlife — including some endangered species — while others will provide public access to important natural resources. Several projects will also demonstrate the importance of protecting working landscapes that integrate economic, social and environmental stewardship practices beneficial to the environment, landowners and the local community.

Funding for these projects comes from a combination of sources including the Habitat Conservation Fund and bond measures approved by voters to help preserve and protect California’s natural resources.

Funded projects include:

• A $680,000 acquisition in fee of approximately 32 acres of land as an expansion to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) Battle Creek Wildlife Area for the protection of terrestrial and aquatic habitats supporting salmonid species, to enhance habitat linkages and connectivity, and to provide future wildlife-oriented public use opportunities near Anderson in Shasta County.
• A $440,000 grant to CDFW for a cooperative project with California State Parks to improve the parking lot, provide an ADA-accessible viewing platform, and install a new ADA-accessible toilet at North Table Mountain Ecological Reserve, eight miles north of the Oroville, in Butte County.

• $1.3 million for two grants to The Trust for Public Land to acquire approximately 1,415 acres of land for the protection of threatened and endangered species, preservation of desert springs with year-round surface water and a riparian corridor, and provide future wildlife-oriented public use opportunities near Lake Isabella in Kern County.
• Two grants for a total of $480,000 to the Transition Habitat Conservancy to acquire in fee approximately 120 acres of land from two separate owners for the protection of deer and mountain lion habitat, to maintain a migration corridor for the deer herd, and to provide future wildlife-oriented public use opportunities in the hills northwest of Portal Ridge, in Los Angeles County.
• A $757,000 grant to the Natural Communities Coalition for a cooperative project with CDFW, Orange County Parks and California State Parks in Crystal Cove State Park and Laguna Coast Wilderness Park – both in Orange County. The project will construct 16 seasonal pools and restore approximately 15 acres of adjacent upland coastal sage and cactus scrub habitat that will provide breeding and foraging habitat for the western spadefoot toad.

For more information about the WCB please visit https://www.wcb.ca.gov.