AR-News: FW: [fws-alaska-news] Service Awards Grants to Russian Nature Reserves and Parks

[jim robertson]

>For Immediate Release
>Contact: Bruce Woods (907) 786-3695
>
>
>The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Wildlife Without Borders program is
>pleased to announce the results of its fifth biennial small grants
>competition to benefit nature reserves and national parks within Russia.
>This year, grants averaging $7,300 will go to forty conservation sites and
>will help to pay for boats, radios and other equipment to prevent illegal
>hunting; environmental education materials about the nature reserves and
>parks; and equipment essential for biological monitoring.
>
>Since 1995, the Service has provided more than $902,000 benefiting bird and
>marine  mammal  populations  that  migrate  between  the  United States and
>Russia,  as  well  as  threatened  and  endangered  species  such  as saiga
>antelope, Oriental white stork, red-crowned crane and ginseng.
>
>“I  am  glad  to  inform  you  that,  due  to  your  financial help, 
>during
>December-January  we confiscated 8 guns from poachers. It’s the best 
>result
>in  63  years  of law enforcement at our reserve,” said Nikolai Maleshin, 
>a
>1997 grant recipient from the Central Black Earth Biosphere Reserve.
>
>Russia's  Wrangel  Island  Nature  Reserve,  high  in  the Arctic and vital
>habitat for the Bering-Chukchi Seas polar bear population, has received two
>grants, totaling $13,486. The Commander Islands Nature Reserve, at Russia's
>end  of  the  Aleutian  Chain, home to sea otters and seabird colonies, has
>received three grants totaling $11,775.
>
>Protected  natural  areas  in  Russia  play  a  key  role in preserving the
>biodiversity  of  our  planet. The Fish and Wildlife Service recognizes the
>importance  of  cooperating with its Russian colleagues in the conservation
>of  the  world’s natural resources for current and future generations. 
>Here
>in  Alaska, a state which shares populations of many of its migratory birds
>and marine mammals with Russia, this cooperation is especially valued.
>
>The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal Federal agency
>responsible for conserving, protecting and enhancing fish, wildlife and
>plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American
>people. The Service manages the 95-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge
>System, which encompasses 544 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small
>wetlands and other special management areas. It also operates 69 national
>fish hatcheries, 63 Fish and Wildlife Management offices and 81 ecological
>services field stations. The agency enforces federal wildlife laws,
>administers the Endangered Species Act, manages migratory bird populations,
>restores nationally significant fisheries, conserves and restores wildlife
>habitat such as wetlands, and helps foreign governments with their
>conservation efforts. It also oversees the Federal Assistance program,
>which distributes hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes on
>fishing and hunting equipment to state fish and wildlife agencies.
>
>                                    -fws-
>
>   For more information about U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service international
>                                  programs,
>             visit our homepage at http://international.fws.gov
>