Endangered Species Conservation, Recovery Implementation Funds

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The purpose of this Cooperative Agreement is to provide funding for a cooperator to assist the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) to restore lands on refuges in Cameron County, Texas, to enhance habitat for endangered Aplomado Falcons and Ocelots under a project entitled ���Applying Strategic Habitat Conservation for Ocelot and Aplomado Falcon.��� This funding opportunity is available through a Service program called the Cooperative Recovery Initiative, a strategic cross programmatic approach to help restore and recover federally listed threatened and endangered species on private lands and associated National Wildlife Refuges (NWR). Through this initiative, the Service combined the resources of the NWR System, Endangered Species, Partners for Fish and Wildlife, Fisheries, Office of the Science Advisor, and the Migratory Bird Program to fund on the ground projects which provide the strongest conservation benefit to threatened or endangered species that occur on or near Refuges. The Service, under the Program Title of Endangered Species Conservation, Recovery Implementation Funds (CFDA 15.657), intends to award the Friends of Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge (FLANWR), a single source award for $263,982.70 to enhance and restore habitat for the endangered Aplomado Falcon and Ocelot. The Service has been collaborating with FLANWR to restore prairie and thornscrub habitat for Aplomado Falcon and Ocelot, respectively, in south Texas. Funding for this agreement supports an on going collaborative project between the Service and FLANWR. The project will directly improve 1,581 acres of coastal prairie for the Northern Aplomado Falcon and 120 acres of replanted thornscrub for the endangered ocelot, but will benefit or indirectly improve a much larger landscape of prairie and thornscrub adjacent to these treatments. Funding under this agreement will be used by FLANWR to purchase supplies and hire contract specialists to restore critical areas for these species. Ramifications of this work include bolstering the size of the populations of Aplomado Falcons and Ocelots in Texas and moving the species towards the recovery goals listed in their respective Recovery Plans. The authorizing statute citations are: Endangered Species Act of 1973, 16 U.S.C. 1531 et. seq, as amended; Public Law 93 205, 87 Stat. 884, Endangered Species Act Amendments of 1978, Public Law 95 632, 92 Stat. 3751, and Endangered Species Act Amendments of 1982, Public Law 97 304, 96 Stat. 1411.

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