BOARD02463

• Board Meeting Date: 3/22/2005
• Description: CWCB Director's Report
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

habitat. The Grants are funded under the 2005 Interior Department Appropriations Act. To be eligible in
FY 2006 for State Wildlife Grant funds, each state must complete a Comprehensive Wildlife
Conservation Strategy by October 1, 2005.

States may use the funds for either plarming or project implementation activities. To access a complete list
of grants by State, please visit: http://federalaid.fws.gov.

USFWS Seeks Proposals for ESA Grants: The USFWS is seeking proposals from states interested in
acquiring land or conducting conservation planning for endangered species. More than $70.5 million is
available to fund plarming activities and land acquisition for federally protected species. The grants are
expected to be awarded in summer 2005.

The Service is seeking proposals for the following three Cooperative Endangered Species Conservation
Fund categories:

Recovery Land Acquisition Grants - to acquire habitat for endangered and threatened species in support
of approved recovery plans.

Habitat Conservation Planning Assistance Grants - to support the development of Habitat Conservation
Plans (RCPs), through the support of baseline surveys and inventories, document preparation, outreach,
and similar plarming activities.

HCP Land Acquisition Grants - to acquire land associated with approved HCPs.

Additional information can be found at htt1J://endangered.fws.gov/grants/.

Army Corps of Engineers & Reclamation Agreement: On Feb. 11, John W. Keys, III, the Reclamation
Commissioner and George S. Dunlop, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army (policy and Legislation),
signed a collaborative partnership agreement for executing each agency's responsibilities for developing,
managing and protecting the nation's water and related land resources. Some of the areas of mutual
interest include: (1) river management activities and water supply initiatives; (2) hydropower management
and technical assistance in research efforts and employee training; (3) efforts to improve dam safety and
security; (4) emergency management procedures; (5) water-related recreation management issues; and (6)
improvement of communications between field offices.

The two agencies agree to: (I) work in partnership with state, Tribal, and local entities in implementing
comprehensive approaches to water management, including matters such as water supply, dam safety,
hydropower, flood damage reduction, fish and wildlife, ecosystem restoration, and recreation; (2) work
together to coordinate program and project activities, share expertise to improve information and tools
available for regional watershed-level decisions, establish water management training and science and
engineering technology exchanges, and foster sustainability in water resources development and
management; (3) engage and support local leadership in solving interrelated and often competing water
resources development and management needs; (4) work together and with other federal and state partners
to improve emergency plarming, mitigation, and response to incidents of national significance and
disasters, and homeland security issues; and (5) identify impediments to BORlUSACE partnerships and
establish a framework for formal and informal coordination and communication between officials and
staff at every level.

For more information on Bureau of Reclamation and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) missions
and partnerships, visit Reclamation's web site at htto://www.usbr.gov. and/or USACE's web site at
htt1J://www.usace.armv.mil.

NWRA 2005 Federal Water Seminar: The Annual National Water Resources Seminar will be held in
Washington, DC. For more information visit: www.nwra.org.

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