Some good news

[DesertBull]

http://www.azgfd.gov/artman/publish/article_677.shtml

 

$3.5 million dedicated to Arizona Game and Fish for wildlife habitat restoration

 

Wildlife News

Dec 18, 2006

 

 

 

PHOENIX - The Arizona Game and Fish Department today announced that several wildlife habitat initiatives are on their way to benefiting from $3.5 million from the Habitat Enhancement and Restoration Bill signed by Gov. Janet Napolitano earlier this year

 

The bill (SB1441) appropriates money to the Game and Fish Department for five specific habitat projects.

 

"The Game and Fish Commission believes this revenue is an essential resource for the wildlife of Arizona," said Arizona Game and Fish Commissioner Michael Golightly. "This will fund practical, on-the-ground projects across Arizona, including efforts to protect and restore wildlife waters and to restore vital big game habitat."

 

Some of the key projects that will benefit from the Habitat Enhancement and Restoration Bill include:

 

The Anderson Mesa Pronghorn Habitat Project, in cooperation with local ranchers and the Coconino National Forest, targets approximately 80,000 acres of treatment over 10 years to improve pronghorn antelope habitat and restore grasslands on and near Anderson Mesa southeast of Flagstaff.

 

The West Kaibab Deer Habitat Project, in conjunction with the Kaibab National Forest, involves projects over approximately 24,000 acres over 10 years to improve habitat for mule deer on the west side of the Kaibab Plateau north of the Colorado River.

 

The Arizona Strip Wildlife Water Project will rebuild more than 20 non-functioning wildlife water developments in the area north of the Colorado River to provide reliable water for wildlife.

 

The Pinetop Region Deer Habitat Restoration Project includes three distinct project areas below the Mogollon Rim south of Alpine. Chitty Creek and Pigeon Creek restorations, 14,000 and 21,500 acres respectively, are two large scale prescribed fires designed to improve big game habitat, protect specific critical habitats from catastrophic fire and improve vegetative diversity in important wildlife habitats. The third project, Sheep Wash restoration, is a combination of tree thinning over 2,800 acres and prescribed burning 11,000 acres in pinyon-juniper and ponderosa pine habitats in order to improve vegetative diversity and big game habitat in key wildlife habitats.

 

The Yuma Region Water Redevelopments will redevelop more than 20 existing water catchments by adding storage volume and increasing the potential of each system to collect rainwater. These projects will result in the enhancement of more than 300,000 acres of habitat by providing reliable sources of water for wildlife like bighorn sheep, mule deer, Sonoran pronghorn and numerous species of bats, hawks, owls and birds.