Congress finally appropriated money from the Land and
Water Conservation Fund which consists of royalties
from offshore drilling. Instead of passing the
permanent Conservation and Recovery Act (CARA),they
passed a one time appropriation. This includes a
$624,979 supplement to Iowa's Pittman Robinson funds.
Pittman Robinson funds are raised by a value added tax
on hunting and fishing equipment and can only be used
for game fish and wildlife. According to Terry Little
of the DNR it is not clear at this time whether or not
the supplement can be used for nongame wildlife. The
state of Iowa pays 25% of the $624,979 and the Federal
government pays 75%.
Congress also provided a onetime $50 million dollars
in competitive grants for under funded species. The
DNR plans on applying for grants for habitat in the
Kellerton Wildlife Area on the Missouri border which
is the first nongame wildlife Area in Iowa and
contains threatened birds such as Greater Prairie
Chickens,Short-eared owls and Henslows Sparrows. They
also plan to apply for  funds for the Prairie-pothole
Program in North Central Iowa and the NCRS Wetland
Reserve fund.
Finally don't forget to donate to the Fish/Wildlife
fund(formally the Chickadee Checkoff) on line 59A of
your State Income Tax form. This provides on average
$70,000 for nongame wildlife each year.


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