Description:

Funds have been approved to purchase 45 acres from two property owners to establish the Brunswick Savanna Nature Preserve in Indiana. These properties feature an intact remnant of the dune and swale topography that characterized the lakeshore region of Northwest Indiana. They contain prairie, wetlands, black oak sand savanna, and a number of rare plants. The properties form the only natural scenic corridor on U.S. 20 through the City of Gary.

Sponsors:

City of Gary, Northwest Indiana Regional Planning Commission, The Nature Conservancy

ISTEA Funds:

$640,000

Matching Funds:

$160,000

Contact:

Paul Labas, NW Indiana Office, 219/473-4312

Description:

Funds will be used to acquire an easement on the approximately 1,500-acre Cambria Coast Ranch in San Luis Obispo County in coastal California. The property is adjacent to State Highway 1 and features the largest remaining contiguous stand of Monterey pines in the region.

Sponsors:

California Parks and Recreation Department, The Nature Conservancy

TEA-21 Funds:

$4,000,000 (in two grants)

Matching Funds:

$500,000 in EEMP funds by the California Resources Agency

Contact:

Emily Tibbott, California Office, 415/ 281-0442

Description:

This 1992 California project near Sacramento used state gas tax funds (EEMP) to acquire about 1100 acres of which TNC deeded 1027 to the Bureau of Land Management and retained about 73 acres. See next item for more about the Cosumnes River project.)

EEMP:

$500,000

Description:

This California project near Sacramento is a 4,300 acre addition to the Cosumnes River Cooperative Preserve for a total of more than 10,000 acres. In family ownership since the days of Mexican land grants, the Valensin Ranch, consisting of vernal pools, riverside forest and grasslands, is home to Swainson's hawks, giant garter snakes, sandhill cranes and vernal pool fairy shrimp. The site had been under option for a 4,500 unit development in the early 1990s.

Sponsors:

Fifteen government agencies are listed by the California Regional. Office of TNC as partners and or donors of the project along with three NGO's.

ISTEA Funds:

EEMP:

$2,000,000

$250,000

Matching Funds:

No formal match was required but $10,000,000 in other funds were raised to complete the acquisition.

Contact:

Mike Eaton, Director, Cosumnes River Project. 916/449-2857

Description:

This Oklahoma project seeks to correct runoff and erosion problems caused for The Nature Conservancy's Cucumber Creek Preserve by State Highway 259. Highway 259 runs adjacent to the preserve and crosses Cucumber Creek at two locations. Runoff is affecting water quality, posing threats to the stream's rare species. The project will also include the acquisition of 400 acres of land in the Highway 259 viewshed to add to the preserve. Located in the Ouachita Mountains of Le Flore County in southeast Oklahoma, Cucumber Creek is among the most diverse spots in Oklahoma with four endemic plant species, two endemic animal species and 30 kinds of neotropical birds. Land acquisition is underway.

Sponsors:

The Nature Conservancy

ISTEA Funds:

$65,376

Matching Funds:

$18,439

Contact:

Holly Farris, Protection Information Specialist, 405/858-8557

Description:

This New Jersey trail project is intended to promote visitation and ecotourism via public access improvement while helping to ensure long term conservation on six Nature Conservancy preserves through the Cape-Cumberland Nature Pathway in the Delaware Bayshores Region. Planned enhacements include trails and trail markers, maps, signs, bike racks, canoe launches, observation decks, benches and parking areas. The facilities will link the six preserves to the existing major state and county transportation network, forming the Cape-Cumberland Nature Parkway. The Delaware Bayshores region is home to hundreds of rare plants, animals and natural communities.

Sponsors:

The Nature Conservancy

ISTEA Funds:

$168,000

Matching Funds:

$146,900

Contact:

Jay Laubengeyer, Director, Delaware Bayshores Office, 609/785-1735

Description:

This 1994 project in Riverside County of Southern California involved the acquisition of a 320 acre tract consisting primarily of saltbush scrub and desert dry wah woodland. The site provides habitat for the Yuma, clapper rail, flat-tailed horned lizard, prairie falcon and Orocopia sage. At the time of purchase, TNC anticipated eventual transfer of the property to the Bureau of Land Management or other appropriate agency. The parcel provides connectivity for more efficient management and restoration of the Salt Creek Area of Critcal Environmental Concern.

EEMP:

$200, 000

Description:

Funds will be applied to the purchase of a portion of the Edwards Ranch in the San Diego Mountains, east of San Diego, California. The property features a number of important natural communities, including rare Englemann oak woodlands, big cone spruce canyon forest, golden eagle, bobcat, mountain lion, gray fox and mule deer plus federally and state listed species including the California red legged frog, Southwestern pond turtle, and Southwestern willow flycatcher.

Sponsors:

California Wildlife Conservation Board, San Dieguito River Parks Joint Powers Authority, The Nature Conservancy

TEA-21 Funds:

$3,000,000

Matching Funds:

$345,000

Contact:

Emily Tibbott, California Office, 415/281-0442

Description:

Funds were used to acquire a scenic easement on a 209-acre tract of private land that fronts about 1.5 miles of the Colorado River and surrounds about 1.5 miles of Utah Highway 128, a state designated Scenic Byway. The project also benefits the LaSal Mountains Loop, a locally-recognized scenic route. Located about 10 miles northeast of Moab, UT, the project protects the scenic integrity of the spectacular Colorado River corridor.

Sponsors:

County of Grand, The Nature Conservancy

ISTEA Funds:

$360,000

Matching Funds:

$ 90,000

Contact:

Joel Tuhy, Moab Project Office, 801/259-4629

Description:

The scenic vista of Pennsylvania's Moosic Mountain will be protected in its natural beauty as a ridgetop heath barrens community with the acquisition of approximately 1,200 acres of ridgetop and ravined mountain slope. This first of two acquisitions which will protect the ridgetop is partially funded by this

TEA-21award. While protecting the scenic beauty of a Scranton area landmark, it also protects a TNC 10 year Action Site.

Sponsors:

Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, Pennsylvania Department of Natural Resources, The Nature Conservancy

TEA-21 Funds:

$500,000

Matching Funds:

$125,000

Contact:

Anne Barrett, Pennsylvania Chapter Office, 610/834-1323, x107

Description:

The Northampton County Heritage Trail will be developed as a scenic and historic corridor approximately 47 miles in length along designated Virginia Byways, coastal routes and rural roadways with a minimum of 20 points of interest. Phase One, which is funded by this ISTEA award, will rehabilitate the historic Eastville Inn as a heritage travel center, restore the Nassawadox steam - powered sawmill as an interpretative museum and support planning and development of the Heritage Trail to bring to life the story of Northampton's people and landscape.

Sponsors:

The Nature Conservancy, County of Northampton, Town of Nassawadox, Eastern Shore of Virginia Historical Society, Working Alliance of Virginia's Eastern Shore

ISTEA Funds:

$579,680

Matching Funds:

$160,531

Contact:

Steve Parker, Virginia Coast Reserve, 757/442-3049

Description:

This project included the purchase of scenic easements and/or fee simple acquisitions in the Pocono Bioreserve of eastern Pennsylvania. A visitor access facility to a natural area of Long Pond is included together with the development of public education materials to promote awareness of the region's natural areas. The Pocono Bioreserve is considered by the Conservancy to be one of the "Last Great Places" due to its high concentration of globally threatened species and a unique oak/pitch pine/heath ecosystem. Acquisition work is complete

Sponsors:

The Nature Conservancy, Monroe County

ISTEA Funds:

$1,000,000

Matching Funds:

$ 250,000

Contact:

Bud Cook, Pocono Mountains Office, 570/643-7922

Description:

This Minnesota project aims to reverse prairie fragmentation and decline in prairie animal, plant and insect populations by establishing continuous habitat corridors along public roads (wider than existing right-of-way) so as to link large habitat units such as state and national parks, wildlife management areas and privately owned native prairies. By providing continuous quality nesting cover and forage, the corridor established under this project will facilitate the movement of wildlife between large habitat units. Of four planned segments, two have been completed, one is underway and one was dropped as an enhancement project.

The 340 acre project is expected to be the first of six to be undertaken by the partners over the next decade.

Sponsors:

ISTEA Funds:

$280,000

Matching Funds:

$70,000

Contact:

Description:

Funds will be applied to the purchase of the Harley and Violich properties, along State Highway 32 in Butte County, and the Goldworthy along Interstate 5 in Glenn County. Total combined acreage is approximately 430. Harley and Violich are currently farmed, but will be restored to floodplain riparian habitat (they are adjacent to the Sacramento River) and subsequently will provide important habitat for neotropical migratory and other birds, as well as facilitate natural process restoration along the River. Goldworthy features vernal pools and associated rare invertebrates, plant and bird species.

Sponsors:

California Wildlife Conservation Board, US Fish and Wildlife Service, The Nature Conservancy

ISTEA Funds:

$1,115,100

Matching Funds:

$145,000 by TNC

Contact:

Emily Tibbott, California Office, 415/281-0442

Description:

This Colorado project will fund the construction of visitor facilities including graveled parking areas, pit toilets, picnic tables and kiosks at two preserves on the San Miguel River. On the Unaweep/Tabeguache scenic byway in the vicinity of Telluride, the visitor facilities will serve a rapidly growing number of river-related recreation users. The location on a scenic byway is believed to have been a major reason for the project's approval. Work is virtually complete on this project.

Sponsors:

The Nature Conservancy

ISTEA Funds:

$20,875

Matching Funds:

$ 8,250

Contact:

Pat Willits, San Miguel River Preserve, 970/728-5291

Description:

The 160 acre Henderson parcel was an addition to the Santa Margarita River project in Riverside County of Southern California with the Conservancy serving as facilitator for the land transaction. Title was conveyed to the San Diego State University Foundation and TNC accepted a conservation easement in January, 1998. Described as a southern interior basalt flow vernal pool, the project area contains the Thread-leaved Brodiaea, Orcutt's Brodiaea, California Orcutt Grass and Stevens Kangaroo Rat.

EEMP:

$325,000

Matching Funds:

$270,000

Description:

This project in Western Maryland involves the purchase of scenic easements and fee-simple acquisitions in The Sideling Hill Creek Bioreserve at I-68. The creek hosts several globally rare and federally endangered plant and animal species and is one of Maryland's most ecologically important and scenic stream corridors. The stream could serve as a model greenway linking Pennsylvania with the Potomac River Greenway and the C&O Canal National Historical Park. The project will protect the I-68 viewshed.

Sponsors:

ISTEA Funds:

$196,000

Matching Funds:

$175,000

Contact:

Steve Bunker, Maryland Field Office, 301/897-0858

Description:

This California project funded the purchase of a 740 acre addition to the Santa Rosa Plateau Ecological Reserve in Riverside County. The Reserve now totals 7360 acres. Caltrans, the state transportation agency, contributed $250,000 to the acquisition from state gas tax funds, not ISTEA, under the state's own enhancements program.

Sylvan Meadows contains rare Englemann Oak and native grasslands as well as red-legged frogs.

Sponsors:

The Nature Conservancy, Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, California Department of Fish and Game/Wildlife Conservation Board, County of Riverside, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

State Gas Tax:

$250,000

Other Funding:

$2,750,000

Contact:

Bill Leahy, California Program, 619/209-5831

Description:

This project in the north central valley area of California involves the purchase of an addition of approximately 2,100 acres to the 4,000-acre Vina Plains Preserve of the Nature Conservancy. Designed to protect and preserve vernal pools, the project will keep the land in economic production for grazing and will be considered an experimental range area. The Vina Plains are bisected by US highway 99. TNC will dedicate an option to Caltrans for the future widening of the highway.

Sponsors:

Caltrans, The Nature Conservancy

ISTEA Funds:

$200,000

EEMP:

$250,000

Other Funds:

$662,900 (approximately)

Contact:

Chris Unkel, 916/449-2852

Description:

This project is important because it focuses on the issue of secondary land use impacts likely to be caused by a highway expansion outside the subject natural area. Threatened with the planned widening of Highway 12 between Madison and Sauk City, 9 miles south of the Baraboo Hills, the Wisconsin Field Office joined a coalition of environmental and farm organizations to oppose the widening in the belief that the road would lead to secondary home development in the Baraboo Hills, one of our Last Great Places. The dispute went as far as the President's Council on Environmental Quality and was finally resolved when the Conservancy and its coalition partners helped broker a compromise which will allow the highway to be widened while the Wisconsin DOT will:

• use $5 million in TEA-21 funds for Sauk County, non-profits (including TNC), and state agencies to purchase land and easements in the Baraboo Hills National Natural Landmark to preserve and protect the forest;
• use another $5 million in TEA-21 funds to assist Dane County (where the highway widening will take place) protect scenic easements, natural resource areas and farms;
• spend $50,000 for agricultural land protection in Sauk County; and
• provide $500,000 in TEA-21 funds in planning assistance for townships in Dane and Sauk Counties to address growth issues associated with the highway.

In addition the Wisconsin DOT and the US Environmental Protection Agency will conduct a study to determine an accurate method for predicting secondary land use impacts associated with future highway projects.

State Partner:

Wisconsin Department of Transportation

Wisconsin Governor's Stewardship Fund

The Nature Conservancy

ISTEA Funds:

$10,550,000

An additional $5 million in Wisconsin Conservation Funds (non-gas tax) were included in the Governor's budget that will require a match. These funds are for interior land and easement purchases in the Baraboo Forest.

Matching Funds:

None for the gas taxes but TNC may match up to $2,500,000 of the Wisconsin Conservation Funds.

Contact:

Jordy Jordahl, Wisconsin Director of Government Relations, (608) 251 8140 x138

Description:

The Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) has contracted with TNC's Michigan Field Office for butterfly mitigation service at $2,000 per acre for up to 1400 acres in conjunction with a highway widening project in southwest Michigan at Blue Creek Fen. MIFO has identified five potential sites for the endangered Mitchell's satyr butterfly and has begun the land acquisition process.

This project is considered of major importance because the methodology complies with Federal Highway Administration requirements and may thus be replicated around the country.

State Partner:

Michigan Department of Transportation

ISTEA Funds:

Up to $2,800,000

Contact:

Helen Taylor, State Director, 517/332-1741

Under this Florida project the Florida Regional Office of The Nature Conservancy acquired a 1710 acre ranch for the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) to be used as a planned mitigation park for regional transportation projects. The park will be managed by the Florida Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission for endangered species. Through the purchase, FDOT will receive mitigation banking credits for the federally-listed scrub jay and red-cockaded woodpecker and the state-listed indigo snake and the gopher tortoise.

State Partner:

Florida Department of Transportation

Transportation Funds:

$4,800,000 including $2,374,737 for land acquisition and the balance as an endowment for habitat management.

Contact:

Bob Burns, FLRO, 407/682-3664

Flicker on the Johnson Ranch acquisition: "This large-scale ecosystem approach to mitigation is a great improvement over the way it has been done in the past," said John Flicker, Director of The Nature Conservancy's Florida Chapter. "FDOT is leading the way for other government agencies to follow." --From FDOT Press Release 11/23/94

Description:

This Pennsylvania project provides a viewing trail for a freshwater tidal marsh at the Bristol Marsh Preserve on the lower Delaware River.. Part of a larger project, this trail provides access for people with disabilities. The trail includes four stations with interpretive signs. Other parts of the project involve habitat restoration including replacing non-natives with native plants. Usage is mainly by school groups.

Sponsors:

Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Resources, The Nature Conservancy, William Penn Foundation, Delaware and Lehigh Canal Commission

ISTEA Funds:

$15,000

Matching Funds:

$23,860, $7,260 in-kind; Note: The match was unusually large because the overall project included more than the trail.

Contact:

Jim Thorne, Director of Science and Stewardship, 610/834-1323

Description:

This project remedied drainage and erosion problems on the Cascade Head pedestrian trail in The Nature Conservancy's Cascade Head Preserve in Oregon and a small portion of the adjacent Siuslaw National Forest. Work, performed by the private North West Youth Corps, included drainage dips and a check dam.

Sponsors:

The Nature Conservancy, Oregon Parks and Recreation Department

ISTEA Funds:

$3,000

Matching Funds:

In-kind labor in the value of $3,000

Contact:

Description:

The focus of this trail restoration project was erosion control. A private contractor reinforced a pond bank to protect a 19.3 km trail. Work was completed in May, 1995.

Sponsors:

ISTEA Funds:

$7,500

Matching Funds:

None

Contact:

Gregg Moydell, Ranger Naturalist, Block Island, 401/331-7110, Octel 1534 or 401/466 2129

Description:

The Western half of this 17 mile Hawaiian trail has for many years provided the only open vehicular access to the Molokai Forest Reserve (TNC's Kamakou Preserve is within the reserve) for the Molokai community. The southern end of the trail will remain with limited access to vehicles, but open to hiking, biking, and equestrian uses. The State's Na Ala Hele Program protects this trail as a public access. The Division of Forestry and Wildlife, which administers the Na Ala Hele program, will construct the trail improvements including rest stops, registers, signage, fences, and the trail surface.

Sponsors:

The Division of Forestry and Wildlife of the Hawaii, Department of Land and Natural Resources, The Nature Conservancy, Hawaiian Home Lands

ISTEA Funds:

$24,559 (all to State. The Division of Forestry is doing all the work.)

Matching Funds:

Partners are providing access for the trail.

Contact:

Ed Misaki, Director of Molokai Program 808/553-5236

Description:

This is a restoration project which came about when U.S. Forest Service sought to upgrade a gravel road through TNC's Middle Fork John Day River Preserve. Federal Lands Highway Western Division in Vancouver, WA was the project manager and designer. A new two-lane asphalt highway with safer turns was built. The Federal Highway Administration paid $120,000 for restoration of the habitat and rebuilding all fences. In addition, the feds will reopen a channel shutoff by a farmer at an earlier time and will install a bridge rather than a culvert to afford better protection to salmon and trout in the adjacent stream. The Oregon field office gathered native seeds and cuttings for use in the restoration.

Sponsors:

Federal Lands Highways, The Nature Conservancy, Grant County Road Department

ISTEA Funds:

$120,000+

Matching Funds:

TNC donated the right-of-way

Contact:

Berta Youtie, Northeast Oregon Office, 541/962-3903

Description:

This project is designed to assess and address transportation effects on biodiversity at the ecoregion level. The project area includes lands one half mile either side of state and federal highways of the Southern Rocky Mountain Ecoregion of Colorado. Emphasizing data development and preliminary conservation planning, this project represents the first two phases of a longer term strategy of the Colorado Natural Heritage Program and the Colorado Department of Transportation to identify information gaps, areas needing rapid ecological assessment, and mitigation/habitat banking areas well in advance of planned construction and maintenance activities.

Sponsor:

The Colorado Department of Transportation

ISTEA Funds:

$35,000

Contact:

Katie Pague, Colorado Natural Heritage Program, 970/491-0992 or 1309

Brunswick Savanna IA

Cambria Coast Ranch CA

Cambria Coast Ranch CA

$500,000

Cosumnes River CA--- Valensin Ranch CA

Cosumnes River CA

Dos Palmas CA

Santa Margarita CA

Sylvan Meadows CA

Vina Plains CA

Cucumber Creek OK

Delaware Bayshore DE

Edwards Ranch CA

Mayberry UT

Moosic Mountian PA

Northampton VA

Pocono Scenic Vistas PA

Prairie Corridor Enhancement MN

Sacramento River CA (3 separate properties)

San Miguel River CO

Sideling Hill MD

Vina Plains CA

Subtotal Enhancements

$14,124,906

Subtotal EEMP Enhancements

$2,275,000

Baraboo Hills

Blue Creek Fen MI

Subtotal Mitigation

$27,679,965