WANTED: PROPOSALS FOR GEORGIA WILDLIFE-VIEWING GRANTS
Wading birds identification sign added via a Wildlife Viewing Grant by Georgia Audubon at Constitution Lakes Park in Atlanta. Photo Credit – Georgia-Audubon
Georgia is offering a helping hand to projects that help people experience the animals, plants, and natural habitats emphasized in Georgia’s State Wildlife Action Plan.
The opportunity comes by way of the state Department of Natural Resources’ Wildlife Viewing Grants Program. The agency is now accepting proposals for 2024.
The grants are capped at $3,000 per project and supported through the Nongame Wildlife Conservation Fund, which is managed by DNR’s Wildlife Conservation Section.
Wildlife Conservation Section Chief Matt Elliott said the goal is to provide viewing opportunities that raise awareness of native animals not fished for or hunted, rare native plants, and natural habitats – particularly those considered conservation priorities in the Wildlife Action Plan before they become rarer and costly to conserve or restore.
“DNR’s wildlife viewing grants focus on the critical human element of wildlife conservation,” Elliott said. “Getting folks outside to experience high-priority habitats and species is absolutely critical to developing a desire to conserve them, and it’s important to people’s overall well-being and health.”
In 2020, Lavonia Elementary School was one of six recipients of a Georgia Department of Natural Resources grant to create a monarch butterfly and pollinator garden of native plants at the school as part of a community project.
In a 2021 survey of about 1,000 wildlife viewers in Georgia, the services most respondents said they wanted from DNR included more information about the state’s wildlife and where to see species, as well as more access to viewing sites.
Although the grants are small, the interest they tap is huge.
About 1-in-4 Georgians, or 2.4 million people, took part in wildlife-viewing activities in 2011, spending an estimated $1.8 billion, according to a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service survey.
Grant proposals can include facilities, improvements and other initiatives that provide opportunities for the public – including underserved groups – to observe nongame animals, plants and natural habitats.
The deadline to apply – online at https://georgiawildlife.com/WildlifeViewingGrants – is Feb. 6, 2024.
Notification of awards will be made by March 22, 2024.