Grants to help desert protection

Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2003 | 9:22 a.m.

Interior Secretary Gale Norton announced Monday that Nevada will receive a portion of $12.9 million in grants to aid the Mojave Desert, bighorn sheep and other natural resources.

The grants from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Bureau of Land Management and the National Park Service will fund a wide range of conservation projects in 40 states and Puerto Rico, BLM spokeswoman Jo Simpson of Carson City said.

The projects include restoring wetland prairie habitat in Oregon, protecting bat habitats in mines and caves in Nevada, California and Arizona, and eradicating invasive plants in Florida's Everglades.

The grants are part of President Bush's Cooperative Conservation Initiative, a series of conservation projects.

A total of nine projects are listed for Nevada. The amount of the grant that Nevada will receive was to be announced today.

The grants will help restore desert areas around Las Vegas through the cleanup of illegal dumps. The funds will also help in developing water for desert bighorn sheep and other wildlife near Las Vegas.

Other funds will allow collectors to gather rare native seeds on 100,000 acres for a permanent seed bank.