Washington, D.C. – Oregon’s U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley
announced $557,600 in federal funding from the National Fish and Wildlife
Foundation (NFWF)’s Monarch and Pollinator Fund to increase and improve western
monarch butterfly and pollinator habitats in Oregon and California. Today’s
grants will come from a new pool of funding that was announced at Senator
Merkley’s summit
on preserving the monarch butterfly, which he cohosted in collaboration
with the Department of the Interior this past June.
“Protecting monarch butterflies is an urgent issue that
requires sustainable solutions,” said
Senator Merkley, who secured additional western monarch conservation funding as
Chairman of the Interior, Environment & Related Agencies Appropriations
Subcommittee in the fiscal year 2022 appropriations bill. “If we let the
western monarch butterfly go extinct, we’ll lose an iconic, beautiful species –
and an important pollinator – forever. I am happy to see more projects come to
fruition that will help ensure future generations are able to enjoy the monarch
butterfly.”
At the conclusion of the two-day summit, Senator Jeff
Merkley and Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland announced a $1 million
investment to NFWF’s Monarch Butterfly and Pollinator Conservation Fund, and
the establishment of a Pollinator Conservation Center at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service (FWS). The Monarch and Pollinator Fund funded a total of 16 projects, 3
of which are in Oregon and California and total $557,600.
These three projects, funded by the NFWF Monarch Butterfly
and Pollinators Conservation Fund, will focus on preserving the western monarch
butterfly by improving the availability of high-quality habitat; increasing the
capacity needed to expand conservation efforts into the future; and supporting
the implementation of technical assistance to engage private landowners with
pollinator conservation practices on working lands. By leveraging the resources
and expertise of partners, the program aims to help reverse recent population
declines and ensure the survival of the monarch butterfly and other
pollinators.
Award recipients and amounts can be found below:
- Monarch
Joint Venture: $207,700 to help expand the California Working Lands Free
Seed Program to include Oregon and provide technical assistance, seed
mixes, and milkweed seedlings to public lands, private working lands, and
private non-working lands including businesses, corporate campuses, school
campuses, community sites, and solar energy sites in California and
Oregon. - The
Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation: $175,000 to help increase
habitat by expanding the Monarch and Pollinator Habitat Kit Program and
provide technical assistance to 40 land managers on public and private
lands in California and the Willamette Valley region of Oregon. - Pollinator
Partnership: $174,900 to help improve habitat for monarch butterflies by
providing technical support to agricultural producers on private working
lands in Oregon’s Willamette Valley, Columbia Plateau, and Southern Oregon
regions as well as regions in California.
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