The Nature Conservancy. Protecting nature. Preserving life.™

UPDATED November 2009. State Wildlife Grants, or SWGs, are funded by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service through revenues collected from Outer Continental Shelf oil and gas revenues and through Congressional funding. The grants are used develop and implement programs that benefit wildlife and habitats. Priority is placed on projects that benefit species of greatest conservation concern. In Arkansas, these grants are managed by the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, which oversees 22 SWGs in which The Nature Conservancy is a partner. A brief description of some of these grants are outlined below. 

SWGs focused on protecting aquatic habitat include work to: 

• inventory sedimentation threats to the Strawberry River watershed in Izard, Sharp, and Lawrence counties by completing a Geographic Information Systems, or GIS, model that includes road and stream crossing data. This model will be used to develop conservation projects and identify where fish passage could be improved or restored;
• conduct a threat assessment and complete a Conservation Action Plan (CAP) for the Spring River watershed occurring in Fulton, Lawrence, Randolph and Sharp counties (completed December 2008);
• reduce sediment in the Middle Fork of the Saline River watershed by improving practices used in the maintenance and construction of unpaved roads in Saline and Garland counties;
• implement conservation actions designed, among other things, to reduce sediment and other pollutants affecting 24 species of greatest conservation concern in the upper Saline, upper Ouachita and Caddo river watersheds;
• implement conservation actions designed to protect the yellowcheek darter and other species in the upper Little Red River watershed in Cleburne, Pope, Searcy, Stone and Van Buren counties by providing private landowner conservation incentives and alternatives to exclude cattle access to the river;
• determine water flow needs for aquatic communities in the upper Little Red River and upper Saline River watersheds;
• collect and analyze spatial data for all species of fish, mussel and crayfish occurring in Arkansas and produce a GIS prediction model that will fill in data gaps for these species. With this information, more accurate estimates can be made about habitat quantity and quality as well as guide future conservation actions to protect these species;
• enroll private landowners in Candidate Conservation Agreement with Assurances (CCAA) to provide protection for the yellowcheek darter and other species-at-risk found in the upper Little Red River watershed in Cleburne, Pope, Searcy, Stone and Van Buren counties;  
• reduce sediment entering the Middle Fork of the Saline River by redesigning and reconstructing a priority gravel road that is eroding rapidly. A roads workshop will be held that will provide technical training for county staff from Garland and Saline counties on environmentally sensitive gravel roads maintenance and techniques.

SWGs focused on protecting terrestrial habitat include work to: 

• restore blackland prairie and woodlands at Nacatoch Ravines Natural Area in Hempstead County by using controlled burns, removing Eastern red cedar, thinning planted pine, planting native warm-season grasses and prairie forbs, and controlling non-native, invasive plants;  
• restore oak woodland and calcareous glade habitats within the Hobbs State Park-Conservation Area through the application of prescribed fire. This is a joint operation with Arkansas State Parks and will include four burns covering 2,300 acres over a two-year period; 
• increase the quality of bottomland hardwood habitat at Benson Creek Natural Area with ecological thinings and prescribed fire intended to expand existing cane stands. Canebrakes will also be restored by transplanting cane stems to selected sites. The restoration will benefit a variety of wildlife species, including many species of conservation concern;
• protect and restore native prairie remnants occurring within the Arkansas River Valley by acquiring priority tracts identified through biological inventories and providing private landowners with conservation incentives. Restoration will be achieved by removing aggressive, non-native plants to benefit and reestablish native tallgrass prairie habitat. Work thus far has been focused at and near the Cherokee Prairie Natural Area in Franklin and Sebastian counties;
• restore pine-oak woodlands, savannas, and saline prairies at Warren Prairie Natural Area in Bradley County by using prescribed fire and conservation forestry practices. Progress toward desired ecological conditions will be measured by monitoring avian, invertebrate, reptile and amphibian communities. The work will benefit several grassland-dependent species of concern and provide the potential for re-establishing at the site the endangered red-cockaded woodpecker (Picoides borealis);
• restore habitat on three glade/woodland complexes in central Arkansas through the use of prescribed fire, ecological thinnings and the removal of invasive woody species. Monitoring will be conducted on plant communities in order to measure progress toward desired ecological conditions. Restoration activities will result in open grassland, open woodland and shrub habitats that will benefit many species of conservation concern. 

SWGs focused on protecting karst, or cave, habitat and groundwater in north Arkansas include work to: 

• monitor groundwater quality on a long-term basis at Cave Springs Cave, which provides habitat for a diverse group of cave organisms including the largest known population of the extremely rare Ozark cavefish;
• update the Arkansas Wildlife Action Plan by assessing the rarity of 20 karst animals identified in the plan as species of greatest conservation concern;
• map Arkansas’ karst species distributions and determine associated threats within species ranges in order to prioritize conservation actions;
• protect the community of rare cave animals living in Foushee Cave in Independence County by implementing karst conservation practices on lands above the cave.