Assistance: Wildlife

What resources are available for improving wildlife habitat?

Many state and federal financial assistance programs will share the cost with landowners of maintaining or enhancing wildlife habitat as part of a larger conservation plan. But certain grant programs also focus specifically on threatened and endangered wildlife.

Landowner Incentive Program (LIP)

Administered by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WDNR), the Landowner Incentive Program (LIP) helps private landowners manage and restore habitat for at-risk wildlife species, i.e., those that are considered rare in Wisconsin.

The program pays up to 75 percent of the cost of eligible practices that benefit at-risk species, including prescribed burning, planting of native vegetation, removal of brush and invasive species, among others. Projects must occur in one of the WDNR’s priority areas.

Note: LIP is not currently accepting applications for funding. However, limited site visits may be available to landowners in the Driftless Area with property that supports rare or declining species.

To learn more, visit http://dnr.wi.gov/topic/endangeredresources/lip.html.

Partners for Fish & Wildlife

Partners for Fish & Wildlife is a U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS) program that pays private landowners up to 100 percent of the cost of restoring fish and wildlife habitat on their properties, including wetlands, cold-water streams, prairies, and oak savannas.

The heart of the program’s mission is conserving “Federal Trust Species” such as migratory birds and threatened or endangered species, as well as certain other species and habitats of concern.

Any privately owned land is potentially eligible for the program so long as it has water resources, soils, and vegetation that can be restored to create habitat for rare, declining, and protected wildlife.

Private landowners who enroll work one-on-one with local field biologists and other partners to plan, implement, and monitor their projects. Partners Program field staff also help landowners find other sources of funding and help them through the permitting process, as necessary.

The minimum contract length for the program is 10 years and public access to enrolled lands is not required.

More information is available at https://www.fws.gov/partners.