Deadline: 18-Nov-22
The Michigan Department of Natural Resources is now accepting applications for its Fisheries Habitat Grant Program to support a variety of activities to benefit fisheries, aquatic resources, and the public, including fish habitat conservation, dam removal and repair, and access to recreation.
Program Goals
This program is designed to address the following goals:
- Protect intact and rehabilitate degraded aquatic resources.
- Ensure sustainable fish and aquatic organism communities that enable long-term recreational use and enjoyment and facilitate natural resource-based economies.
- Develop strong relationships and partnerships with organizations conducting aquatic habitat protection and recovery.
- Protect health and human safety threatened by aging dam infrastructure.
Objectives
The FHGP combines three themes with partially overlapping objectives; the application process will assist applicants in determining the amount of funding available for their project. The three themes and designated funding available for 2022 are expected to be:
- Aquatic habitat conservation (approximately $1.04 million available in 2022): This theme aims to improve fish and other aquatic organism populations by protecting intact aquatic habitat and rehabilitating degraded aquatic habitat.
- Dam management (approximately $350,000 available in 2022): This theme provides funding and technical assistance to manage dam removal and repair projects that will enhance aquatic resources and fishing opportunities along with reducing infrastructure costs and improving public safety.
- Aquatic habitat and recreation in the Au Sable, Manistee, and Muskegon watersheds (approximately $242,000 available in 2022): Funding to support fisheries habitat rehabilitation or enhancement, preparation of comprehensive river management plans, aquatic studies, and fisheries recreation with surface water connections to the aforementioned rivers.
Funding Information
- Minimum grant request amount: $25,000
- Maximum grant request amount: Amount of funds available in the theme(s) for which the application is eligible (up to $1.6 M)
- Minimum match of 10% is required
Eligible Projects
All projects must occur on or directly benefit public waters. Public waters are those:
- with legal public access through public lands or public access sites;
- with a permanent inflow or outflow to other waters; or c) that have been stocked with fish from the DNR’s (or its predecessors’) hatcheries. Priority will be given to projects on public waters with legal public access.
Eligibility Criteria
Local, state, federal or tribal units of government, academic institutions, or non-profit groups.
Criteria
Competitive projects will address causes of habitat degradation as opposed to symptoms, provide long-lasting benefits, address needs on the priority habitat projects list, be cost-effective, use appropriate methods, monitor project outcomes, address health and human safety for dam management, and/or address research and assessment needs to inform future habitat conservation.
For more information, visit https://www.michigan.gov/dnr/buy-and-apply/grants/aq-wl/fish-hab