INDUSTRIAL COMMISSION AWARDS $11,624,359 IN OUTDOOR HERITAGE FUNDS
Bismarck, ND – The Industrial Commission of North Dakota approved $11,624,359 in Outdoor Heritage Fund matching grants for eight conservation and recreation projects benefiting North Dakotans across the state. The funding, generated from oil and gas production tax revenue, supports projects such as access to public and private lands for sportsmen, farming and ranching stewardship practices, fish and wildlife habitat preservation, and outdoor recreation areas.
“The funds invested in these projects will create habitat that will benefit North Dakota for years to come, promote community pollinator projects and enhance a highly used hiking trail for recreation purposes,” said commission members in a joint statement.
The projects approved include:
- $6,918,306 – Audubon Dakota: Enroll approximately 18,000 acres of private lands over a four-year project period to improve soil health, forage quality, and wildlife habitat by integrating grazing and/or haying land management techniques.
- $70,553 – Burleigh County Water Resource District: Bank Stabilization of the McDowell Dam Reservoir by relocating a portion of recreational trail to be farther away from the water's edge to prevent shoreline erosion along with adding a culvert and replacing another culvert where concentrated surface runoff crosses the pedestrian trail and has degraded the trail quality.
- $105,000 – Delta Waterfowl: To install 600 artificial nesting cylinders fashioned from rolled straw (Hen Houses) over the next three years in order to boost nest success and thereby increase mallard production.
- $270,000 – North Dakota Game and Fish: Establish 3,000 acres of habitat through Conservation Cover, Critical Area Planting, Filter Strip, Grassed Waterway, Pollinator Habitat, Forage & Biomass Planting, Range Planting, Riparian Forest Buffer, and Riparian Herbaceous Cover.
- $3,308,100 – North Dakota Natural Resources Trust: Restore scattered parcels of marginal or degraded farmland to productive grassland in counties west of the Missouri River along with the Three Affiliated Tribes and Standing Rock Sioux Tribal lands using a Grassland Enhancement Incentive Payment (GEIP).
- $716,500 – North Dakota Natural Resources Trust: Restore/create 70 acres of wetlands, planting of 1,000 acres of cover crops, restoring of 600 acres of grasslands, and enhancing of 14,000 acres of grazing lands through installing grassland management developments for implementing rotational grazing systems.
- $12,000 – Pheasants Forever: Deliver 10 community pollinator projects, impacting 500 individuals, in 6 communities across the State, over a 3-year period that will engage community members in creating habitat for pollinators and other wildlife species.
- $223,900 – Pheasants Forever: A phase II project of assisting with the installation of between five to ten grazing systems that will continue to improve, maintain and restore water quality, soil conditions, plant diversity, and animal systems to approximately 6,000 acres.
The Industrial Commission of North Dakota, which oversees the Outdoor Heritage Fund, consists of Gov. Doug Burgum as chairman, Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem and Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring.
The next submission deadline for grant applications from state agencies, tribal governments, political subdivisions and non-profit organizations is May 3, 2021. More information about the program, including the application process, can be found on the Outdoor Heritage Fund website at http://www.nd.gov/ndic/outdoor- infopage.htm.
For more information, contact Bob Kuylen at 701-677-4115.
Attachments: Industrial Commision Awards $11,624,359 in Outdoor Heritage Funds