$35.7 Million Set Aside For Refuges and Wetlands

U.S. Sen. Blanche Lincoln is part of a group that recently approved $35.7 million for refuge acquisitions and wetlands grants for migratory birds.

United States Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar made the announcement, in his role as chairman of the Migratory Bird Conservation Commission. Lincoln is a member of the commission.

Arkansas will benefit from the $5.3 million in Federal Duck Stamp funds to add more than 1,800 wetland acres to the National Wildlife Refuge System. The aim is to secure breeding, resting and feeding habitat.

Included in the acquisitions are 180 acres in the Cache River National Wildlife Refuge – in parts of Jackson, Prairie, Woodruff, and Monroe counties. The restoration of the land will allow the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to provide a block of contiguous seasonally flooded forestland managed for waterfowl and other migratory birds.