DNR News

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources is offering up to $1.5 million in Fisheries Habitat Grants for activities that can improve state fisheries and aquatic resources, such as fish habitat conservation, dam removal and repair, resource assessment studies and recreation opportunities. The funding is available through an open, competitive process to local, state, federal and tribal governments and nonprofit groups.

“Recreation and local economies throughout Michigan rely on healthy rivers, lakes and wetlands to support fishing, boating and other enjoyment of our natural resources,” said Joe Nohner, DNR fisheries resource analyst. “These grants help our partners protect and rehabilitate fisheries and aquatic ecosystems in a state that depends heavily on those resources. In cases where we remove, repair or renovate dams, we also can improve public safety for residents and visitors.”

Grant guidelines

Fisheries Habitat Grants are distributed according to three project themes: aquatic habitat conservation, dam management, and aquatic habitat and recreation in the Au Sable, Manistee and Muskegon river watersheds. Grant applicants, if eligible, may apply for and receive funding from all three themes with one application.

Applicants have the option of requesting support from the current funding cycle or a conditional commitment from a future year’s funding. Conditional commitments to competitive projects allow recipients to leverage DNR contributions toward their applications for additional funding sources or to secure a Fisheries Habitat Grant funding commitment based on other conditions. The available funding in this announcement does not include $135,000 in existing conditional commitments the DNR has made to partners from this year’s grant funding.

Expected funding is derived from three sources:

• Up to $951,727 from the state’s Game and Fish Protection Fund, supporting the aquatic habitat conservation theme.
• $350,000 from the state’s General Fund, supporting the dam management theme.
• At least $225,000 from a hydropower license and settlement agreement between Consumers Energy and several entities including the DNR, supporting aquatic habitat and recreation in the Au Sable, Manistee and Muskegon river watersheds.

Grant amounts start at a minimum of $25,000 and have the potential to be as large as the total amount of funding available in all eligible theme areas. If necessary, smaller projects within the same region addressing similar issues can be bundled into a single grant proposal package to reach the minimum grant amount.

A change to the program this year is that applications 100% focused on project engineering and design are now eligible for funding. While engineering and design for dam removals was previously eligible, eligibility is now expanded to include other projects such as fish passage structures, complex culvert removals and bioengineering.

Priority projects

The DNR identifies specific priority projects through its Fisheries Priority Habitat Conservation Projects list that may receive preference during proposal review. Applications for projects on this list will still need to be competitive in other aspects, such as cost, appropriate methods and design, and applicant expertise, so grant awards are not expected to exclusively fund projects on this list. In previous grant cycles, about 40% of all funded projects were Fisheries Priority Habitat Conservation projects.

Examples of proposed projects addressing the causes of habitat decline include efforts to:

• Improve the management of riparian land (land situated near or on the water).
• Restore natural lake levels.
• Improve or create passage for aquatic organisms by removing culverts, dams and other barriers.
• Improve water quality.
• Implement watershed-based approaches to improving both the quality and quantity of water.
• Develop projects that demonstrate habitat conservation.
• Restore stream function.
• Add structural habitats, like woody habitat or aquatic vegetation.
• Conduct assessments that will guide conservation projects.
• Complete other projects that meet program goals.