Capito and Manchin announce fish and wildlife service grants through Chesapeake WILD program

Charleston, WV (WOAY) – U.S. Senators Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) and Joe Manchin (D-WV) announce $775,700 in grants from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF).

The funding is part of the Chesapeake Watershed Investments for Landscape Defense (Chesapeake WILD) program for two West Virginian projects.

Individual awards include $499,800 to West Virginia Land Trust to help preserve and restore one of two remaining populations of the endangered James Spinymussel along the South Fork of Potts Creek.

The project will permanently protect a 40-acre tract, implement conservation practices, support wildlife and restore sections of Potts Creek critical to the local James spinymussel population.

Cacapon and Lost Rivers Land Trust earned $275,900 to assist with expanding wildlife habitat hubs and corridors in West Virginia’s  Chesapeake Bay watershed through permanent land protection and hunt club engagement.

The project will protect 1,000 acres of critical habitat for Eastern brook trout, freshwater mussels, severally federally endangered species, and 60 additional species.