Two tribes awarded grants to study wildlife, aquatic habitats

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Two Maine Native American tribes are among the three New England recipients of cash grants that were announced Friday by the U.S. Secretary of the Interior, and those grants should pay dividends for all Mainers.

The grants were part of $6.2 million in Native American conservation projects in 18 states under the Tribal Wildlife Grant program.

According to a news release, the Aroostook Band of Micmacs will receive almost $49,000 for a project focusing on wildlife habitat and species diversity of tribal trust land. The tribe will plant wild and cultivated apple trees and high-bush cranberries that will provide food and habitat for a variety of species.

The Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians will receive more than $114,000 to study the aquatic habitat of the Meduxnekeag watershed.

The Maliseets will break the project into two parts: a comprehensive assessment of the fluvial and geomorphology of the watershed, and an assessment of its culvert and stream crossings.

Those studies are the first part in a planned aquatic habitat restoration program.

Many may assume all of the state’s fish and game decisions are decided by Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife officials.

That’s simply not the case.

The federal government is often involved – look no further than the ongoing debate on Maine’s Atlantic salmon rivers and you’ll see some very interested federal agencies – but that’s not all.

Maine’s tribal governing bodies play a huge role and make many management decisions that affect wildlife population and habitat on and beyond tribal lands.

A few weeks back I spoke with Passamaquoddy Tribal Gov. Bill Nicholas, and he unintentionally reminded me of that fact.

The topic of the day was alewives, and Nicholas was explaining the tribe’s position on a bill that was to allow passage of the fish in the St. Croix River system.

Nicholas pointed out he was a former tribal game warden and that the tribe took fish and game conservation very seriously.

In that vein, he said, the Passamaquoddys sometimes made management decisions that the state officials wouldn’t, or couldn’t.

Case in point: coyote management.

For several years, hunters – especially those in Washington County – have lobbied the state for a return to a coyote-snaring program that would relieve pressure on the region’s deer herd.

In 2003, the state suspended a program in which people were paid to snare coyotes. The program was suspended pending a federal permit that absolved the state from liability under the Endangered Species Act. Many had protested the snaring program, saying protected species such as bald eagles and Canada lynx could be caught in those coyote snares.

The Passamaquoddys studied the issue and made their own management decision.

“We continue with the snaring program and we’ve taken out over 450 coyotes in four years,” Nicholas said. “When you look at that, we’ve had an impact, but it’s been a good impact. The deer population is rising, therefore, the guides [in the region are benefiting].”

After reading that quote, the merits of a snaring program will likely be debated anew.

That’s fine … but is not the point I’m trying to make.

This is: Maine’s tribal conservation organizations continue to play a key role in wildlife management issues and will continue to make independent decisions they feel are best.

While often unpublicized or unappreciated, those tribal conservation efforts have an effect that will be felt on surrounding nontribal land and on water that the tribes don’t fully control.

The grants the Micmacs and Maliseets receive will help them continue some valuable conservation work.

And that ought to be good news for all of us.

Moose lottery deadline looms

If you’re convinced this is your year to (finally) embark on your own hunt of a lifetime, you ought to remember an important fact.

If you don’t sign up for the state permit lottery in the next week, your name won’t be in the mix when the drawing is held in June.

The deadline for this year’s lottery is 11:59 p.m. on April 1 – next Tuesday.

Entering is easy, especially if you take advantage of the DIF&W’s handy MOSES online system.

You can fill out your MOSES application in just a few minutes, as long as you have a couple things on hand.

First, you need a credit card. And second, don’t forget to ask your subpermittee when their birthday is.

After that, all you’ve got to do is decide where you want to hunt (and how picky you want to get while filling out your preferences) … and start dreaming.

Of course, crossing your fingers never hurts, either.

The state will draw the names of the lucky winners June 12 at the Kittery Trading Post.

jholyoke@bangordailynews.net

990-8214