Download Cumberland Plateau Stewardship Fund

Cumberland Plateau Stewardship Fund
NFWF CONTACTS
Suzanne Sessine
Assistant Director,
Southern Regional Office
[email protected]
202-595-2477
Jon Scott
Manager,
Southern Regional Office
[email protected]
202-595-2609
INITIATIVE DETAILS
To learn more, go to
nfwf.org/cumberland
PARTNERS
Major funding for the Cumberland Plateau Stewardship Fund
Grant Program is provided by:
• Altria Group
• Alcoa Foundation
• International Paper’s Forestland
Stewards Initiative
• USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service
ABOUT NFWF
The National Fish and Wildlife
Foundation (NFWF) protects and
restores our nation’s fish and
wildlife and their habitats.
Created by Congress in 1984,
NFWF directs public conservation
dollars to the most pressing
environmental needs and
matches those investments
with private funds.
Learn more at www.nfwf.org
NATIONAL HEADQUARTERS
1133 15th Street, NW
Suite 1100
Washington, D.C., 20005
202-857-0166
BACKGROUND
Stretching from northwest Alabama to the Kentucky-West Virginia border, the Cumberland
Plateau is one of the most biologically rich landscapes in the United States. A combination
of complex landforms, limestone geology, and large, intact blocks of forest habitat creates
diverse terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems hosting numerous endemic and rare species.
Shortleaf pine once dominated vast stretches of this region and other portions of the United
States, and provides important habitat for
numerous woodland and savanna dependent
species. The Cumberland Plateau also supports some of the richest freshwater diversity in the United States.
The Cumberland Plateau Stewardship Fund
is dedicated to restoring native forests to
conditions that will improve associated
wildlife species and the health of freshwater systems, while advancing strategies to
support working forests.
GOALS AND OBJECTIVES
The Cumberland Plateau Stewardship
Barrens topminnows | Credit: Jon Scott
Fund supports the implementation of the
Business Plan for Forestland Stewards Initiative, which includes strategic priorities and
goals to enhance forest ecosystems for the benefit of wildlife species and freshwater
systems, while promoting and supporting working forests. The Fund has a particular
interest in accelerating shortleaf pine-oak savanna ecosystem restoration and restoring
freshwater habitat, to support the following 5-year objectives:
• Restore 3,500 acres of shortleaf pine-oak savanna habitat
• Improve management of 50,000 acres of shortleaf pine- oak savanna habitat
• Restore/enhance 2,000 acres of riparian forest
• Protect 1,000 acres of working forests and riparian habitat through conservation easements
• Improve management of 1,000 miles of stream and stream habitat
• Engage 1,000 private landowners through technical assistance and outreach
• Increase populations of northern bobwhite quail and prairie warbler, as well as fish,
amphibians and other aquatic species, which are representative of healthy, sustainable
woodland/savanna forests and freshwater systems
Restoration and conservation projects within the Cumberland Plateau will be targeted
to six focal areas capturing freshwater, riparian and upland forest strategies and representing locations with the greatest potential for restoration based on resource mapping, interviews with the practitioners in the field and capacity to carry out the work.
RESULTS TO DATE
Since 2013, the Foundation has funded 8 projects in Tennessee, Kentucky and Alabama
through this program. Nearly $1 million in grants has leveraged more than $2.5 million in
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Cumberland Plateau Stewardship Fund
continued
other funds or donated services.
• Projects will restore more than
2,600 acres of shortleaf pine savanna
and improve more than 36,000 acres
of shortleaf-oak savanna habitat.
• More than 2,100 private landowners
will be reached through outreach and
technical assistance.
• Projects will restore and improve
habitat for woodland/savanna and
freshwater dependent species.
PROJECT SPOTLIGHTS
Elk River Watershed Buffer Initiative
(TN) – The Nature Conservancy will
reduce nutrients and sedimentation
and address in-stream habitat disturbances caused by agricultural practices
on the Elk River, resulting in 234 acres
of riparian forest restored and installation of 16 miles of livestock exclusion
fencing. The project also will develop
a methodology and mapping products
to improve the targeting effectiveness
of conservation programs within key
sub-basins.
Cumberland Shortleaf & Woodland
Savannah Restoration (KY, TN) –
The National Wild Turkey Federation,
Inc. will conduct restoration in the
Cumberland Plateau physiographic
region, located within the Daniel Boone
National Forest of Kentucky and North
Cumberland Wildlife Management Area
of Tennessee.
Management activities will restore the
landscape-level ecological diversity by
creating and enhancing current forest
conditions with the use of prescribed
fire, mechanical treatments for current timber stands, and the creation of
patchwork openings within the forest.
Restoration actions will directly impact
15,492 acres of shortleaf and grassland habitat. Demonstration areas will
be developed for outreach efforts to
directly educate 500 people on a local,
regional, and national scale.
Save Tennessee’s Cumberland Plateau Riparian Hemlock Forests (TN)
– The Tennessee Wildlife Resources
Agency will treat hemlocks against
hemlock woolly adelgid (HWA) using
approved soil-drench and stem-injection methods on 120 acres located at
Colditz Cove State Natural Area (SNA)
and on 60 acres at Rugby SNA, protecting forest and riparian habitats
critical to numerous Greatest Conservation Need (GCN) species identified
in and near the boundaries of these
state natural areas.
The project also will strategically release up to four species of predatory
beetles within 981 acres of hemlock
conservation areas on North Cumberland Wildlife Management Area and
within approximately 500 acres of
hemlock-dominated riparian forest
on Catoosa Wildlife Management
Area to control HWA and sustain
riparian habitats critical to numerous
GCN species.
Bobwhite quail
Prairie warbler