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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 (continued) 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