The U.S. Virgin Islands has been awarded a federal grant to protect the habitat of local marine and land species and promote conservation throughout the territory, Gov. John deJongh, Jr. announced Tuesday in a release from Government House.
The U.S. Department of Interior’s Fish and Wildlife Service Director Daniel Ashe informed the governor of the $119,320 award.
“The State Wildlife Grant will help us implement new programs that protect wildlife and threatened habitats in marine and inland areas of this territory. Conservation of local species and their habitats is a critical priority in the Virgin Islands, given our unique and majestic natural environment that draws tourists from all over the world. These funds will help us protect vital resources according to our territory’s conservation plan,” deJongh said.
For this fiscal year, the Virgin Islands will receive $117,751 for the territory’s State Wildlife Grant Program as authorized by the Department of Defense, Military Construction and Veterans Affairs, and another $1,569 as its share of unobligated balances from 2007 and prior year grant closures, the Government House statement said.
The grants to the Virgin Islands come out of a 2013 apportionment of $47.7 million that will be divided between all U.S. states and territories according to a formula that takes into account land size and population, with limits set for insular territories.
