Nez Perce tribe receives $1.9 million grant to restore stream near abandoned mine • Idaho Capital Sun

The Nez Perce Tribe will receive a $1.9 million grant to restore degraded habitat at a historic hydraulic mine in Idaho.

The grant is financed by America, the beautiful challengewhich was launched by the Biden administration in 2021 in partnership with the Departments of Interior, Agriculture and Defense, and Native Americans in Philanthropy and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. It set the country’s first goal of protecting at least 30% of U.S. land and water by 2030.

The 61 grants announced Monday total $122.4 million to states, tribal nations and U.S. territories, according to a press release from the U.S. Department of the Interior. The grants support projects that conserve, restore, and connect wildlife habitats and ecosystems while improving community resilience and access to nature.

The Nez Perce Tribe’s project will restore 22 acres of an abandoned hydraulic mine in Leggett Creek. The project aims to reduce excessive sediment input into critical habitat for steelhead, Chinook salmon and bull trout while stabilizing eroding slopes by planting native evergreens and broadleaf shrubs. It will also improve water passage for more than 23 miles of fish spawning and nursery areas upstream, it said National Wildlife and Fish Foundation.