The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation has announced ten grants totaling $1.2 million to protect and restore habitat for native bird and fish populations in New England.

Awarded through the New England Forests and Rivers Fund, a public-private partnership between NFWF, the Avangrid Foundation, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service, with additional funding from the U.S. Forest Service, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and AstraZeneca, the grants will support projects designed to restore and sustain healthy forests and rivers in Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont. The grants also are expected to generate more than $3.1 million in matching contributions, for a total conservation impact of nearly $4.3 million.

Grants will support efforts to improve early successional and mature forest habitat, modify and replace aquatic barriers to fish movement resulting in access to historic habitat, restore riparian and instream habitat, and engage hundreds of public and private landowners and volunteers in on-the-ground conservation. Recipients include the Massachusetts Audubon Society, which was awarded $80,627 to restore critical ecological functions and protect community water infrastructure vulnerable to flooding; Merrimack River Watershed Council, which will receive $191,198 to replace five undersized culverts, restore riparian forest buffers, and improve instream conditions in the Warner River Watershed in southern New Hampshire; and the State of Vermont Natural Resources Conservation Council, which was awarded $200,000 to restore and manage forested riparian buffers in targeted high-priority areas for eastern brook trout to improve and sustain habitat quality.

"In the seventh year of this regionally focused conservation program, we continue to leverage strong partnerships in New England to advance key conservation priorities," said NFWF executive director and CEO Jeff Trandahl. "The grants awarded today will help improve the availability of essential habitat throughout New England’s dynamic forest and river systems, directly benefiting both aquatic and terrestrial wildlife, as well as reducing flood risk to local communities."