Five Star Grant Winners Announced!

This year the Service’s Urban Bird Treaty Program is funding 5 community-based conservation projects through its participation in the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation’s Five Star and Urban Waters Restoration Grant Program.

Partners in these projects are creating opportunities for people in diverse, underserved communities to engage in a wide range of activities -– to help make their urban areas healthier places for birds and people.

Please read on to learn more about the funded projects:

State of the Birds: Establishing Conservation Priorities and Restoring Urban Habitat in Diverse Communities Using Avian Indicators

• Grantee: Houston Advanced Research Center, Houston
  Partners: Houston Audubon Society, Houston Parks and Recreation Department, Ronald McDonald House Houston, Citizen’s Environmental Coalition, and Urban Wildlife Refuge Partnership-Houston
• Summary: This project will State restore 9.5 acres of riparian habitat in three underserved urban parks by planting 2,175 native trees and will create a 0.25 acres native pocket prairie for families with little access to nature. The project will reach 50 educators, 1,950 students, and 11,600 community members through direct engagement at events, education programs, and workshops.

Sustainable Watersheds Action Teams

• Grantee: Earth Team, San Francisco
  Partners: East Bay Regional Parks District, Alameda County Resource Conservation District, Hayward Recreation and Parks, Four Public High Schools, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Cal EPA, Alameda County Fish and Wildlife Commission, FedEx, and Pacific Glass & Electric
• This project will restore up to 100 acres of watershed and shoreline habitats in two major watersheds in the San Francisco East Bay their connected shorelines. 56 disadvantaged public high school students will be recruited to work and lead projects as paid environmental interns for one year, collaborating with seven project partners and four main restoration sites.

Students restoring habitat in San Francisco. Credit: Golden Gate Audubon

Urban Bird Habitat and Environmental Education at the University of New Orleans

• Grantee: University of New Orleans
  Partners: Orleans Audubon, Pontchartrain Conservancy, Native Plant Initiative of Greater New Orleans, and Louisiana Master Naturalists of Greater New Orleans
• This project will establish an urban birding trail at the University of New Orleans, initiate regular campus bird counts and citizen science, plant 120 native trees and shrubs along the trail route to enhance habitat and improve public spaces, launch UNO participation in trash cleanup events; and provide 375 environmental educational experiences to primarily economically-disadvantaged minority first-generation college-seekers.

Capitol Hill Connections, Phase 2

• Grantee: Capitol Hill Housing Foundation, Seattle
  Partners: Capitol Hill EcoDistrict, Seattle Audubon, Seattle Parks and Recreation, Seattle City Light, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, and Margaret A. Cargill Philanthropies
• This project will work towards restoring approximately 60 acres of previously isolated pervious open/greenspace by engaging community volunteers to support the implementation of their Habitat Enhancement Guide, expanding the stewardship program at Cal Anderson Park, and engaging youth in a hands-on restoration education programs.

Community-Engaged Bird Safety in the Portland Metro

• Grantee: Portland Audubon, Portland, OR
  Partners: Portland State University, Clean Water Services, Multnomah County, City of Portland Bureau of Planning and Sustainability, American Bird Conservancy, Rose City Astronomers, Architects, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
• This project will promote the Bird Safe City work in the Portland Metropolitan Region and other cities in Oregon and Washington. It will coordinate with the cities to embed bird friendly building standards into their green building plans, integrate Bird Safe elements into community engagement habitat restoration projects with Clean Water Services and our Backyard Habitat Certification program and offer classes to architects and design professionals to raise awareness about bird safe building and lighting design.

To learn more about what these projects, visit the UBT Program Story Map and click on the NFWF tab to find projects by city and year.