This new cooperative agreement would allocate a total of $500,000 in U.S. Fish and wildlife service (USFWS) bipartisan infrastructure law - ecosystem restoration (BIL-ER) funding to have the canaan…

This new cooperative agreement would allocate a total of $500,000 in U.S. Fish and wildlife service (USFWS) bipartisan infrastructure law - ecosystem restoration (BIL-ER) funding to have the canaan valley institute (CVI) work in collaboration with the U.S. Fish and wildlife services partners for fish and wildlife program and appalachian fish and wildlife conservation office to expand and bolster landscape-scale non-native invasive species (henceforth invasive species) management in high priority watersheds within west virginia and virginia for a period of five years. These high priority watersheds currently include, but are not limited to, the upper tennessee river, upper and middle james river, upper roanoke river, upper potomac river, big sandy river, and guyandotte river basins. The fundamental objective of this work is to improve the quantity and quality of habitat for the benefit of terrestrial and aquatic at-risk and listed species (e.g., fish, crayfish, mussels, bats, forest songbirds, pollinators, plants) occurring in high priority watersheds within west virginia and virginia. Further, the work will be done to further improve the effectiveness of ongoing and future habitat restoration projects conducted by the U.S. Fish and wildlife service, U.S. Forest service, natural resources conservation service, west virginia division of natural resources, or virginia department of wildlife resources. The amount of funding being requested in this cooperative agreement application will be used to provide critical support to the existing USFWS habitat team from the appalachian fish and wildlife conservation office, and west virginia and virginia partners for fish and wildlife programs. Specifically, funding will be used to support field staff positions for up to three years, hire and manage contractors, and acquire needed equipment (e.g., utility vehicle, utility tractor, trailers, etc.) and restoration materials to implement high priority invasive species work within both west virginia and virginia. Overall, the control and management of invasive plant species will be the primary focus of this project to improve forest, grassland prairie, floodplain riparian, and aquatic habitats. In general, invasive plants will be managed by supporting ongoing surveillance or occupancy monitoring, eradicating extant populations within sites being restored, and preventing the establishment or RE-establishment in restored or high-quality sites. If resources allow, funding also may be used to conduct surveillance monitoring to detect invasive fish, mussels, and crayfish to enhance ongoing management efforts and inform future aquatic habitat projects (e.g., DAM and other barrier removals). CVI will manage this multistate collaborative invasive species work with the appalachian fish and wildlife conservation office in close coordination with the west virginia and virginia partners for fish and wildlife programs.