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WASHINGTON - Bureau of Reclamation Acting Commissioner Lowell Pimley announced that six applied science projects will receive $448,400 to deliver new capabilities for the Desert and Southern Rockies Landscape Conservation Cooperatives. These projects will address priority resource needs identified by Reclamation and partners involved in both Landscape Conservation Cooperatives.

"Reclamation serves as a co-manager of the watersheds and ecosystems in the West," Pimley said. "Working with all the partners of the LCCs, Reclamation is fostering collaboration among interested parties within the landscapes to inform climate adaptation strategies."

The Desert LCC priority is to study wildfire impacts on riparian areas and study environmental flow impacts on the Colorado River Delta. The Desert LCC encompasses portions of five states: Arizona, California, Nevada, New Mexico and Texas. It includes several large river systems, including the lower Colorado, Gila, Rio Grande, San Pedro and Verde Rivers. The selected projects are:

• Texas A&M AgriLife Research - Fire-Smart Southwestern Riparian Landscape Management and Restoration of Native Biodiversity in View of Species of Conservation Concern and the Impacts of Tamarisk Beetles, Reclamation Funding: $98,868, Applicant Funding: $115,692


• Sonoran Institute - Sustainability and Vulnerability of Colorado River Delta Riparian Habitat Under Different Climate Change, Environmental Flow, and Agricultural Water Management Scenarios, Reclamation Funding: $50,000, Applicant Funding: $50,000


• Environmental Defense Fund - Water Delivery Data and Model Integration for Restoring Ecological Health to the Colorado River Delta, Reclamation Funding: $100,000, Applicant Funding: $159,607

The Southern Rockies LCC targeted future water availability and quantity, projecting resiliency and vulnerability of natural or cultural resources, and assessing and evaluating natural or cultural resources management practices and adaptation opportunities. The Southern Rockies LCC encompasses large portions of four states: Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah as well as smaller parts of Idaho, Nevada and Wyoming. The three projects selected are:

• Museum of Northern Arizona - Developing a geodatabase and collaborative tools to support seeps and spring dependent species in the Southern Rockies LCC, Federal Funding: $99,997, Total Project Cost: $100,461


• Northern Arizona University - Linking Forest Landscape Management and Climate Change to the Conservation of Riparian Habitat in the Grand Canyon, Reclamation Funding: $96,535, Applicant Funding: $147,699


• Trout Unlimited - Adopt a Trout Program for the Henrys Fork of the Green River, Federal Funding: $3,000, Applicant Funding: $13,900

A complete description of all the projects is available at www.usbr.gov/WaterSMART/lcc.
LCCs are partnerships of governmental (federal, state, tribal and local) and non-governmental entities. The primary goal of the LCCs is to bring together science and resource management to inform climate adaptation strategies to address climate change and other stressors within an ecological region, or "landscape." There are 22 different LCCs across the United States, territories and other countries. To learn more about Landscape Conservation Cooperatives, visit www.lccnetwork.org.

To learn more about these funding opportunities visit www.usbr.gov/WaterSMART/lcc. To learn more about the Desert LCC, please visit www.usbr.gov/dlcc. To learn more about the Southern Rockies LCC, please visit southernrockieslcc.org.