The eastern massasauga rattlesnake (EMR), in decline due to habitat loss, is listed as threatened under the federal Endangered Species Act. Most of the species’ remaining populations are concentrated in Michigan, with some robust populations occurring in New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin and Iowa. The EMR uses shallow wetlands and surrounding upland areas to forage, breed, shelter and hibernate. Various development and maintenance projects in Michigan have been impacting this habitat. Achieving the compensatory mitigation requirements for unavoidable impacts was difficult because of the relatively small impact areas.

The Conservation Solution

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) partnered with TCF to establish the Eastern Massasauga Rattlesnake Pooled Fund. With the EMR Pooled Fund, compensatory mitigation payments for small impacts can be aggregated, or pooled, to better support larger habitat protection and restoration projects.

For Conservation Partners: How to Seek Funding From the EMR Pooled Fund

Working with the USFWS, we identify priority acquisition and restoration sites that would benefit the EMR. Federal, state and local government agencies and nonprofit organizations may apply to receive grant funds from the EMR Pooled Fund to complete projects designed to preserve, enhance and/or restore natural resources for the benefit of the species and the habitat it needs to survive. These projects may include conservation easement or fee title acquisition, habitat enhancement and/or restoration or a combination of these. The EMR Pooled Fund may also be used to fund research if USFWS determines it would result in the best conservation benefit to EMR. Generally, the process to seek grant funding from the EMR Pooled Fund to support conservation projects is as follows:

• Contact TCF to discuss your potential EMR-related project.
• Submit a mitigation project proposal to us that demonstrates how the project benefits EMR, including:
  • permanency in fee or conservation easement acquisition;
  • how the project complements existing conservation lands or restoration projects;
  • the capacity of the project to achieve performance standards;
  • whether the project is designed to sustain habitat value for EMR with little or no management once performance standards are achieved;
  • the capacity of the conservation partner to perform long-term stewardship; and
  • assurance that restoration activities will occur only on land that has been permanently protected or publicly owned
• Once the proposal is received, TCF reviews it with EMR experts.
• If the proposal is approved, we enter into a grant agreement with the conservation partner and disburse funding on an agreed-upon schedule.

For Project Developers: Using the Pooled Fund to Offset Unavoidable Impacts to EMR

The EMR Pooled Fund provides an option for public and private entities to mitigate for unavoidable impacts to EMR and its habitat from development or maintenance projects in the state of Michigan. The pooled fund has helped create consistency in Endangered Species Act Section 7 consultation, which has resulted in reduced time, cost and workload associated with the process. Generally, the process to utilize the EMR Pooled Fund to meet mitigation obligations consists of:

• The project developer consults with USFWS.
• The project developer informs USFWS of its interest in using the EMR Pooled Fund.
• In accordance with programmatic biological opinion, USFWS and the project developer determine:
  • Impacts to EMR;
  • Mitigation ratio;
  • Mitigation acres; and
  • Mitigation fee
• Upon completion of the above, USFWS provides TCF with a confirmation document containing acres, ratio and fee.
• We inform USFWS and the project developer of their ability to accept funds.
• We generate mitigation projects to protect and restore EMR habitat and otherwise support the conservation of EMR.