2010 Power of Flight Grants

The Power of Flight program is the largest public/private funding effort for bird conservation in the South. Three new grants in the Power of Flight program were awarded in 2010 to:

• Avian Research and Conservation Institute - to produce a rangewide strategic plan for recovery of the remnant, steadily-declining population of Southeastern American Kestrel. This project will prioritize specific sites; improve management of habitat and nesting opportunities; perform and evaluate translocations; and select reintroduction sites to establish captive-reared falcons. The project includes activities across the Southeast.
• Alabama Wildlife Federation - to establish a minimum of 100 acres of native warm- season grass habitat on 10 demonstration sites in high-priority areas of National Bird Conservation Initiative regions in Alabama. This project will help break down native warm-season grass establishment barriers and increase the number, availability and knowledge base of resource professionals, land managers and contractors necessary to achieve increases in native warm-season grass habitat.
• National Wild Turkey Federation - to establish and maintain Golden-winged Warbler habitat in the Chattahoochee Wildlife Management Area and the Chattahoochee National Forest in north Georgia through commercial timber thinning, timber stand improvement, herbicide stump treatment, non-native invasive species eradication, native warm-season grass establishment, road and ditch improvements and prescribed burning.

And, continuing support was provided to two grants under Power of Flight:

• Operation Migration USA - to increase by approximately one-third the number of whooping cranes led south each year using an ultralight aircraft. Through this award increase, Operation Migration will assemble six staff member to condition, train and care for whooping cranes over the summer; imprint and condition up to 12 whooping cranes for southward migration in the fall; and conduct actual southward migration from Wisconsin to Florida. The migration route includes three states served by Southern Company subsidiaries — Alabama, Georgia and Florida.
• Milliken Forestry Company - to accelerate translocation efforts for the red-cockaded woodpecker over a five-year period. Funds are supporting a biologist on the Apalachicola National Forest in Florida who monitors potential donor families, with the goal of increasing from 20 to 40 the number of woodpeckers available for translocation each year. This is a continuation of a grant formerly made to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service over several years. The project includes activities across the Southeast.