Western Governors Foundation

Managing Western public lands has become increasingly complex, often intertwining federal and state agencies in efforts to craft decisions that balance energy development and the need to protect ecologically important areas. The Western Governors’ Foundation has led an effort to create a uniform wildlife database for Western states to better inform West-wide land management processes. This grant would continue support of the Foundation’s work. Specifically, the Foundation would choose three federal land management decisions in three Western states as case studies on how the new wildlife database could ensure better land management decisions. The results of the work will be disseminated to other Western states as models for future state-federal decisionmaking. Reported Grants

The purpose of this grant is to provide funding to the Western Governors Association to host an Industrial Efficiency workshop in Boise, Idaho, hosted by the current WGA Chair, Idaho Governor Butch Otter. Industrial efficiency is a high priority for the Governor, and he has worked on these issues in partnership with the Idaho National Labs. Along with WGA, Hewlett grantee the Southwest Energy Efficiency Project (SWEEP) will help manage and coordinate the technical issues associated with the meeting. Follow-up activities include an Industrial Energy Plenary session at WGA's annual June meeting and a draft set of policy principles and best practices to help guide western activities in this area.

The Western Governors' Association (WGA), comprised of 21 Western states and provinces works to strengthen regional decision-making and problem-solving. One of the hallmark issues WGA has addressed over the last three years, and one which the foundation has supported, is the protection of wildlife corridors from the impact of fossil and renewable energy development. This grant will continue that support by applying new wildlife corridor policies to 4-5 pilot corridors over the next two years. The goal of the grant is to create strategies to protect these corridors based on an in-depth understanding of wildlife needs and, thus, to allow the appropriate siting of renewable energy projects and transmission lines. This project is part of our West strategy to protect wildlife from the impacts of climate change. Work under this grant will be done through the Governor's Wildlife Council and two advisory groups. (Supplemental, $100,000/2; 2% of project budget)