Nearly $150,000 in state grant money was awarded to two conservation groups on Tuesday to help restore critical wildlife habitat on the Island.

Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation and The Nature Conservancy received the grants for conservation projects in Edgartown and West Tisbury from the state Department of Fish and Game. 

Adam Moore, the president of Sheriff’s Meadow, said the state awarded his nonprofit $75,000 to manage the invasive southern pine beetle at the Caroline Tuthill Preserve in Edgartown.

While the beetles haven’t reached the Caroline Tuthill Preserve, Mr. Moore said the grant will go towards prevention. The beetle has been invading the Island’s other forests at an alarming rate, with the first infestation detected in 2023 on pines in the Phillips Preserve, also a Sheriff’s Meadow property. 

“We do expect that the beetles will make their way [to the Caroline Tuthill Preserve] within the next couple of years, so this will be good to get ahead of it,” Mr. Moore said. 

In the coming weeks the foundation will be marking pitch pines in dense areas that it plans to cut down or trim. The plan will then be reviewed by the state Department of Conservation and Recreation.

The beetle feeds on living inner-bark tissue in trees. Thinning the forest growth disrupts the bugs’ chemical messaging system, making it difficult for the species to spread, while also reducing the risk of wildfire. 

“We’re grateful for the support and we think it’ll be beneficial to the property and to the forest, and to the community,” he said.

The Nature Conservancy received $65,100 to conduct prescribed burns in the Katama Plains and the Frances Newhall Woods Preserve in West Tisbury.

Karen Lombard, the director of stewardship and restoration for the Conservancy, said the burns will help preserve the iconic grasslands. The organization has been prescribing burns for its Island properties since the 1980s and received a similar state grant two years ago.

“It’s really to support biodiversity, which is one of the global crises, along with climate change,” Ms. Lombard said.

The Conservancy plans to hire a contractor and partner with the DCR and Island fire departments to safely perform the burns in the spring.