Deadline: 18 March 2016
The U.S Fish and Wildlife Service Ecological Services Program is seeking proposals for its FY 2016 Cooperative Endangered Species Conservation Fund (CESCF) Grants to help states and landowners plan and implement projects to conserve species.
The fund provides grants to states and territories to participate in a wide array of voluntary conservation projects for candidate, proposed, and listed species.
Because more than half of all species currently listed as endangered or threatened spend at least part of their life cycle on privately owned lands, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) recognizes that success in conserving species will ultimately depend on working cooperatively with landowners, communities, and tribes to foster voluntary stewardship efforts on private lands.
Grant Programs
Four grant programs are available under CESCF
- “Traditional” Conservation Grants: These are the grants that provide financial assistance to States to implement conservation projects for candidate, listed, and recently recovered species. Funded activities include habitat restoration, species status surveys, public education and outreach, captive propagation and reintroduction, nesting surveys, genetic studies, and development of management plans.
- Nontraditional Programs:
- Habitat Conservation Planning Assistance Grants: Habitat Conservation Planning Assistance Grants program provides funding to States to support the development of HCPs.
- Habitat Conservation Plan Land Acquisition Grant: This program is designed d to reduce conflicts between the conservation of listed species and land uses on specific parcels of land.
- Recovery Land Acquisition Grants: Loss of habitat is the primary threat to most listed species and land acquisition is often the most effective and efficient means of protecting habitats essential for recovery of listed species before development or other land use changes impair or destroy key habitat values. Recovery Land Acquisition grant funds are matched by States and other non-Federal entities to acquire (both in fee simple and conservation easements) this habitat from willing sellers in support of approved or draft species recovery plans.
Award Information
For fiscal year 2016, the Cooperative Endangered Species Conservation Fund is funded at $53.495 million, including $9.485 million for Habitat Conservation Planning Assistance Grants, $11.162 million for Recovery Land Acquisition Grants, and $19.638 million for Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP) Land Acquisition Grants.
Eligibility Criteria
- Participation in the CESCF programs is only available to State agencies that have a current cooperative agreement with the Secretary of the Interior. However, individuals or groups (for example land conservancies, cities, counties, community organizations, or conservation organizations) may work with a State agency that has a cooperative agreement on conservation efforts that are mutually beneficial, as a subgrantee.
- The assistance provided to the State agency can include (but is not limited to) animal, plant, and habitat surveys; research; planning; monitoring; habitat protection, restoration, management, and acquisition; and public education.
- The project must involve voluntary conservation efforts within the United States.
How to Apply
Interested applicants must submit their grant proposals electronically through grants.gov.
For more information, please visit Endangered Species Conservation Fund.
