White-nose Syndrome Grants to States and Tribes 2024 - fundsforNGOs

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) is offering financial assistance to wildlife and natural resource management agencies and departments of states, the District of Columbia, and federally-recognized Native American Tribes for efforts related to the management of WNS.

Donor Name: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

State: All States

County: All Counties

Type of Grant: Grant

Deadline: 05/08/2024

Size of the Grant: $10,000 to $100,000

Grant Duration: 1 Year

Details:

The goal of this funding opportunity is to help State and Tribal partners fulfill information needs for conserving bats, implement management actions for WNS and susceptible bat species, and actively engage in the National Response to WNS.

2024 Priorities

Conduct, participate in and provide support for WNS treatment and management research and implementation, including, but not limited to the following tools:
- WNS vaccine;
- roost disinfection procedures;
- management of hibernacula to improve microclimate conditions;
- field testing volatile organic compounds (VOCs) or probiotics.
Conduct bat population monitoring and disease surveillance to inform management, with a focus on the following objectives:
- developing and maintaining long-term data streams for monitoring bat populations, especially through use of winter and summer colony counts, mobile and stationary acoustics, and capture records in line with NABat protocols and data archiving standards;
- processing bat monitoring data and uploading them to the NABat database for use in population analyses;
- performing disease and/or pathogen surveillance in concert with National and State WNS plans or priorities.
Implement conservation strategies for WNS-affected or WNS-vulnerable species with the goal of improving survivorship or resilience:
- Restoration, reinforcement, or improvement of important bat roosts or surrounding habitat.
- Management actions or conservation agreements to protect bats from disturbance, predation, disease, or other threats.
- Conservation and preservation of roosting locations for WNS-affected and WNS-vulnerable bat species, with a focus on long-term protection and resilience to climate change.
Curtail the spread of Pd through implementing decontamination and containment strategies or managing risk at bat roosts.
Build and maintain local expertise and partnerships for long-term capacity to advance management and monitoring of bats.
Engage with working groups, committees, workshops, and meetings of the WNS National Response Team