The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) is soliciting proposals to conserve and restore grasslands and wildlife species in the Southern Great Plains.
Donor Name: National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF)
State: Selected States
County: Selected Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 11/07/2024
Size of the Grant: More than $1 million
Grant Duration: 3 Years
Details:
The Southern Plains Grassland Program seeks to work closely with nonprofit and government partners and the ranching community to provide important financial and technical resources for voluntarily improving grassland ecosystem health and resilience to climate change in the Southern Great Plains. These actions will boost the vitality of this often-overlooked ecosystem, providing benefits to wildlife and to rural, ranching-based communities. These actions will aim to increase the ability of grasslands to store carbon, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and provide other key benefits to address climate change. The Southern Plains Grassland Program anticipates awarding approximately $3 million in grants. Major funding partners include Sysco, Burger King, Cargill, Walmart Foundation, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS).
Program Priorities
Projects that voluntarily improve management on grazing operations, increase organizational capacity and utilize innovative and community-based approaches are encouraged. All projects should emphasize strategies that improve landscape-scale resilience to climate change or that specifically address intensifying environmental threats and stressors related to climate change. The Southern Plains Grassland Program seeks projects that address the following desired outcomes.
- Demonstrate successful models for grassland habitat conservation that:
- Implement voluntary management at large scales that facilitates persistent long-term behavioral changes that benefit grasslands, increase climate resiliency and support grassland-obligate species on working lands (e.g. conversion of expiring Conservation Reserve Program to managed grazing systems, installation of grazing management agreements).
- Increase connectivity through grassland restoration efforts (e.g. re-seeding, removal of woody invasives, prescribed fire).
- Implement or provide capacity to engage in conservation delivery for NRCS Great Plains Biome Framework.
- Community Co-Benefits – Increase institutional and regional capacity:
- Provide ranchers and community-led organizations with technical assistance to accelerate on-the-ground delivery and implementation of conservation and improved grassland management practices.
- Wildlife Co-Benefits – Improve population levels and related outcomes for grassland species:
- Improve landscape permeability for pronghorn and other ungulates by removing and modifying fence.
- Increase habitat for monarch butterfly and other pollinators.
- Sustain populations of lesser and greater prairie-chicken through restoration of meadows and removing or marking fence around leks.
- Projects that help identify and address limiting factors for grassland obligate songbirds.
- Capacity Building (Funding available in New Mexico):
- Increase capacity for implementation of priority conservation activities through partner positions. Applications are encouraged which support new full-time or part-time partner positions at applicant organizations such as foresters, wildlife biologists, rangeland specialists, and/or other natural resource professionals that will work in conjunction with NRCS personnel in New Mexico on a daily basis to carry out the provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). Duties of IRA partner positions include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Providing technical assistance in the development of conservation plans and checkouts of completed practices.
- Preparing and/or monitoring various contract management reports.
- Preparing and issuing correspondence to participants such as annual practice reminders, deferral letters, preapproval letters, and eligibility letters.
- Providing assistance with the application process such as reviewing documents for completeness, verifying control of land, irrigation history, signature authority, required electronic registrations, and troubleshooting eligibility/vendor issues.
- Assisting with contract management by uploading and maintaining documents in electronic systems; removing expired contracts from active contract filing cabinets; and ensuring appropriate signatures on documents.
- Assisting with the completion of reviews and audits by compiling documentation needed to support audit samples.
- Increase capacity for implementation of priority conservation activities through partner positions. Applications are encouraged which support new full-time or part-time partner positions at applicant organizations such as foresters, wildlife biologists, rangeland specialists, and/or other natural resource professionals that will work in conjunction with NRCS personnel in New Mexico on a daily basis to carry out the provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). Duties of IRA partner positions include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Capacity Building and Technical Assistance:
- Additional funding is available in this RFP specifically for capacity building and technical assistance that aligns with NRCS priorities. Projects working on private, working lands should provide technical assistance to interested producers to develop management plans, design and implement conservation practices, and participate in Farm Bill programs, especially the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) and Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP). A particular emphasis should be placed on promoting, designing, and implementing climate-smart agriculture and forestry (CSAF) conservation practices and reducing the Farm Bill practice contracting and implementation backlog. Successful projects will also seek to increase conservation program participation and practice adoption among Historically Underserved and Special Emphasis producers and forestland owners.
- Please ensure the project is in alignment with NRCS goals and priorities by conferring with the NRCS State Conservationist and their staff in the state in which your project is located. A list of NRCS state contacts can be found here.
- Please note that grantees applying for these capacity building funds may be required to report on additional performance metrics related to capacity building, conservation planning and practice implementation to be negotiated between NFWF and the grantee after award decisions have been made.
Funding Information
The Southern Plains Grassland Program will award approximately $3 million this cycle to 10-15 grants. Grants may be up to three years in length.
Geographical Focus
Projects in the following areas are eligible for Southern Plains Grasslands support: Eastern Colorado, Kansas, Southern Nebraska, Northeastern New Mexico, Oklahoma, and the Texas Panhandle.
Eligibility Criteria
Eligible applicants include non-profit 501(c) organizations, U.S. Federal government agencies, rancher and community-led organizations, educational institutions, Native Nations and Indigenous-led organizations, and state or local units of governments (e.g. state agricultural and/or conservation agencies, counties, townships, cities, conservation districts, utility districts, drainage districts).
For more information, visit NFWF.
