Request for Proposals for America the Beautiful Challenge 2022

Donor Name: National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF)

State: All States

County: All Counties

U.S. Territories: American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands

Type of Grant: Grant

Deadline: 07/21/2022

Size of the Grant: $200,000 – $5 million

Grant Duration: 4 years

Details:

The ATBC vision is to streamline grant funding opportunities for new voluntary conservation and restoration projects around the United States. This Request for Proposals is a first step toward consolidating funding from multiple federal agencies and the private sector to enable applicants to conceive and develop large-scale, locally-led projects that address shared funder priorities spanning public and private lands.

In year one of the ATBC approximately $85 million will be awarded in nationwide funding to advance America the Beautiful Initiative and its goals to connect and restore the lands, waters, and wildlife upon which they all depend. In the first year, ATBC will seek to fund projects across the following themes:

• Conserving and restoring rivers, coasts, wetlands, and watersheds
• Conserving and restoring forests, grasslands, and other important ecosystems that serve as carbon sinks
• Connecting and reconnecting wildlife corridors, large landscapes, watersheds, and seascapes
• Improving ecosystem and community resilience to flooding, drought, and other climate-related threats
• Expanding access to the outdoors, particularly in underserved communities

Priorities

ATBC will prioritize proposals that implement voluntary large-scale, on-the-ground conservation activities or otherwise lead to on-the-ground implementation through capacity building, community engagement, planning, and project design. The overarching goal is to advance existing landscape conservation plans and/or propose to knit together a diverse stakeholder partnership that develops and/or implements new conservation plans. As part of this, projects should address priority species and/or habitat conservation actions identified in existing plans or other species recovery or conservation plans. Projects that are informed by Indigenous Traditional Knowledge (ITK) and promote Tribal co-stewardship are also encouraged.

Competitive proposals will increase interagency and intergovernmental collaboration and address more than one of the program priorities below.

• Benefit At-Risk Fish, Wildlife, and Plant Species
• Expand Habitat Connectivity
• Provide a Range of Ecosystem Services
• Strengthen Ecosystem and Community Resilience
• Expand Public and Community Access to Nature.
• Engage Local Communities
• Support Tribally Led Conservation and Restoration Priorities
• Contribute to Local or Tribal Economies
• Contribute to Workforce Development

Funding Information

• States, Territories, and Tribal Implementation Grants: Grants ranging from $1 million to $5 million will be awarded to states, U.S. territories, and Tribal-affiliated organizations and governments to implement projects that address the program priorities on public, Tribal, and/or private lands. Landscape-scale restoration requests beyond $5 million may be considered on a case-by-case basis.
• Planning, Collaboration, and Engagement for States, Territories, and Tribes: Grants of $200,000 to $1,000,000 will be awarded to states, U.S. territories, Tribal governments, and Tribal-affiliated organizations for projects that enhance local capacity to implement future on-the-ground actions through community-based assessments, partnership building, planning, project design, and other technical assistance-oriented activities. Projects in this category should include multiple partners, be at a significant scale for the landscape/watershed/seascape, clearly demonstrate how efforts will lead to implementation projects, and be completed within approximately one year of the award.
• Grants to Buffer and Benefit Public Lands: Grants ranging from $250,000 to $1.5 million will be awarded for projects that result in direct, on-the-ground conservation actions that benefit National Forests and DoD facilities. Projects should be targeted toward outcomes identified in a conservation implementation plan and should be completed within two to four years of the award.
• Private Forests, Rangeland, and Farmland Grants: Grants ranging from $200,000 to $500,000 will support outreach and engagement with private landowners to advance voluntary conservation efforts on working lands that align with the NRCS Working Lands for Wildlife Framework (e.g. sagebrush, grasslands, bobwhite quail, northeast turtles, golden-winged warbler). Projects should be completed in two to three years.

Grant Period

Anticipated completion time for funded projects typically will be 12–18 months for community engagement and design projects and 24–48 months for implementation projects following the finalization of a grant agreement.

Geographic Focus

ATBC is a nationwide program. Projects throughout the U.S., U.S. territories, and Tribal Nations are eligible for funding. Projects can be on public lands, Tribal lands, and private lands, and ideally, span multiple land ownership boundaries.

Eligibility Criteria

• State government agencies, territories of the United States, and Indian Tribes are eligible to apply for all four grant categories.
• Non-profit 501(c) organizations, local governments, municipal governments, and educational institutions are eligible to apply for grants in categories (3) Grants to Buffer and Benefit Public Lands, and (4) Private Forests and Farmland.

For more information, visit America the Beautiful Challenge 2022.