The Fish and Wildlife Service is accepting applications for its 2023 Sportfishing and Boating Safety Act – Boating Infrastructure Grants (BIG) Program Tier 1.
Donor Name: Fish and Wildlife Service
State: All States
County: All Counties
Territory: Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 09/22/2022
Size of the Grant: $200,000
Details:
Recreational boating is a popular activity; there are approximately 11.8 million registered motor boats in the United States. Of this total, an estimated 584,000 are at least 26 feet long. The Sportfishing and Boating Safety Act of 1998 (Public Law 105-178) established the Boating Infrastructure Grants (BIG) Program (16 U.S.C. 777g-1) to provide funding to the 50 States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealths of Puerto Rico and the Northern Mariana Islands, and the territories of Guam, American Samoa, and the U.S. Virgin Islands (States) for the construction, renovation and maintenance of boating infrastructure facilities for transient recreational vessels at least 26 feet long that are operated, leased, rented, or chartered primarily for pleasure. The Act amended the Dingell-Johnson Sport Fish Restoration Act (16 U.S.C. 777). Subsequent reauthorizations of the Act allow expenditures from the Sport Fish Restoration and Boating Trust Fund and the continuation of the BIG Program. Boating infrastructure means the structures, equipment, accessories, and services that are necessary or desirable for a facility to accommodate eligible vessels. Transient vessels are those passing through or by a place, staying up to 15 days. Projects completed using BIG funds must provide public access, but may be publicly or privately owned. This package is the Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for Fiscal Year (FY) 2022 BIG Tier 1 State grants.
The Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration’s (WSFR) mission is to work through partnerships to conserve and manage fish and wildlife and their habitats for the use and enjoyment of current and future generations. WSFR’s vision is of healthy, diverse, and accessible fish and wildlife populations that offer recreation, economic activity, and other societal benefits, in addition to sustainable ecological functions. WSFR’s guiding principle is that society benefits from conservation-based management of fish and wildlife and their habitats and opportunities to use and enjoy them.
The BIG Program aligns with WSFR’s mission, vision, and guiding principles, and supports the Administration’s priorities and incorporates them where appropriate and consistent with authorizing statutes and regulations. Focused on water-based infrastructure, the BIG grant program specifically includes elements that support climate change including scoring criteria in the Tier 2 subprogram that reflect resiliency, innovation and reduction in the carbon footprint of the BIG-funded facility.
Funding Information
Award Ceiling: $200,000
Eligibility Criteria
Eligible applicants are the Governor-designated State agencies in the United States, the Commonwealths of Puerto Rico and the Northern Mariana Islands, and the territories of Guam, American Samoa, the United States Virgin Islands and the Mayor-designated agency in the District of Columbia. You may not apply directly if you are not one of these entities.
For more information, visit Grants.gov.
