The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) is soliciting proposals to strategically protect and enhance essential habitats in Hawaiʻi, from mauka to makai (from the mountain to the ocean), to reduce extinction risk and sustain resilient populations of native species.
Donor Name: National Fish and Wildlife Foundation
State: Hawaii
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline (mm/dd/yyyy): 11/02/2022
Grant Size: $50,000 to $200,000
Grant Duration: 3 years
Details:
Particular species and habitats of interest include palila (finch-billed Hawaiian honeycreeper), kiwikiu (Maui parrotbill), ‘ua’u (Hawaiian petrel), O’ahu elepaio (monarch flycatcher), ‘alae ‘ula (Hawaiian moorhen), puaiohi (small Kaua’i thrush), and Maui Nui coral reefs. The Hawai’i Conservation Program anticipates awarding approximately $950,000 in grants. Major funding partners include the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), U.S. Forest Service (USFS), and Pulama Lana’i.
Priorities
In 2023, the Hawai’i Conservation Program will award grants to projects that address the following program priorities:
- Bird Conservation: Reduce extinction risk for a suite of endemic bird species by addressing direct threats and improving habitat conditions. In 2022, NFWF seeks projects that support listed birds on Kaua’i, O’ahu, Maui and Hawai’i with a primary emphasis on the following priorities:
- Landscape-scale avian malaria control – Support the development of tool(s) to treat avian malaria at a landscape-level to protect native forest birds. Project activities may include research and development of treatment methods and landscape-level deployment techniques, data collection to inform prioritization of treatment locations, coordination and planning among Birds, Not Mosquitoes steering committee, and community outreach and education on the conservation need and tool(s) available.
- Kiwikiu – Support the kiwikiu steering committee’s efforts to address short/long-term conservation needs. Activities may include support for establishment of at least one new population to reduce extinction risk, through establishment of a captive population or by translocation. Specific actions may include captive rearing or translocation planning and/or assessments, locating and capturing individuals, infrastructure support, and species monitoring.
- O’ahu elepaio – Increase O’ahu elepaio territorial occupancy. Project activities may include rodent control through trapping, predator surveys, and efficacy monitoring.
- Palila – Achieve a stable population. Project activities may include invasive vegetation and predator control, outplanting native plants, maintaining ungulate-proof fences, removal of ungulates within fenced units, and monitoring population response to management actions.
- ‘Alae ‘ula – Support efforts to develop a recovery strategy for ‘alae ‘ula. Initial planning actions may include development of a structured decision framework (or similar), species population model scenario planning, and host and recipient site assessments/prioritization.
- Puaiohi – Increase puaiohi reproductive success. Project activities may include rodent control through trapping, predator surveys, and efficacy monitoring.
- Coral Reef Conservation: Foster healthy coral reef ecosystems that are resilient to current and predicted environmental stressors by reducing local threats within an interconnected network of reef tracts in Maui Nui. In 2022, NFWF seeks projects in southwest Maui watersheds to reduce land-based sources of pollution and advance coral reef fisheries management on the Kihei and southern Moloka’i reef tracts. Priority project(s) will:
- Support watershed-based activities to improve nearshore water quality – Reduce polluted runoff to coral reefs by decreasing turbidity and total nitrogen at nearshore water quality monitoring sites. Project activities may include working lands management, outplanting native plants, installation of riparian corridor ungulate-proof fences, wildfire prevention, stormwater management, and coastal wetland restoration. Projects that are prioritized in existing watershed management plans and engage the community are of particular interest.
- Support in-water activities to build coral reef resilience – Promote reef resilience through herbivorous fish management, invasive species management, and other in-water activities. Project activities may include, but are not limited to community-based fisheries management, creel surveys, invasive algae removal, building capacity for coral restoration, and community outreach to support herbivore management.
- Kuahiwi a Kai: Lana’i Watershed Conservation Program: Lana’i is home to unique natural and cultural resources, stretching from the island’s mountain to its surrounding ocean. In 2022, the Kuahiwi a Kai Program seeks projects in the following program priority areas:
- Installation of ungulate-proof fence – A project to install an initial segment of ungulate control fencing has been awarded through the program’s 2021 RFP. NFWF is seeking project(s) to build approximately 5.4 miles of additional fence to enclose a core segment of the Kuahiwi a Kai program area to manage invasive ungulate populations, improve watershed conditions, and protect native habitat.
- Ungulate monitoring – Establishing baseline ungulate distribution and abundance information within the program area, and further develop a monitoring program that can be used to evaluate management actions.
- Invasive vegetation management – Removal of non-native, invasive plants and grasses negatively affecting Hawaiian petrel (‘ua’u) breeding habitat within the Hi’i predator-proof fence located on the Lana’i Hale.
- Community engagement – Integrate the community and its cultural history into the priority conservation activities. Potential project activities may include engaging students and/or community members in educational, hands-on internships and/or volunteer projects focused on ungulate monitoring, invasive plant management, and native plant restoration.
Funding Information
The Hawaiʻi Conservation Program will award approximately $1,135,000 in grants. Generally, grants range in size from $50,000 to $200,000, although grants greater than $200,000 can be considered on a case-by-case basis. Projects relating to bird and coral reef conservation priorities must have a minimum match of 1:1 non-federal cash and/or in-kind contributions. Projects implemented on Lānaʻi within the Kuahiwi a Kai program area must have a minimum match of 1:1 federal cash, non-federal cash, and/or in-kind contributions. Projects may extend from one to three years.
Eligibility Criteria
- Eligible applicants include non-profit 501(c) organizations, U.S. Federal government agencies, state government agencies, local governments, municipal governments, Tribal Governments and Organizations, educational institutions, and businesses.
- Ineligible applicants include international organizations and unincorporated individuals.
- For-profit applicants: please note that this is a request for grant proposals, not a procurement of goods and services.
For more information, visit National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.
