Five Star and Urban Waters Restoration Grant Program 2025

The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) and the Wildlife Habitat Council (WHC)—in cooperation with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), USDA Forest Service (USFS), U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) USDA Office of Urban Agriculture and Innovative Production, FedEx and Southern Company—are pleased to solicit applications for the 2025 Five Star and Urban Waters Restoration program.

Donor Name: National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF)

State: All States

County: All Counties

Type of Grant: Grant

Deadline: 01/30/2025

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

Grant Duration: 2 Years

Details:

The Five Star and Urban Waters Restoration grant program seeks to develop community capacity to sustain local natural resources for future generations by providing modest financial assistance to diverse local partnerships focused on improving water quality, watersheds and the species and habitats they support.

Projects include a variety of ecological improvements along with targeted community outreach, education and stewardship. Ecological improvements may include one or more of the following: wetland, riparian, forest and coastal habitat restoration; wildlife conservation, community tree canopy enhancement, wildlife habitat, urban agriculture and community gardens, wildlife and water quality monitoring and green infrastructure best management practices for managing run-off.

Projects should increase access to the benefits of nature, reduce the impact of environmental hazards and engage local communities, particularly underserved communities, in project planning, outreach and implementation. This program expects that applicants will represent a mixture of urban and rural communities. NFWF may use a mix of public and private funding sources to support any grant made through this program and they expect that more than half of projects awarded will engage underserved communities.

Program Priorities 

Proposals should address at least one bullet under each of the five following bolded priorities:

• On-the-Ground Restoration
  • Projects must restore and/or create wetlands, coastal or riparian areas:
    • Address key species and habitats and link directly to established watershed and conservation plans, including establishment of urban wildlife corridors, fisheries and daylighting of streams
    • Address stressors through restoration techniques and green infrastructure practices that manage stormwater and rural run-off and link directly to stormwater management plans, source water protection plans and water supply planning efforts or demonstrate the linkage between restoration and stormwater management and the quality, quantity and safety of local water and waterways
    • Create and enhance community agriculture spaces that support pollinator and migratory bird habitats as well as manage urban heat islands and stormwater run-off
    • Develop/implement trash and litter prevention programs designed to keep urban waterways and riverfronts clean
    • Develop public open spaces, create or enhance community parks, improve and protect community tree canopy, enhance brownfield sites beyond required remediation
• Environmental Outreach, Education & Training
  • Projects must integrate meaningful outreach, education and/or training into the proposed on-the-ground activities that advance local watershed and conservation goals:
    • Engage the public—particularly youth—in hands-on, outdoor experiences that build awareness of the importance of protecting and recovering priority and/or at risk species and habitats and promote stewardship and conservation practices
    • Engage communities in restoration at public areas—such as schools, parks, birding trails and more—for public health and recreation
    • Establish or advance a community science or water quality monitoring program that involves community members and/or addresses community water quality priorities2
    • Improve understanding to prevent damaging trash and litter impacts in local waterways that affect community health and local economies
• Community Partnerships
  • Projects must involve five or more partners (public and private entities) including the applicant:
    • Directly engage a diverse group of community partners to achieve ecological and specific educational outcomes including partnerships among upstream and downstream communities
    • Demonstrate that the project will advance existing local watershed or conservation plans and/or propose to foster and coordinate a diverse stakeholder partnership that develops and/or implements new plans
    • Identify plans to provide training, partnership meetings and presentations to build support for the project during and beyond the project period
• Measurable Results
  • Projects must result in specific, measurable ecological, educational and community benefits:
    • Identify measurable activities and metrics which clearly link to watershed and community outcomes
    • Document a high level of community engagement to support fish and wildlife habitat, urban and community agriculture or forestry, water quality-related recreational activities and improve understanding across diverse audiences of how fish and wildlife conservation, clean water and healthy forests contribute to community well-being
• Sustainability
  • Projects must include a plan for maintenance and care of the project beyond the grant period:
    • Describe a commitment to community strength and long-term capacity to remain engaged as partners
    • Address any priority and/or at-risk species, habitats or conservation actions identified in State Wildlife Action Plans or other recovery or conservation plans
    • Directly connect outcomes to community benefits of watershed restoration such as clean water, public health benefits, local economic development and jobs
    • Fulfill or advance priorities identified through local planning efforts, including watershed, disaster and sustainability plans
    • Develop restoration and stewardship approaches that contribute to pre and post disaster planning, resiliency of community water assets and link to local hazard mitigation, resilience and/or emergency management plans.

Funding Information

Approximately $2.5 million is available nationwide for projects meeting program priorities. There is one round of full proposals annually for this program. Awards range from $30,000 to $60,000 with an average size of $45,000 and 30-40 grants awarded per year. Grants should span 12 to 18 months with a start date in late summer/early fall 2025.

All applicants must address the program priorities in order to be considered. This detailed list of funders is provided to identify areas of the country where additional funds are available and provide information on any funder-specific recommendations that applicants should include in proposals.

• U.S. EPA Five Star Restoration Training Program
  • Funding Available: Approximately $225,000 is available nationwide from EPA to fund projects. These funds are available nationwide, in any size community. Given the destruction caused by Hurricane Helene in September 2024, special consideration will be made for eligible applicants with projects within watersheds impacted by Hurricane Helene.
• Urban Waters Federal Partnership, U.S.D.A. Forest Service
  • Funding Available: Approximately $180,000 is available from U.S. Forest Service through the Urban Waters Federal Partnership to improve urban water quality, restore riparian habitat and community forests, increase public access to urban waterways and make linkages to municipal flood mitigation and stormwater programs in developed watersheds throughout the United States. Funds are available nationwide for urban areas.
• U.S. FWS Urban Programs
  • Funding Available: Approximately $360,000 is available from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) to fund projects that engage urban neighbors and foster a sense of stewardship where there are Service lands or offices nearby (within approximately 25+/- miles) or where there is a designated Urban Partnership City.
  • $180,000 of these funds comes from the National Wildlife Refuge System to engage communities in conservation on easily-accessible lands that the Service does not own. Priority will go to projects that improve habitat or access for outdoor recreational experiences, especially to communities that have been historically excluded. Proposals should demonstrate how the project will meet at least one of the Urban Standards of Excellence for Urban Wildlife Refuges and Partnerships and show ongoing collaboration with FWS and local partners.
  • $180,000 these funds come from the Urban Bird Treaty program and projects should have an emphasis on protecting, restoring, and enhancing urban habitats for birds, reducing urban hazards to birds while engaging people, especially in diverse and underserved communities, in bird conservation, education, recreation and science activities. Priority project activities include restoration of migratory bird habitat, Chimney Swift conservation activities, bird-friendly building retrofitting and design, efforts to address light pollution, pesticide and hazardous trash reduction, and engaging diverse and under-resourced communities in birdwatching and bird trip leader training programs. Projects supported with this funding do not have to be located in an existing Urban Bird Treaty city, but active UBT and Urban Wildlife Refuge Partnership cities receive priority for funding.
• USDA People’s Garden Initiative
  • Funding Available: Approximately $1,000,000 is available from the People’s Garden Initiative through the USDA Office of Urban Agriculture and Innovative Production to fund projects that will support community-based gardens that promote sustainable agriculture practices that benefit people and wildlife. Per the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, gardens of different sizes and types, including school gardens, community gardens, urban farms, and small-scale agriculture projects in rural and urban areas, can be recognized as a People’s Garden.
• Southern Company Five Star Restoration Program
  • Funding Available: Approximately $315,000 is available from Southern Company and its affiliates to support on-the ground wetland, riparian, in-stream or coastal habitat conservation and restoration projects in key areas served by its subsidiaries. Priority given to projects that address at-risk species and habitats; address watershed and federal recovery or state wildlife action plans and coordinate with those plan coordinators; and, engage the public—particularly youth—in hands-on, outdoor conservation experiences that build awareness of the importance of protecting and recovering priority species and habitats. In Georgia, projects that take actions to help remove streams from the 303(d) impaired streams in the Atlanta area will be given priority.
• FedEx
  • Funding Available: Approximately $400,000 is available from FedEx to support projects in the metropolitan areas listed below that address the Program Priorities listed above—with a particular emphasis on increasing and improving community tree canopy. All proposals in these areas must propose a volunteer event for up to 100 local FedEx employees in the project narrative to be considered for funding under this funding source.

Eligibility Criteria

• Eligible applicants include non-profit 501(c) organizations, state government agencies, local governments, municipal governments, Tribal Governments and Organizations and educational institutions.
• Ineligible applicants include unincorporated individuals, businesses, international organizations and U.S. Federal government agencies.

For more information, visit NFWF.