The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) is seeking applications for its 2024 Acres for America to provide urgently needed funding for projects that conserve important large-scale habitats for fish, wildlife, and plants through voluntary land acquisitions and perpetual conservation easements.
Donor Name: National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF)
State: All States
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 02/29/2024
Size of the Grant: More than $1 million
Grant Duration: Grant Duration Not Mentioned
Details:
The purpose is to give the applicant an opportunity to share project concepts and ideas prior to fully preparing and submitting a pre-proposal.
Priorities
Preferential consideration will be given to proposals that can demonstrate their ability to achieve more than one of the program priorities below.
- Conserve critical habitats for birds, fish, plants, and wildlife
- Connect existing protected lands to unify wild places and protect critical migration routes
- Provide access for people to enjoy the outdoors
- Ensure the future of local economies that depend on forestry, ranching, wildlife and recreation
To be competitive for funding through the Acres for America program, land acquisitions and conservation easements should address the following criteria:
Conservation Criteria
Project Scale and Program Priorities
- Projects should protect or contribute to the protection of significant acres of land, address one or more of the program priorities, and meet the other criteria below. The common characteristics of all Acres for America projects is that they are of a size that is significant for the landscape in which they are located, and/or they have exceptional strategic importance for conservation in the region.
- National or State Conservation Priority
- Endorsement by appropriate federal, state, and local government agencies that the acquisition is of high conservation value is a primary consideration.
- Protect Critical Fish and Wildlife Species
- Important fish, wildlife, and/or plant resources, such as endangered species or areas of significant biological diversity, as identified by conservation agencies or organizations, should be conserved through the acquisition.
- Expand Wildlife Connectivity
- Acquisitions that reduce fragmentation of key habitats, expand and enhance wildlife corridors and contribute to larger landscape-scale conservation efforts are preferred over isolated acquisitions.
- Expand Public Access to Nature
- Projects that provide public access for people to enjoy and experience the outdoors, recreate, and connect with nature are preferred.
- Benefit Local Economies
- Projects that can demonstrate the connection between the land acquisition and related benefits to local economies are preferred.
- Provide a Range of Ecological Services
- Please indicate if the project can demonstrate or even quantify the ecological services provided or protected through land protection (i.e., securing drinking water sources, or protecting stream flow for aquatic resources, carbon sequestration).
- Under Threat of Conversion
- Please demonstrate the threats to the property and what would happen if the property is not conserved (i.e., risk of area being converted to alternate land cover, or area is zoned to allow for conversion of habitat to an alternate land use, or whether there is a competing buyer, etc.).
Community Impact and Engagement
- Projects that incorporate outreach to communities, foster community engagement, and pursue collaborative management leading to measurable conservation benefits are encouraged.
Funding Information
Up to $3.7 million will be available to support projects in 2024. Based on prior year decisions, we anticipate that between four and eight projects will be awarded funds. All grant awards require a minimum 1:1 match of cash or contributed goods and services.
Project Activities
- Conservation Easements
- Land Acquisitions
- Public Access
Geographic Focus
Acres for America is a nation-wide program.
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 U.S. Federal government agencies, businesses, unincorporated individuals, and international organizations.
For more information, visit NFWF.
