The Southern Plains Grassland Program seeks to work closely with nonprofit and government partners and the ranching community to bring important financial and technical resources to address the health and resilience of the grasslands of the Southern Great Plains.
Donor Name: National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF)
State: Selected States
County: Selected Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 11/13/2025
Size of the Grant: $100,000 to $500,000
Grant Duration: 3 Years
Details:
These actions will increase the vitality of this often-overlooked ecosystem, providing benefits to wildlife and to rural, ranching-based communities. In addition, these actions increase the ability of grasslands to store carbon, contributing additional benefits to much larger efforts to address environmental changes.
Program Priorities
Projects that voluntarily improve management on grazing operations, increase organizational capacity and utilize innovative and community-based approaches are encouraged. All projects should emphasize strategies that improve landscape-scale resilience or that specifically address rapidly intensifying environmental threats and stressors. The Southern Plains Grassland Program seeks projects that address the following desired outcomes.
- Demonstrate successful models for grassland habitat conservation that:
- Implement voluntary management at large scales that facilitates persistent long-term behavioral changes that benefit grasslands, increase resiliency and support grassland-obligate species on working lands (e.g. conversion of expiring Conservation Reserve Program to managed grazing systems, installation of grazing management agreements).
- Increase connectivity through grassland restoration efforts (e.g. re-seeding, removal of woody invasives, prescribed fire).
- Implement or provide capacity to engage in conservation delivery for NRCS Great Plains Biome Framework.
- Community Benefits – Increase institutional and regional capacity:
- Provide ranchers and community-led organizations with technical assistance to accelerate on-the-ground delivery and implementation of conservation and improved grassland management practices.
- Wildlife Benefits – Improve population levels and related outcomes for grassland species:
- Improve landscape permeability for pronghorn and other ungulates by removing and modifying fence.
- Increase habitat for monarch butterfly and other pollinators.
- Sustain populations of lesser and greater prairie-chicken through restoration of meadows and removing or marking fence around leks.
- Projects that help identify and address limiting factors for grassland obligate songbirds.
Funding Information
Individual grants typically range from $150,000 to $400,000.
Grant Period
Project duration may extend one to three years.
Geographical Areas
Projects in the following areas are eligible for Southern Plains Grasslands support: Eastern Colorado, Kansas, Southern Nebraska, Northeastern New Mexico, Oklahoma, and the Texas Panhandle.
Eligibility Criteria
Eligible and Ineligible Entities
- Eligible applicants include non-profit 501(c) organizations, U.S. Federal government agencies, rancher and community-led organizations, educational institutions, Native Nations and Indigenous-led organizations, and state or local units of governments (e.g. state agricultural and/or conservation agencies, counties, townships, cities, conservation districts, utility districts, drainage districts).
- Ineligible applicants include for-profit entities and unincorporated individuals.
For more information, visit NFWF.
