15.615: Cooperative Endangered Species Conservation Fund

15.615

Active

Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) [DOI]

May 4, 2022

May 4, 2022

Cooperative Endangered Species Conservation Fund grants provide Federal financial assistance to States and Territories that have entered into a cooperative agreement pursuant to section 6(c) of the Endangered Species Act for species and habitat conservation actions on non-Federal lands, including habitat acquisition, conservation planning, habitat restoration, status surveys, captive propagation and reintroduction, research, and education. Traditional Conservation Grants: The principle objective of the Traditional Conservation Grant Program is to support the development and implementation of States programs to conserve and recover threated and endangered species under the Service's jurisdiction and to monitor candidate, at-risk, and recently delisted species. Conservation Planning Assistance Grants: The Conservation Planning Assistance Grant program provides funding to States and Territories to support the development of new Habitat Conservation Plans (HCPs), Safe Harbor Agreements (SHAs), and Candidate Conservation Agreements with Assurances (CCAAs). Funding may also be used to support the renewal or amendment of existing HCPs, SHAs, and CCAAs. Funding may be used to support development and planning activities such as document preparation, public outreach, baseline species surveys, habitat assessments, and inventories. The preparation of environmental compliance review documents, such as National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA), is also an eligible use of grant funds. Recovery Land Acquisition Grants: The principle objective of the RLA Grant program is to promote State and Federal cooperation in listed species conservation by leveraging funds to acquire specific parcels of land, through fee simple or conservation easement, in support of Service-approved recovery plans and outlines. The ESA conveys the importance of recovery plans as a central organizing tool for guiding the recovery process by requiring their development for every listed species. HCP Land Acquisition Grants: Established by Congress in fiscal year (FY) 1997, the HCP Land Acquisition Grant program was designed to reduce conflicts between the conservation of listed species and competing land uses on specific parcels of land associated with approved and permitted HCPs. Under this program, the Service provides matching grants to States in support of land acquisition projects that will conserve species habitat in perpetuity through fee simple acquisition or the acquisition of permanent conservation easements. All land acquired through these grants complements, but does not replace, the mitigation, minimization, and/or monitoring commitments of the HCP. Thus, this work is additive to the conservation commitments entered into when HCPs are permitted and serves as a meaningful way to leverage non-Federal investment in species recovery and connect conservation lands across the landscape.

B - Project Grants (Discretionary)

Participation limited to State agencies that have a cooperative agreement with the Secretary of the Interior. The annual Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO), announced through www.grants.gov and posted to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Web site at http://www.fws.gov/endangered/grants/index.html, describes the criteria that must be satisfied for an application to be eligible for funding.

All States that have entered into a cooperative agreement with the Secretary of the Interior.

15.611 - Wildlife Restoration and Basic Hunter Education

15.634 - State Wildlife Grants

https://sam.gov/fal/f3c6736db0a84477b981589274b37779/view