Grants | Overview

Western snowy plover chick and egg.

Ron LeValley/USFWS

Because more than half of all species currently listed as endangered or threatened spend at least part of their life cycle on privately owned lands, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) recognizes that success in conserving species will ultimately depend on working cooperatively with landowners, communities, and Tribes to foster voluntary stewardship efforts on private lands. States play a key role in catalyzing these efforts.

A variety of tools are available under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) to help States and landowners plan and implement projects to conserve species. One of the tools, the Cooperative Endangered Species Conservation Fund (section 6 of the ESA) provides grants to States and Territories to participate in a wide array of voluntary conservation projects for candidate, proposed, and listed species. The program provides funding to States and Territories for species and habitat conservation actions on non-Federal lands. States and Territories must contribute a minimum non-Federal match of 25% of the total program costs, or 10% when two or more States or Territories implement a joint project. A State or Territory must currently have, or enter into, a cooperative agreement with the Secretary of the Interior to receive these grants. Most States and Territories have entered into these agreements for both plant and animal species.

FY 2012 Request for Proposals