Deadlines

U.S. Standard Grants Deadline: March 6, and July 31, 2009.
Canadian Standard Grants Deadline: January 2010.
Mexican Standard Grants Deadline: June 1, 2009.

Purpose and Scope

The Standard Grants Program is a competitive, matching grants program that supports public-private partnerships carrying out projects in Canada, the United States, and Mexico. These projects must involve long-term protection, restoration, and/or enhancement of wetlands and associated uplands habitats. In Mexico, projects may also include technical training, environmental education and outreach, organizational infrastructure development, and sustainable-use studies.

History

The Standard Grants Program began supporting projects in all three countries in 1990, shortly after the North American Wetlands Conservation Act (Act) of 1989 was passed. Each fiscal year, available funds have been distributed among projects in the three countries according to a pre-determined percentage within the range of percentages allowable under the Act. Currently, 50 percent of total available funds are used to support projects in the United States, 45 percent in Canada, and 5 percent in Mexico.

The Process

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Division of Bird Habitat Conservation (Division) is responsible for facilitating and administering the Act’s Standard Grants Program. The process for receiving and preliminarily reviewing project proposals is handled slightly differently for each country and enjoys the active participation of each federal government. For further details, visit the country-specific Web pages on this site.

Once a slate of eligible proposals has been determined per each country-program’s process, the proposals are further reviewed and ranked by the North American Wetlands Conservation Council, a nine-member council established by the Act. The Council then recommends projects to the Migratory Bird Conservation Commission, a seven-member commission authorized by the Act to give final funding approval to projects. The Division administers the grants for all approved projects.

Current Funding

Total funding for the Standard Grants Program in FY 2009 is $77.2 million. Individual country totals can be found on each country-program’s Web page.

Accomplishments

From September 1990 through September 2009, some 3,850 partners in 1482 projects have received more than $983 million in grants. They have contributed another $1.96 billion in matching funds to affect 25.1 million acres of habitat and $1.1 billion in nonmatching funds to affect 219,950 acres of habitat. Individual country totals can be found on each country-program’s Web page.

Contacts

U.S. Standard Grants proposals: David Buie (david_buie@fws.gov), (301) 497-5870, or Bonnie Gaukler (bonnie_j -gaukler@fws.gov), (703) 358-2017.

Canada Standard Grants Program: Leakhena Au (leakhena_au@fws.gov), (703) 358-2463.

Mexico Standard Grants Program: Ellen Murphy (ellen_murphy@fws.gov), (703) 358-1937.