Fish and Wildlife Management Assistance | F19AS00016

Opportunity Information: Apply for F19AS00016

Fish and Wildlife Management Assistance (Funding Opportunity Number F19AS00016) is a discretionary Department of the Interior, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service funding opportunity offered as a cooperative agreement under CFDA 15.608 (Natural Resources). It is grounded in several federal wildlife and conservation authorities, including the Fish and Wildlife Coordination Act (16 U.S.C. 661-666), the Fish and Wildlife Act (16 U.S.C. 742 et seq.), the Sikes Act (16 U.S.C. 670(a) and 670(o)), the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (16 U.S.C. 3101), the Nonindigenous Aquatic Nuisance Prevention and Control Act (16 U.S.C. 4701-4741), and the Lacey Act (16 U.S.C. 3376(b)). The opportunity is limited to eligible applicants from state governments and is structured to support a specific, conservation-driven study rather than broad, open-ended program work.

The central purpose of the award is to fund implementation of a collaborative research project between the Canadian Wildlife Service (CWS) and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service focused on whooping crane nesting success in Wood Buffalo National Park. The project aims to measure nest success and, more importantly, identify what is limiting that success, with particular attention to two categories of threats: predation and weather. Because recruitment (the addition of young birds into the population) is described as the key limiting factor for recovery in Wood Buffalo National Park, the study is intended to clarify why recruitment is constrained and to generate practical information that can be used to improve it.

A major expected outcome is decision-support information: the findings are meant to inform whether management intervention is warranted and, if so, what kind of intervention might be effective. In particular, the opportunity text points to predator-related impacts on nests as a potential management lever, and it anticipates that results could shape the consideration and design of threat-mitigation strategies such as predator control. By tying nest success to the type and scale of work needed, and by explicitly noting that the study will help show the potential work and related costs required to increase recruitment, the project also has an applied planning element. In other words, it is not only about understanding what is happening at nests, but also about translating that understanding into feasible actions that could increase recruitment, support population growth, and strengthen the long-term persistence of the species.

The funding is also framed as supporting Department of the Interior priorities. It is linked to Secretarial Priority 1, which emphasizes building a lasting conservation stewardship legacy by identifying and addressing factors that slow species recovery. It is also connected to Secretarial Priority 10, emphasizing meeting goals and advancing the work of partner teams. The description underscores that multiple partners share the recovery objective, including Friends of Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, CWS, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and positions the study as a practical step toward accelerating whooping crane recovery by addressing the recruitment bottleneck in the core breeding area.

Administratively, the opportunity anticipated a single award with an award ceiling of $150,000. The posting indicates it was created on October 16, 2018, with an application deadline of 4 p.m. MDT on October 22, 2018, and required that all forms be received by that time. Overall, the grant is best understood as targeted support for a focused, binationally coordinated wildlife research and management planning effort designed to diagnose nest-level constraints and guide potential interventions that could measurably improve whooping crane recruitment and recovery.

• The Department of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service in the natural resources sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Fish and Wildlife Management Assistance" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 15.608.
• This funding opportunity was created on Oct 16, 2018.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Oct 22, 2018 All forms must be received no later than 4 p.m. MDT on Monday, October 22, 2018.. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $150,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 1 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: State governments.

Apply for F19AS00016

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