ACJV NAWCA Ranking Committee
Each Joint Venture from across the US independently reviews and ranks proposals for their region, and submits their ranks to the USFWS’s Division of Bird Habitat Conservation (DBHC), which administers the NAWCA program.
Joint venture ranks are based on a combination of the following factors:
- Importance of the project toward meeting JV habitat objectives and species priorities
- Partnership considerations such as building momentum in a critical area; serving as a catalyst for a larger effort; or ensuring the future value of projects
- Landscape-scale context, or connections to other projects
- Loss of match/partners if not funded right away
- Threats
- Feasibility/risk/certainty of benefits
- Contributions to objectives related to people like landowners, hunters, viewers, or wildlife-oriented public access
NAWCA Council Staff
All US proposals are evaluated by a group of reviewers from across the US who represent the Council, which includes staff from state agencies, NGOs and the USFWS. This “Council staff” scores each proposal according to seven “Technical Assessment Questions,” which address the following:
- Waterfowl habitat
- Other wetland bird habitat
- Geographic importance
- Wetland type
- Duration of benefits
- Threatened/endangered species
- Partnership aspects (match, diversity)
Proposals are generally selected for funding based on a combination of their technical score by Council Staff and their JV ranking.
