The North American Wetlands Conservation Council recently announced several significant changes to the U.S. North American Wetlands Conservation Act (NAWCA) grant programs that will go into effect with the 2024 proposal cycles. These changes are intended to reduce barriers and increase participation on projects, to help build partnerships with new organizations, and to account for the increased costs of conservation.
What are the major changes?
U.S. Standard grants now have a higher maximum dollar amount request of $3,000,000, with no additional justification necessary. The higher cap is to help conservation partners meet the demand for more funding to carry out large-scale conservation efforts in areas that are critically important for wetland-dependent migratory birds.
U.S. Small grants are intended to be an entry point for new grant recipients to NAWCA. Like everything else, the cost of habitat conservation is on the rise. In direct response to that, the Council increased the U.S. Small grants maximum cap from $100,000 to $250,000, meaning that applicants can submit proposals ranging from $10,000 to $250,000.
Over the years, the Council and the Service received feedback that applying for U.S. Standard grants is challenging because the instructions are complex and proposals require a lot of information.To address this, they simplified the instructions to eliminate information that was redundant or unnecessary to effectively determine eligibility, or to review and score proposals. They also eliminated duplicative narratives or data requests and gave applicants more flexibility in estimating numbers for species that will benefit. We hope these changes will significantly reduce the time required to develop a U.S. Standard grant proposal.These changes are incorporated into the 2024 Proposal Instructions that are now posted online.
Interested in Applying?
Please contact Mitch Hartley (VA to ME) or Craig Faulhaber (NC to FL) if you have questions or want to discuss potential projects for either NAWCA or National Coastal Wetland Conservation grant programs. Both programs have never been easier to access, in terms of applicants being given every consideration for funding. We encourage partners to “think outside the box” and consider submitting proposals that they may have considered to be un-competitive due to a low match ratio, small acreage, etc. We hope to see more projects funded in 2023, including NAWCA projects with 1:1 match or smaller acreage than those typically submitted.