FY 2021 Cooperative Endangered Species Conservation Fund (CESCF) Traditional Conservation Grants Program (Service Legacy Region 2) | F21AS00173

Opportunity Information: Apply for F21AS00173

The FY 2021 Cooperative Endangered Species Conservation Fund (CESCF) Traditional Conservation Grants Program (Service Legacy Region 2) is a discretionary grant program run by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service designed to strengthen and support state-led conservation work under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The central purpose is to help states develop and carry out their own programs to conserve and recover species that fall under the Service's jurisdiction, especially threatened and endangered species. Funding is meant to back on-the-ground actions and practical project work that produces direct, measurable conservation benefits to a species or its habitat, either by supporting recovery of already listed species or by reducing threats early enough to prevent future listings.

A key feature of this opportunity is the broad range of species categories that can benefit from grant-funded work. States can propose projects focused on federally listed resident species as long as those species are covered under the state's formal cooperative agreement with the Service. In addition, states may seek funding to monitor species that are not yet listed but are in the pipeline or under review, including candidate species and certain other "at-risk" species. Candidate species are those the Service has determined warrant listing as threatened or endangered, but listing is delayed because higher-priority actions take precedence. For this particular funding notice, the Service also treats several additional groups as "at-risk," including species with a positive 90-day petition finding (but no proposed rule yet), species with a proposed listing rule (but not final), species currently undergoing an ESA status review that has been publicly announced in the Federal Register, and species included on the National Listing Work Plan. The notice references an attachment (Attachment A) as the place where the full list of at-risk species can be found.

The program also supports work on recently delisted species, with a very specific limitation: the species must have been delisted within the past five years, and the delisting must have occurred due to recovery (not for other administrative or scientific reasons). Applicants are directed to the Service's ECOS Delisted Species page for the official list and delisting years. This makes the grant relevant not only to recovery planning and implementation, but also to post-delisting monitoring and maintenance actions that help keep recovered species from sliding backward.

Projects funded through this program can cover a wide span of conservation approaches, as long as the work clearly ties to recovery progress or to preventing the need for ESA listing. The opportunity explicitly allows projects involving management actions, research, monitoring, outreach, or a combination of these. Examples of eligible activities include reintroducing species into suitable habitat within their historical range, restoring or enhancing habitat, conducting surveys and inventories, performing species status surveys, propagating plants or animals, and conducting research such as genetic analyses to evaluate genetic health and population structure. It also supports public education and outreach when it is targeted and tied to a real conservation need, such as developing tools like websites or hosting coordination workshops with local landowners to reduce a specific threat. Monitoring is emphasized as a fundable activity for candidate species, other at-risk species, and recently recovered (recently delisted) species.

Eligibility is restricted to state governments, and more specifically to state agencies that have entered into a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service under ESA section 6(c). A state agency that does not yet have an agreement may still be eligible if it enters into or reconfirms the cooperative agreement within 30 days of the application deadline. The Service notes that it must have a complete, signed cooperative agreement in place before federal funds can be obligated to any project, citing relevant federal regulations (including 50 CFR 81.3, 50 CFR 81.5, and 43 CFR 12.50(b)(3)). Although only states can receive grant awards directly, the notice makes clear that other entities such as counties, conservation organizations, and similar groups may participate through partnerships with an eligible state agency, typically as subgrantees or collaborators working under the state's umbrella.

From the source data, this opportunity is listed under Funding Opportunity Number F21AS00173, administered by the Fish and Wildlife Service, with assistance listed under CFDA 15.615 (natural resources). The funding instrument is a grant, the opportunity category is discretionary, and eligible applicants are state governments. The original application closing date was June 11, 2021, and the listed award ceiling was $1,290,817. The overall takeaway is that this program is structured to channel federal support through state wildlife agencies with formal ESA cooperative agreements, backing targeted projects that can demonstrate direct conservation results for listed species, reduce risk for species headed toward listing, and help sustain recovery gains for species recently removed from the ESA list due to successful recovery.

• The Fish and Wildlife Service in the natural resources sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "FY 2021 Cooperative Endangered Species Conservation Fund (CESCF) Traditional Conservation Grants Program (Service Legacy Region 2)" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 15.615.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2020-11-12.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2021-06-11. (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 $1,290,817.00 in funding.
• Eligible applicants include: State governments.

Apply for F21AS00173

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