Western Big Game Seasonal Habitat and Migration Corridors Fund - Option A

The Western Big Game Seasonal Habitat and Migration Corridors Fund Option A is administered by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, a private conservation grantmaker that works with public and private funding partners to support habitat, species, and landscape conservation. For this option, the listed funding partners are the Bureau of Land Management, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and ConocoPhillips. The program is focused on improving the quality of ungulate seasonal habitat, stopover areas, and migration corridors on federal land and through voluntary efforts on private and Tribal land. The fund is intended to support robust and sustainable populations of western big game species such as elk, mule deer, and pronghorn while also generating positive effects for other wildlife and improving habitat connectivity and resilience. Option A is limited to projects that have already been prioritized by one or more of the 11 western states under Secretarial Order 3362 or by Native nations. Eligible geography is therefore not statewide or nationwide in a general sense, but restricted to focal areas identified by those state and Tribal priority processes within Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming. The fund emphasizes implementation. Priority is given to projects that are shovel ready or NEPA ready and can be completed in two years, although grants may run from one to three years. The funding priorities include restoring degraded priority habitat, stopover areas, and migration corridors; removing encroaching trees from sagebrush systems; rehabilitating areas damaged by fire; treating invasive vegetation; implementing wildlife friendly fencing measures such as modifying, removing, installing, or seasonally adapting fencing; addressing bottlenecks within corridors; and using other proven actions that improve priority seasonal habitat and connectivity. Projects that incorporate outreach, collaborative management, and measurable community impact are encouraged. Eligible applicants under Option A include nonprofit 501(c) organizations, U.S. federal government agencies, state government agencies, local governments, municipal governments, Tribal governments and organizations, and educational institutions. Businesses and unincorporated individuals are expressly ineligible. Every application must include a letter of support or acknowledgement from the director's office of the respective state or Native nation wildlife agency, which functions as a mandatory eligibility condition rather than an optional attachment. The fund also strongly encourages applicants to secure additional letters of support when relevant, including from Tribal agencies for projects adjacent to Tribal lands and from local federal land management offices for projects on or adjacent to federal lands. Because these letters may take time to obtain, applicants are advised to begin coordination early. Funding terms for Option A are flexible but competitive. NFWF anticipates making six to ten grants. The most competitive requests will be at least 100,000 dollars, and the solicitation states that there is no maximum request amount. A minimum 1:1 non federal match is required and may be provided through cash or in kind contributions. The program notes that if meeting the match requirement is a barrier, applicants may contact program staff to discuss possible paths forward. Additional spending constraints apply. NFWF funds and matching contributions may not be used for political advocacy, fundraising, lobbying, litigation, terrorist activities, or Foreign Corrupt Practices Act violations. Grant funds may not be used for ongoing legal compliance obligations, though they may support work that goes beyond baseline compliance. Federal salary costs are not allowable for federal agency applicants under this option. The solicitation also restricts procurement of certain telecommunications equipment and services associated with Huawei and ZTE. Equipment purchases are discouraged unless necessary, and applicants are directed to consult staff if equipment procurement is essential to project completion. Applications must be submitted online through NFWF's Easygrants system. Applicants must register or log in, enter applicant information, select the relevant funding opportunity for Option A, and complete the online application. The solicitation indicates that a complete proposal should include a budget and budget narrative, project metrics selected from the program metric list, and spatial data entered in NFWF's online mapping tool that accurately represent the locations of conservation activities. The narrative is expected to address program goals and priorities, partnership and community impact, budget and cost effectiveness, matching contributions, technical merit, conservation plan or Indigenous Knowledge alignment, monitoring, long term sustainability, transferability, communication, and funding need. Where community partners or collaborators are part of the project, letters of support are expected to demonstrate their commitment and engagement. Maps showing identified priority areas, land ownership layers, and legend information are strongly encouraged, especially where proximity to BLM or Forest Service lands affects funding fit. The evaluation process begins with screening for relevance, accuracy, completeness, and compliance with NFWF and funding source policies. Full proposals are then reviewed by teams that include NFWF staff, external technical experts, and funding partner representatives. Each criterion is scored on a scale of 1 to 5. The major criteria include alignment with funding program goals and priorities, partnership and community impact, budget, matching contributions, cost effectiveness, spatial data quality, transferability, communication, funding need, technical merit, conservation plan and Indigenous Knowledge alignment, monitoring, long term sustainability, past success, and partnership strength. The appendix emphasizes that a low score on any individual criterion can lead to rejection even if other sections score well, so applicants need consistent strength across the proposal rather than a single strong narrative section. For the 2026 cycle, the applicant webinar was scheduled for March 12, 2026, and a Tribal webinar for March 24, 2026. The full proposal due date for this round is April 21, 2026 at 11:59 PM Eastern Time. The review period runs from April through August 2026, and awards are expected to be announced in August 2026. The solicitation states that dates are subject to change and applicants should check the program page for current information. Program contacts for questions include Seth Gallagher, Dani Tinnin, and Margaret Card-Silache, and technical assistance for the Easygrants system is available from the Easygrants Helpdesk by email and voicemail during weekday business hours. The solicitation does not state a formal recurring schedule for future rounds, so any future cycle should be confirmed directly from NFWF rather than assumed.

Align the proposal directly to state wildlife action plans or specific Tribal priorities; secure the mandatory wildlife agency letter early because the notice warns that support letters can take time; emphasize shovel-ready or NEPA-ready work that can be completed in 2 years because those projects receive priority; include specific quantifiable metrics and accurate spatial data because both are review criteria; show strong community engagement and partner commitment through letters and implementation roles; make the budget cost-effective and clearly justify match contributions.