Wildlife Restoration, Sport Fish Restoration and State Wildlife Grant Programs | F17AS00009

Opportunity Information: Apply for F17AS00009

The Wildlife Restoration, Sport Fish Restoration and State Wildlife Grant Programs opportunity (Funding Opportunity Number F17AS00009) is a discretionary U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Department of the Interior) funding announcement that supports a single cooperative agreement expected to be awarded to an eligible state government applicant. The total award ceiling listed is $40,000, and the funding is administered through the Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration (WSFR) Program. In practical terms, the announcement bundles support drawn from three long-standing federal assistance streams and uses a cooperative agreement mechanism, meaning the federal agency anticipates having substantial involvement in the funded work rather than simply issuing a pass-through grant.

The first major funding source referenced is the Wildlife Restoration Program (WR), rooted in the Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration Act of 1937, better known as the Pittman-Robertson Wildlife Restoration Act. This program was created to build a dependable funding base for restoring and improving wildlife habitat, supporting wildlife management research, and sharing information produced by those efforts. A key amendment in 1970 expanded eligible purposes to include hunter safety programs as well as the development, operation, and maintenance of firearm and archery ranges. WR is notably funded by excise taxes collected from manufacturers of firearms and ammunition, which are deposited into the U.S. Treasury and then apportioned for wildlife restoration purposes. Under WR, states, commonwealths, and territories can receive support for work such as habitat selection and improvement, wildlife research, population surveys and inventories, land acquisition, hunter education and safety initiatives, coordination, and the development of facilities and services that enable hunter education and broader public use of wildlife resources.

The second funding stream is the Sport Fish Restoration Program (SFR), authorized under the Sport Fish Restoration Act of 1950, also called the Dingell-Johnson Act, and later expanded by the 1984 Wallop-Breaux Amendment. The program was intentionally modeled after Pittman-Robertson to create a parallel conservation and restoration framework for fisheries. Like WR, SFR is financed by dedicated excise taxes, in this case collected from manufacturers of fishing equipment such as rods, reels, lures, flies, and artificial baits, with later amendments extending taxes to additional sport fishing items. SFR funding is aimed at restoring, conserving, managing, or enhancing sport fish populations, increasing public use and benefits from those fisheries, and improving boating access to public waters. Eligible activities commonly include land acquisition, boating access development, research, operations and maintenance of public fishing areas, hatchery and lake construction and maintenance, sport fish population management, fishing habitat improvements, coordination efforts, and aquatic resource education. The announcement also highlights key exclusions for SFR, including law enforcement of fish and game regulations and public relations activities intended to promote the fish and wildlife agency itself.

The third component is the State Wildlife Grant Program (SWG), which is designed to support broader wildlife conservation beyond traditional hunted and fished species. SWG provides federal funds to states (including the District of Columbia, commonwealths, and territories) to develop and implement programs that benefit wildlife and their habitats, explicitly including species that are not hunted or fished. SWG allows both planning and implementation, but planning must directly support development or revision of the state Wildlife Action Plan approved by the Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Implementation activities must be tied to executing that plan, with priority directed toward species of greatest conservation need while considering what other funding sources are available for those species. SWG generally does not support wildlife education or law enforcement, unless those elements are minor or incidental and critical to making a project succeed.

Administrative details in the source listing indicate the opportunity is categorized under natural resources, uses the cooperative agreement funding instrument, and is open to state governments as the eligible applicant class. The posting dates show the opportunity was created on October 21, 2016, with an original closing date of October 28, 2016. The announcement also references the CFDA structure and program identifiers associated with the three component programs (WR, SFR, and SWG), reflecting that the cooperative agreement’s funding would be drawn from these established WSFR base programs rather than creating a new standalone conservation authority.

• The Department of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service in the natural resources sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Wildlife Restoration, Sport Fish Restoration and State Wildlife Grant Programs" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 15.650.
• This funding opportunity was created on Oct 21, 2016.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Oct 28, 2016. (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 $40,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 1 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: State governments.

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