Grants / Department of the Interior / Fish and Wildlife Service

F24AS00447: Highlands Conservation Act - Pilot - Under-Resourced Communities Funding Round

Closed Closed December 31, 2024 Opportunity F24AS00447 ☆ Save

This grant is closed. Who won this program's grants before is below, and similar open grants are at the end of the page. It is in our archive of Fish and Wildlife Service notices from 2024.

• Award ceiling$830,862
• Award floor$25,000
• Total funding$3.3 million
• Cost sharingRequired
• Funding typeGrant

Key dates

Who can apply

This opportunity was open to state and local governments.

• State governments

Only the Lead State Agency (or Agencies), as determined by the Governor of each Highlands State, may be the applicant for funding under the Highlands Conservation Act Grant Program. If the Governor assigns multiple Lead Agencies, those Agencies must coordinate on funding requests prior to submission and ensure no more than the maximum allowable amount is requested through this funding opportunity. All or part of the funds received by the Lead State Agency may be subawarded to a County or Municipality within the Highlands Region, or to another State Conservation Agency. The current Lead State Agencies are:Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection. Contact Matt Starr: matthew.starr@ct.govNew York State Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation. Contact Lynn Kovach: lynn.kovach@parks.ny.govNew Jersey Highlands Water Protection and Planning Council. Contact Liz Ward: elizabeth.ward@highlands.nj.govPennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. Contact Dan Pierce: danipierce@pa.gov

More grants for state and local governments.

Is this a realistic fit?

• Past Highlands Conservation awards averaged $1.4 million; this notice allows up to $830,862 per award.
• Most of the program's money (100% over five years) went to state and local governments.
• The notice requires cost sharing or matching funds, so you must contribute part of the project cost.

What the grant funds

The Highlands Conservation Act Program (HCA) is administered by the US Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) to assist Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania in the permanent protection of land and natural resources in the Highlands Region. HCA grants support land conservation projects in which a State, County, or Municipal entity acquires land or an interest in land from a willing seller to conserve resources of high conservation value. Subject to availability of funds through Federal appropriation, Governors of the four Highlands States may submit proposals for up to 50% of the total cost of land conservation projects in the Highlands Region. Highland States may also request that the Service add Municipalities from within the identified Expanded Opportunity Area for the Highlands Landscape to the Highlands Region. In recent years, funding appropriated under the HCA has been divided into two separate categories – Base and Competitive. Notice of Funding Opportunities for the Base and Competitive rounds are posted separately. This Notice of Funding Opportunity is a pilot grant round for land protection projects in under-resourced and under-served communities within the Highlands Region. Eligible areas for land conservation for this grant round are shown here: https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/a9614d676a704ee482a1112449a10cce/page/Main/Once the map is open, click the box next to “under-resourced communities in the highlands region” layer to make the layer visible. Land or easement acquisition projects within this layer and in the eligible Highlands Region are eligible for funding. A project may not be proposed for funding in multiple funding opportunities. An online overview of this Notice of Funding Opportunity is scheduled for Friday, September 27 at 11:00 AM EST. Email the Service contact (Section G.1) to receive an invitation for the overview.

Category: Natural Resources.

Applying now

This notice no longer takes applications. Agencies often post the same opportunity again under a new number, so check the program's notices on Grants.gov and the similar open grants below.

The notice on Grants.gov keeps its full text and attachments, which is useful for planning a resubmission.