Federal grant programs / Department of Agriculture

Voluntary Public Access and Habitat Incentive Program (10.093)

• Awarded, FY 2021 to 2025$21.5 million
• Grant awards23
• Typical award$583,158
• Awarded in FY 2025-$21
• Size rank1,288 of 1,823
• Type of assistanceFormula grants

Key findings

• It is the 1288th largest of 1,823 federal grant programs by five-year awards.
• The 17 largest recipients received 104% of the money.
• Awards went to recipients in 17 states and territories.

What the program funds

The primary objective of VPA-HIP is to encourage owners and operators of privately-held farm, ranch, and forest land to voluntarily make that land available for access by the public for wildlife-dependent recreation, including hunting or fishing, under programs implemented by state or tribal governments.

From the federal Assistance Listing. Read the full listing on SAM.gov.

Open opportunities

No opportunity under this program is open or forecast on Grants.gov right now. Programs often post once a year, so the funding history below shows what to expect.

Rules from the program listing

Who can apply

Eligible applicants for VPA-HIP are limited to state, territorial and tribal Governments.

What the money can and cannot pay for

The funding provided by the VPA-HIP helps states and tribal governments increase public access to private land and improve wildlife habitat. Grant recipients can use the funding to provide financial incentives to landowners to participate in a public access program, provide infrastructure or equipment associated with implementation of the public access program, and provide incentives to landowners to improve wildlife habitat on lands enrolled in a public access program. Only state and tribal governments are eligible to directly receive VPA-HIP grants.;

Matching requirements

This program has no statutory formula. Matching requirements are not applicable to this assistance listing. MOE requirements are not applicable to this assistance listing.

Award range and average, in the agency's words

The Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 authorized $50 million for VPA-HIP and an additional $10 million was authorized by the FY 2024 extension of the Farm Bill. Currently there is no additional funding authorized for VPA-HIP. Projects range from $100 thousand to $3 million with an average project size of $1.8 million.

Quoted from the program's federal Assistance Listing. The notice of funding opportunity is the official source for each competition's rules.

Who usually wins

Almost all of the money went to state and local governments.

By state

7 states have a page for this program: those that received at least $1 million or 10 awards.

Award amounts are federal obligations reported to USAspending.gov for fiscal 2021 to 2025; see how our data works.