Federal grant programs / Department of the Interior

Adaptive Science (15.670)

• Awarded, FY 2021 to 2025$117 million
• Grant awards135
• Typical award$122,000
• Awarded in FY 2025$24.6 million
• Size rank763 of 1,823
• Type of assistanceProject grants (discretionary)

Key findings

• Annual funding rose from $14.4 million in fiscal 2021 to $24.6 million in fiscal 2025.
• It is the 763rd largest of 1,823 federal grant programs by five-year awards.
• The 20 largest recipients received 94% of the money.
• Awards went to recipients in 36 states and territories.

What the program funds

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) uses a science-based, adaptive framework for setting and achieving broad-scale conservation objectives that strategically address the problems fish and wildlife will face in the future. This framework, called Strategic Habitat Conservation, is based on the principles of adaptive management and uses population and habitat data, ecological models, and focused monitoring and assessment efforts to develop and implement strategies that result in measurable fish and wildlife population outcomes. This process uses the best available scientific information to predict how fish and wildlife populations will respond to changes in the environment, thus enabling the USFWS to focus habitat conservation and other management activities where they will be most effective. In addition, the USFWS needs focused, applied science directed at high impact questions surrounding threats to fish and wildlife resources for which management and/or mitigation is required to maintain species at healthy, sustainable, desired levels. USFWS must base its decisions on the best science available, in order to defend its regulatory decisions, biological opinions and species conservation recommendations to land managers.

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

Support will be provided to communicate science information, tools, assessments, and other products. This program is administered in compliance with the Federal Grants and Cooperative Agreements Act of 1977, as amended. These funds may not be used towards training U.S. Federal Government personnel or purchase of real property. 100% of funding is discretionary.

What the money can and cannot pay for

Support will be provided for science projects: to include species risk and vulnerability assessments, inventory and monitoring, population and habitat assessments, biological planning and conservation design, ecosystem services, indigenous knowledge management evaluation and research, decision support, data management, and conservation genetics; to identify and implement landscape-scale conservation solutions to such issues as adaptation, land use change, invasive species spread, and fire frequency changes; and to address high impact questions surrounding threats to fish wildlife, and plants, providing answers needed to manage species to healthy, sustainable, desired levels. Support will provided for science projects and collaborative partnerships that identify and address shared conservation priorities and science needs; inform landscape-scale planning and tools that support decision-making for at-risk and listed fish and wildlife species and their habitats; and link science to coordinated, efficient resource management actions. Support will be provided to communicate science information, tools, assessments, and other products. This program is administered in compliance with the Federal Grants and Cooperative Agreements Act of 1977, as amended. These funds may not be used towards training U.S. Federal Government personnel or purchase of real property. 100% of funding is discretionary.

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

Range is $1,000 - $1,000,000. Average award amount varies by project type and duration.

Examples of funded projects

Fiscal Year2025: Satellite remote sensing underpins conservation planning in the SCD. Building on existing rangeland products and collaborating with USDA ARS and the RAP team, we aim to develop next-generation models to detect and assess invasive annual grass (IAG) dynamics across the sagebrush biome. Because IAGs drive 55–70% of biome loss, this proposal focuses on improving their detection, though enhancements will also support monitoring of conifer expansion. Improved datasets will help practitioners better target treatments and evaluate their effectiveness at management scales. The primary objective is to research, develop, and test methods that advance satellite-based monitoring of invasive annual grasses.Fiscal Year2026: Program anticipates funding projects that result in measurable fish and wildlife population outcomes.

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

Nonprofits received 91% of the money, colleges and universities 6.1% and state and local governments 1.1%.

By state

5 states have a page for this program: those that received at least $1 million or 10 awards. They are District of Columbia, Vermont, Virginia, Nevada and California.

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