Awards of 55 grants worth nearly $91 million will be given through the America the Beautiful Challenge established in May 2022 by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.
The grants “will support landscape-scale conservation projects in 42 states, three U.S. territories and for 14 Tribal Nations,” a Nov. 10 U.S. Department of the Interior news release said.
“Nature is essential to the health, well-being and prosperity of every family and every community in America,” Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland said in the release. “Through the America the Beautiful Challenge, we are investing in projects that advance collaborative conservation utilizing the best available science, innovative practices and Indigenous knowledge to help conserve and protect our lands and waters. This work will create jobs, strengthen our economy, address equitable access to the outdoors and help tackle the climate crisis.”
ATBC grants help support projects that "conserve, restore and connect habitats for wildlife while improving community resilience and access to nature,” the release said.
Funding for the grants comes from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, federal conservation programs and private sources, the release said. The challenge partners the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and the Departments of the Interior, Agriculture and Defense and Native Americans in Philanthropy. The Bezos Earth Fund provided added support this year.
Information on grant awards and projects is available online.
“Restoring and maintaining 193 million acres of national forests and grasslands and conserving hundreds of thousands of acres of agricultural and private lands is a task too large for any one organization to do alone,” Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in the release. “That is why we have long worked with a wide array of partners and our co-stewardship agreements with Tribal nations help bridge the gap between what we can accomplish ourselves and the work we all know needs to get done together. These grants help make those connections possible.”
