F26AS00023 FY2026 Prescott Marine Mammal Rescue and Response Grant Program

First awarded in fiscal year (FY) 2001, Recovery Land Acquisition grants promote State and Federal cooperation in listed species conservation by leveraging funds to acquire specific parcels of land, through fee simple or conservation easement, in support of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS)-approved recovery plans and outlines. The Endangered Species Act (ESA) conveys the importance of recovery plans as a central organizing tool for guiding the recovery process by requiring their development for every listed species.

Established by Congress in fiscal year (FY) 1997, the Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP) Land Acquisition Grant program was designed to reduce conflicts between the conservation of listed species and competing land uses on specific parcels of land associated with approved and permitted HCPs. Under this program, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) provides matching grants to State agencies in support of land acquisition projects that will conserve species habitat in perpetuity through fee simple acquisition or the acquisition of permanent conservation easements. FWS considers the use of Federal acquisition dollars by States for habitat protection associated with HCPs to be an important and effective mechanism to promote species recovery, prevent extinction, and preclude the need to list species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) in the future. All land acquired through these grants complements, but does not replace, the mitigation, minimization, and/or monitoring commitments of the HCP. Thus, this work is additive to the conservation commitments entered into when HCPs are permitted and serves as a meaningful way to leverage non-Federal investment in species recovery and connect conservation lands across the landscape.

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 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.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.Funding appropriated under the HCA is typically divided into two separate categories – Base and Competitive. Eligible applicants may submit requests for the Competitive Funding Round in response to this Notice of Funding Opportunity. A separate Notice of Funding Opportunity will be posted for Base Funds. A project may not be proposed for funding in both funding opportunities.More information on the HCA program is available at www.fws.gov/program/highlands-conservation-act-grant

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 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.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.Funding appropriated under the HCA is typically divided into two separate categories – Base and Competitive. Eligible applicants may submit requests for the Base Funding Round in response to this Notice of Funding Opportunity. A separate Notice of Funding Opportunity will be posted for Competitive Funds. A project may not be proposed for funding in both funding opportunities.More information on the HCA program is available at www.fws.gov/program/highlands-conservation-act-grant

Using appropriations to the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI), the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) anticipates providing grants to support implementation of interjurisdictional projects that cut across state and tribal Great Lakes Interstate Aquatic Invasive Species Management Plans (AIS Plans). Grants will be awarded based on a competitive process for which only Great Lakes states and tribes (or their designee) are eligible. Funding will be prioritized towards target action-oriented projects that support Great Lakes Panel regional priorities and focus on pathway intervention, detection activities, and active prevention. Two categories of projects will be considered for funding: Sustaining Projects and New Projects. Sustaining Projects are projects that continue previously funded interjurisdictional work and are deemed a priority for continued regional AIS management and prevention support. New Projects are previously unfunded work with the potential to improve regional AIS management and prevention.

Using appropriations to the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI), the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) anticipates providing grants to support implementation of Great Lakes State Aquatic Invasive Species Management Plans (State AIS Plans). State AIS Plans have been transmitted by state governors and then approved by the Aquatic Nuisance Species Task Force. All state grants will be awarded based on a competitive process for which only Great Lakes states or their designee are eligible.

The objectives for the use of cooperative agriculture in the National Wildlife Refuge System (NWRS) are: production or modification of specific cover types or growing methods that meet the life history requirements of species for which we have established objectives (e.g., waterfowl production); production of foods for wildlife species for which we have established objectives; and/or maintenance, rehabilitation, or reestablishment of natural habitat. Cooperative agriculture is when a person or entity conducts agricultural practices on NWRS lands in support of the Service’s conservation and resource management objectives and there is substantial involvement between the Service and that person or entity. The NWRS uses cooperative agreements, known as Cooperative Agriculture Agreements (CAAs), as the legal instruments to formalize the agreement between the Service and the program participant. The cost-sharing of a person or entity in cooperative agricultural on NWRS lands can vary depending on the needs and objectives of the particular NWRS land. For example, the Service may provide the cooperator with the right to perform agricultural practices on NWRS land and a percentage of any resulting crop yield, as well as the ability to use Service water, equipment, and/or refuge staff. In exchange, the cooperator may provide the Service with labor, equipment, and materials; a percentage of any resulting crop yield; and/or maintenance, rehabilitation, or reestablishment of specific habitat conditions on NWRS lands. In addition to or instead of cost-sharing, the Service may accept bids for payment for the person or entity’s agriculture use (e.g. haying or grazing) on NWRS lands in compliance with the Refuge Revenue Sharing Act. This is a nonfinancial assistance program. No Federal funds are obligated or awarded to program participants. Because a CAA is not a financial assistance award, it is not subject to the regulations at 2 CFR 200 or policy in parts 515 and 516 of the Fish and Wildlife Service Manual.

This Notice of Funding Opportunity requests pre-proposals, and then later full applications, for the implementation of State and Interstate Aquatic Nuisance Species Management Plans (SIANSMP) that have been approved by the Aquatic Nuisance Species Task Force (ANSTF) as per Section 4724 (b)(3)(a) of the Nonindigenous Aquatic Nuisance Prevention and Control Act of 1990 as amended (16 U.S.C. 4701-4741). These plans identify activities needed to prevent introductions and spread, and eliminate or reduce the risks associated with, aquatic nuisance species, as part of the broader objective of moving towards a nationally coordinated aquatic invasive species program.The grant process includes a pre-proposal review that occurs outside GrantSolutions. After receiving approval of pre-proposals, eligible applicants can complete the full application process within GrantSolutions. The grant program includes a 25% cost-share (of total project costs) and a 5% limit on administrative costs.

Using appropriations to the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI), the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) anticipates providing grants to support development and/or implementation of Great Lakes Tribal Aquatic Invasive Species Management Plans (Tribal AIS Plans). Therefore, a Tribal AIS Plan must be in place that supports the proposed work, or development of such a plan must be a part of the proposed work. All tribal grants will be awarded based on a competitive process for which only Great Lakes tribes or their designee are eligible.

This is a special Notice of Funding Opportunity Announcement (NOFO) sponsored by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR), which will hereafter generally be referred to as “we”, “us”, “our”, or “AFOSR.” The Fiscal Year 2027 Air Force Young Investigator Research Program (YIP) intends to support individual early career scientists and engineers who have received their Ph.D. or equivalent degrees by 01 April 2019 or later showing exceptional ability and promise for conducting basic research. The program objective is to foster creative basic research in science and engineering; enhance early career development of outstanding young investigators; and increase opportunities for the young investigators to recognize the Air Force and Space Force mission and related challenges in science and engineering. Individual awards are made to U.S. institutions of higher education, industrial laboratories, for- profit, or non-profit research organizations where the principal investigator (PI) is employed on a full-time basis and holds a regular, non-contractor position. A YIP PI must be a U.S. citizen, national, or permanent resident. Researchers working at a Federally Funded Research and Development Center (FFRDC), or a Department of War (DoW) Laboratory are not eligible for this competition. YIP awards are funded up to $150,000 per year for three years, for a total of $450,000. No single year may exceed $150,000. Please review the remainder of this announcement for additional information. Under this competition, an anticipated thirty-seven (37) traditionally funded YIPs and three (3) YIPs funded in partnership with the Laboratory for Physical Sciences (LPS) in the Quantum Information Sciences research discipline may be awarded. There may be potential for an additional 37 YIPs funded from other AFOSR research funding. All actions are based on the availability of funds. Proposers are encouraged to confer with the designated AFOSR Program Officer(s) prior to submitting a full proposal. We will evaluate proposals using an internal review panel. AFOSR reserves the right to select and fund all, some, or none of the proposals from any of the topics below. AFOSR provides no funding for direct reimbursement of proposal development costs. Technical and budget proposals (or any other material) submitted in response to this NOFO will not be returned. It is the policy of AFOSR to treat all white papers and proposals submitted under this NOFO as sensitive competitive information and to disclose their contents only for the purposes of evaluation. White papers briefly summarizing the proposed institution’s ideas are required . Submit white papers to our whitepaper portal, which is linked below. The topic points of contact (POCs) will coordinate to provide feedback on the white papers. The proposals will need to include a data management plan, outlining how samples and data collected in the program will be stored and managed. This includes but is not restricted to issues such as standards for data and metadata collection, content and format, data archiving, database management, and data sharing within, outside the awardee and beyond the lifetime of the grant. This precondition is modeled on the National Science Foundation Data Management Plan requirement (e.g., https://www.nsf.gov/eng/data-management-plans). IMPORTANT NOTE: Applicants should be alert for any amendments that may modify the announcement. Amendments to the original Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) will be posted to the Grants.gov Webpage: https://www.grants.gov/. IMPORTANT DATES: Pre-proposal inquiries and questions, regarding white papers and the submission of those white papers, must be received in writing by electronic mail to the address(es) of this NOFO not later than 17 September 2026 at 11:59 PM Eastern Time to be considered. The Government will respond to any pre-proposal inquiries or questions via public posting, or individual responses, no later than COB on 24 September 2026. Whitepapers must be received by 09 October 2026 at 11:59 PM Eastern Time via submission to https://afosr.gov1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_eKuTqm9qezoDYep to be considered. White paper evaluation is meant to initially assess the capability of a proposed effort. White papers must be no more than five (5) pages in length. References and CV/bios will not count against the page limit. Please review this announcement in its entirety prior to submitting a white paper. The government will respond to the white paper determination before COB on 06 November 2026 . Proposals must be received electronically through Grants.gov by 04 December 2026 at 11:59 PM Eastern Time to be considered. We anticipate that we will notify proposers of selection or non-selection for award no later than 26 April 2027 . We anticipate awards to be made by 01 May 2027 , barring delays.