Endangered Species Conservation and Recovery Grant Program

Grants to California nonprofit organizations, government agencies, IHEs, and Tribal governments for projects to protect and restore wildlife habitats and endangered or threatened species. Priority will be given to proposals that are designed to prevent the extinction of a federally listed species, prevent the need to list a candidate species, or have a direct impact on the recovery of a listed species. Consideration will also be given to proposals involving a candidate or recently delisted species.

Projects proposed for funding may involve management, research, monitoring, and outreach activities or any combination thereof. Proposals should include clear and specific information about how the proposed work would contribute to species recovery or prevent the need to list a species under the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA). Successful applications will be those that demonstrate a direct conservation benefit to the species or its habitat. Eligible activities may include, but are not limited to:

• Enhancement or restoration of federally listed species’ habitat
• Surveys and inventories of federally listed species and/or their habitats
• Introduction of federally listed species into suitable habitats within their historic range
• Propagation of federally listed animals and plants
• Research, such as genetic analysis to determine genetic health and population structure of federally listed species
• Monitoring population of federally listed, candidate, at risk, and recently delisted species (note: for candidate, at-risk and recently recovered species only monitoring projects are eligible)
• Public education and outreach activities such as coordination workshops with local landowners, when those activities address a specific threat to an ESAlisted species
  

For the 2023 cycle, CDFW will give priority to projects that address the following themes:

• Actions or assessments directly supporting the de-listing of currently federally listed species
• Projects benefitting species listed under both the ESA and the California Endangered Species Act (CESA)
• Projects that identify and implement on-the-ground land and water resource management practices for the conservation and recovery of federally listed species
• Applied science that reduces the impacts of large high intensity wildfires, drought, and other climate-related stressors on federally listed species or promotes resilience to these stressors in federally listed species or their habitats
• Scientific investigations into the adaptive response of federally listed species to changing environmental conditions, including prolonged drought, altered water and fire regimes, proliferation of non-native species, and habitat type conversion
• Activities and applied research in natural communities supporting multiple federally listed species