The Biden-Harris administration joined the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) and public-and private-sector partners today in announcing $122.4 million in grants through the America the Beautiful Challenge (ATBC). The 61 new grants announced today will support landscape-scale conservation projects across 42 states, 19 Tribal Nations, and 3 U.S. territories. The grants will generate at least $8.7 million in matching contributions for a total conservation impact of $131.1 million. Approximately 42 percent of all 2024 ATBC funding will support projects implemented by Indigenous communities and organizations, representing another year of record funding dedicated to Tribally led projects for a single grant program at NFWF.
America the Beautiful, launched by President Biden in 2021, set the nation's first-ever goal to conserve at least 30 percent of U.S. lands and waters by 2030. The 10-year, locally led and nationally scaled initiative lifts up efforts to conserve, connect and restore the lands, waters and wildlife upon which we all depend. Over the past four years, the Biden-Harris Administration has conserved more than 45 million acres of our nation's lands and waters.
ATBC grants support projects that conserve, restore and connect wildlife habitats and ecosystems while improving community resilience and access to nature, which also advance President Biden's ambitious environmental justice goals. The competitive grant awards were made possible through President Biden's Investing in America agenda, with funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, other federal conservation programs, and private sources. The Biden-Harris Administration launched the Challenge in 2022 as a partnership with the Departments of the Interior, Agriculture and Defense, Native Americans in Philanthropy, and NFWF.
"President Biden's America the Beautiful initiative has been truly transformative. By working together across the federal family, and through private-public partnerships, we have built an enduring path to support hundreds of locally led collaborative conservation projects across the country," said Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland. "The America the Beautiful Challenge has advanced engagement with Tribes, funding a record amount of Tribally led efforts and elevating the use of Indigenous Knowledge to benefit endangered species and treasured landscapes. These innovative investments will leave a lasting legacy on our nation's lands and waters."
"The America the Beautiful Challenge is advancing President Biden's ongoing commitment to conserve our lands and waters by supporting locally led conservation and restoration projects in communities across the country," said White House Council on Environmental Quality Chair Brenda Mallory. "Thanks to historic investments from the President's Investing in America agenda, these projects in communities across the nation will help ensure everyone can access the benefits nature has to offer for years to come."
"Over the past three years, the America the Beautiful Challenge has served as a marker of the Biden-Harris Administration's commitment to protecting our nation's natural treasures for future generations," said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. "Through these awards, and in partnership with Tribes, NGOs, state partners, and others, USDA will continue to build on its critical work - from voluntary conservation efforts to safeguard our forests and grasslands to increasing access to climate-smart practices and mitigating the risk posed by dangerous wildfires."
"The 18 designated sentinel landscapes are strategically important for the Department of Defense (DoD), Department of the Interior, U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and allow our DoD installations and ranges to safeguard key testing and training capabilities through mutually beneficial partnerships," said Brendan Owens, Assistant Secretary of Defense, Energy, Installations and Environment. "By allocating over $6 million in DoD Readiness and Environmental Protection Integration (REPI) Program funding to six projects across Sentinel Landscapes, this year's America the Beautiful Challenge is strengthening military readiness by protecting capabilities in the Indo-Pacific region, reducing regulatory burdens, and decreasing catastrophic wildfire risk in order to sustain mission-essential activities."
To streamline access to these funds, federal agencies established the ATBC to create a centralized and simplified competitive grant program for landscape-scale conservation and restoration projects that contribute to conservation plans across the nation. Now in its third year, the 2024 ATBC request for proposals received 331 pre-proposals requesting $677 million for conservation efforts. Of those, NFWF and partners invited 133 applicants to submit full proposals. The grants announced today address about 18 percent of this overall level of demand, illustrating the highly competitive nature of the ATBC.
These projects will enable states, Tribal Nations, U.S. territories, nonprofits, academic institutions, and other grantees to develop and implement multijurisdictional, high-priority restoration projects on both public and private lands. The program is intended to encourage the development and implementation of voluntary, diverse and comprehensive landscape-level projects that:
- Address priority conservation and restoration needs
- Showcase cumulative benefits to fish and wildlife
- Enhance carbon sequestration and storage
- Engage with and benefit communities, including underserved communities
- Connect people with nature
- Advance existing conservation plans and/or are informed by Indigenous Knowledge
- Help safeguard ecosystems and communities through resilience-focused and nature-based solutions
The ATBC includes an emphasis on supporting Tribal Nations' access to grant funding for restoration, conservation and capacity-building, and seeks projects that incorporate Indigenous Knowledge in planning and implementation. The number of proposals awarded to Tribal Nation applicants in 2024 far exceeded minimum funding and demonstrated the high demand and clear need for innovative funding approaches to Tribally led conservation efforts.
"Indigenous knowledge and leadership are at the heart of addressing the biodiversity and climate crisis," said Erik Stegman, CEO of Native Americans in Philanthropy. "Our Collaborative with the Biodiversity Funders Group demonstrates the power of public-private solutions, leveraging $1.6 million in private funding to unlock over $51 million in public resources for groundbreaking Tribal conservation projects. We're grateful to our partners in philanthropy and government for working together to remove barriers and develop new models for investment in Tribally-led environmental conservation."
