Federal Partners

When Congress established the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation in 1984, the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) became the Foundation’s first federal partner. Today, FWS continues to work with NFWF to forge new initiatives that bring conservation organizations, governments, businesses and individuals together to generate new resources for conservation. From 1986 to 2010, the Foundation leveraged $175 million in FWS-appropriated funds to support more than 4,170 grants to 1,800 conservation partners, resulting in more than $682 million in projects that benefit conservation in all 50 states, the U.S. territories and around the globe.

In FY2010, the Foundation leveraged $8 million in FWS funds into approximately $34 million for on-the-ground conservation. FWS funds support targeted conservation efforts focusing on at-risk species, habitat enhancement and community-based stewardship. The partnership seeks to increase populations of targeted species through the restoration of landscape-level habitats. Areas of focus include shortgrass prairie, sagebrush steppe, longleaf pine, early successional forest, estuary and Pacific salmon ecosystems.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the Foundation have a longstanding partnership to sustain, restore and enhance marine and coastal habitats, as well as to increase populations of imperiled marine species. Working closely with the agency, the Foundation has leveraged more than $59 million in NOAA funding to produce more than $172 million for on-the-ground and in-the-water conservation.

In FY2010, the Foundation awarded $3.2 million in NOAA funds to projects focused on coral reefs, sea turtles, marine debris removal, marine protected areas and California coastal conservation. While some of these projects did not require matching funds, the Foundation’s partners leveraged the NOAA funds with an an additional $2.8 million for marine conservation. In addition, a new partnership was launched in FY2010 which will focus on the development of sustainable fisheries by working proactively with the local fishing community.

The Foundation’s partnership with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) supports innovative, large-scale nutrient and sediment reduction efforts, as well as community-based watershed restoration. Since 1998, Foundation grant programs sponsored by the agency have awarded approximately 1,300 grants, leveraging $61 million in EPA funds into more than $185 million for restoration projects to benefit our nation’s water quality. For FY2010, the Foundation leveraged $16.5 million in EPA funds into more than $45 million through the Chesapeake Bay Stewardship Fund, the Sustain Our Great Lakes program (in partnership with FWS), the Long Island Sound Futures Fund and the Five-Star Restoration program.

NFWF worked with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation throughout FY2010 on the initial phase of the Walker Basin Restoration Program, a watershed-scale initiative to restore and maintain Nevada’s Walker Lake, an at-risk, natural desert terminal lake. The Foundation focused on increasing water flows into Walker Lake primarily through the acquisition of water rights from willing sellers, with concurrent development of grant programs in the areas of water leasing, water conservation, land stewardship, decision support and associated research. The Foundation is also working with the University of Nevada-Reno, the Walker River Irrigation District, the Walker River Paiute Tribe, state agencies, local governments, farmers and ranchers, and others in the community to implement the program.

In partnership with the Bonneville Power Administration, the Foundation supports an innovative, grassroots, incentive-based initiative to improve river and stream flows for imperiled fish. The Columbia Basin Water Transaction Program is the first regional effort in the U.S. to enhance flows in tributaries compromised by legal water diversions. Agency, tribal and nonprofit partners in Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Montana worked to secure flows through 131 transactions in FY2010. These flows restored more than 96,600 acre-feet instream to boost high-priority, fish-bearing habitat for communities across the region. This is the most flow secured in-stream to date.

For more than 20 years, the Foundation and the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service (FS) have worked together to conserve forested lands through stewardship and watershed restoration programs. Through this relationship, the Foundation has grown $33 million in FS-appropriated funds into more than $158 million to benefit forest species and ecosystems. In FY2010, the Foundation awarded $2.8 million in FS-appropriated funds, which were leveraged into $13.5 million for projects throughout the country. One of the primary goals of the partnership is to improve watershed health through the restoration of forest ecosystems. To achieve that goal, the Foundation focused on meadow restoration in California and forest restoration in the Klamath Basin, the Upper Mississippi River, the Great Lakes and the Chesapeake Bay watersheds. Other projects directly benefit species such as Gunnison sage grouse, Eastern brook trout and early successional migratory songbirds.

The Foundation and the Department of the Interior Bureau of Land Management (BLM) have partnered for 19 years to support conservation efforts on or benefiting the nation’s critical federal rangeland ecosystems. During that time, the Foundation has leveraged $39 million in BLM- appropriated funds into more than $156 million to support habitat restoration and species recovery activities. In FY2010, the Foundation leveraged $2.7 million in BLM funds into more than $11 million for conservation projects focused on native fish habitat restoration, migratory corridors, lesser prairie-chicken recovery and the conservation of key desert habitats. In FY2010, the Foundation, BLM and other agency stake­holders entered into an agreement to support conservation activities designed to mitigate renewable energy projects taking place in Southern California.

The Foundation has a long-standing relationship with the U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). In FY2010, it entered into new partnerships with NRCS focused on developing a water transaction framework for Northern California and on restoring coral reefs through upstream land management in Puerto Rico. At the close of the fiscal year, the Foundation and NRCS agreed to enter into a joint program to increase on-the-ground technical assistance capacity to promote conservation on private lands. This program will support innovative public-private partnerships and assist declining wildlife populations in priority ecosystems.