National Species Recovery Grants

For many threatened and endangered species, the barrier to recovery is often a specific bottleneck. Gaps in survey data, fragmented habitat, human-wildlife conflict or limited capacity can make it difficult for species to achieve measurable progress toward recovery.  

NSRG seeks to address these challenges through targeted investments in conservation actions important to species recovery, including habitat restoration, invasive species removal, population monitoring and surveys, and captive breeding and release.

Funded projects will help fill gaps in data, improve human-wildlife coexistence, and restore habitat for more than 90 species that could make measurable progress toward downlisting or delisting.

The program focuses on four primary strategies:

• Habitat Restoration and Protection: restore, enhance and/or protect habitat necessary for species recovery
• Population Management: rear individuals for reintroduction or augmentation to increase species resiliency and redundancy
• Threat Reduction and Human Conflict Management: reduce or eliminate ongoing threats identified in recovery planning documents
• Monitoring and Research: track progress toward recovery criteria

Together, these efforts are intended to implement recovery actions so that more species can be considered recovered and potentially removed from the lists of endangered and threatened species. The work can also provide broader benefits for ecosystems and communities by supporting biodiversity, improving water quality, stabilizing soils, and providing cultural, recreational and economic benefits.  

The initiative was established with $55 million in one-time funding from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The initiative also complements existing NFWF conservation programs and partnerships, allowing targeted species-recovery investments to build on conservation work already underway.