NFWF Announces Release of New England Forests and Rivers Fund Request for Proposals for 2017

Washington D.C., (March 14, 2017) — The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) today announced the release of the Request for Proposals (RFP) for the New England Forests and Rivers Fund. The Fund, which was launched in 2015 with seed funding from Eversource as part of its Partners for New Hampshire’s Fish and Wildlife program, is dedicated to restoring and sustaining healthy forests and rivers throughout New England. Proposals are due May 11, 2017, and the full RFP can be found here.

Since its inception, the program has awarded twenty-nine grants through a competitive grant process, totaling over $3 million. These grants are opening 348 miles of stream to fish passage, restoring 13 miles of streamside forest, and creating over 1,275 acres of young forest habitat. Many of these programs were located in New Hampshire, including work in the White Mountains, Connecticut River Valley and the Seacoast. NFWF expects to award approximately $1.5 million in 2017.

“This program has accomplished so much in two short years, and we are excited to be able to sustain this pace through ongoing support from our partners,” said Amanda Bassow, Director of NFWF’s Northeastern Regional Office. “We are especially pleased to add the American Forest Foundation to our list of funding partners this year.”

“The results we’ve seen across the region in the first two years of this program are impressive,” said Bill Quinlan, President of Eversource’s New Hampshire Operations. “Numerous plant and animal species have benefitted from the conservation and restoration of key habitats, especially here in New Hampshire, thanks to the dedicated research and hard work that these organizations have invested.”

“New England is dominated by family woodland ownership, meaning landscape-scale conservation efforts must engage this important audience,” said Christine Cadigan, Director of Northeastern Woodland Conservation at the American Forest Foundation. “Because of this, AFF is thrilled to be a new partner and help further engage family woodland owners in forest conservation projects that promote and enhance wildlife habitat.”

The New England Forests and Rivers Fund invests in on-the-ground restoration projects and applied science in order to:

  • Strengthen the health of forest systems by improving the management of public and private forestlands to create a mosaic of mixed age forests in the region.
  • Provide incentives to strengthen habitat conservation on working forests through flexible  technical assistance that is appropriate for the forest stage(s) being targeted;
  • Improve the quality of river and stream systems through targeted riparian and stream restoration;
  • Reduce barriers to fish passage and increase fish access to high quality habitat, thereby increasing overall aquatic connectivity; and
  • Enhance biodiversity of forest and river systems and increase populations of species representative of system health, such as New England cottontail, American woodcock, Bay-breasted warbler, Canada warbler, wood thrush, river herring and Eastern brook trout. 

Competitive grants are reviewed by a committee of government and academic experts, and funding decisions are based on the ability of the applicant to implement strategies that achieve the program priorities and result in measurable conservation outcomes.

Major funding for the New England Forests and Rivers Fund is provided by Eversource’s Partners for New Hampshire’s Fish and Wildlife, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service and Natural Resources Conservation Service, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Additional information about the Fund can be found here.

About NFWF

Chartered by Congress in 1984, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) protects and restores the nation's fish, wildlife, plants and habitats. Working with federal, corporate and individual partners, NFWF has funded more than 4,500 organizations and committed more than $3.5 billion to conservation projects. Learn more at www.nfwf.org.