FY 2021 Cooperative Endangered Species Conservation Fund (CESCF) Traditional Conservation Grants Program (Service Legacy Region 4)

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The principle objective of the Traditional Conservation Grant Program is to support the development and implementation of States’ programs to conserve and recover threated and endangered species under the Service’s jurisdiction. Financial assistance, provided in the form of grants, can be used to support projects that have direct conservation benefits for federally listed species, candidate and at-risk species, and recently delisted species. States may apply for funding to conduct work on federally-listed resident species that are included in the State’s cooperative agreement. States may also apply for funding to monitor candidate, at-risk, and recently delisted species. Candidate Species are those that the Service determined warrant listing as a threatened or endangered species, but the listing is precluded by other higher priority actions. For the purposes of this Notice of Funding Opportunity, we are considering certain “at-risk” species in addition to Candidate Species: 1) those species that are the subject of a positive 90-day finding but not yet the subject of a proposed rule, 2) species that are the subject of a proposed listing rule but not a final rule, 3) species for which the Service has initiated an ESA status review and has announced the review in the Federal Register, and 4) species included on the National Listing Workplan. A full list of at-risk species can be found in Attachment A. Further, recently delisted species, for purposes of this solicitation, are those species delisted within the past five years. Only species delisted due to recovery may receive funding under this solicitation. A list of all delisted species and the year delisted is available at the Service’s ECOS Delisted Species page. Projects proposed for funding may involve management, research, monitoring, and outreach activities or any combination thereof. Applications 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 ESA. Successful applications will be those that clearly demonstrate a direct conservation benefit to the species or its habitat. Eligible activities may include, but are not limited to: Introduction of species into suitable habitats within their historic range Enhancement or restoration of habitat Surveys and inventories of habitats Species status surveys Propagation of animals and plants Research such as genetic analysis to determine genetic health and population structure Public education and outreach tools such as website development or coordination workshops with local landowners to address a specific threat to a species Monitoring of candidate, at-risk and recently recovered species

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