NAWCA

North American Wetlands Conservation Act

NAWCA provides competitive, matching grants that support public-private partnerships carrying out projects in the U.S. that involve long-term protection, restoration, and/or enhancement of wetlands and associated uplands habitats for the benefit of all wetlands-associated migratory birds.

The Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for the FY2026-2 US Standard NAWCA Grant is now open for proposal submissions. The funding opportunity is advertised on grants.gov:  

https://www.grants.gov/search-results-detail/361755

However, apply directly within www.grantsolutions.gov  

Below are instructions on applying directly to an announcement within GrantSolutions:   

https://www.grantsolutions.gov/support/public/pdf/QuickSheetDirectedAnnouncement.pdf  

 Announcement title: F26AS00026-NAWCA 2026-2 US Standard Grants

Announcement funding opportunity number:   F26AS00026 

Deadline:  Thursday, May 7, 2026 by 11:59pm Eastern Time  

NAWCA in the LMVJV

A total of 121 NAWCA Standard Grant projects have been funded in the LMVJV. Grants totaling more than $90,000,000 have been matched by over $263,000,000 in partner funds to conserve 674,000 acres of wetlands for waterfowl, shorebirds, songbirds, wading birds, and myriad other wildlife and people.

The NAWCA program is administered by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. Applicants are strongly encouraged to become familiar with LMVJV bird objectives as they develop project proposals. For more detail on bird objectives and priorities, please see Conservation Planning & Science Priorities, as well as individual conservation plans in the Science menu above.

As indicated in the grant application process described in the Proposal Application Instructions, Joint Ventures have a role in reviewing both Standard Grant and Small Grant applications and providing input to the proposal selection process. Applicants within the LMVJV region are asked to do the following:

1. If you have questions about LMVJV objectives, grant proposal development, or guidelines related to a project within the LMVJV region, please contact one of the following:

• vacant

• MAV Partnership Coordinator

2. A complete copy of each grant proposal(s), with shapefiles for all project elements, should be submitted to Dr. Anne Mini, Senior Scientist (above) at the time of submittal to NAWCA.

3. Once proposals are assessed for consistency with LMVJV objectives, the JV Management Board and staff will schedule a conference call with all project officers for submitted proposals to provide the opportunity to discuss and ask questions.

4. All proposals submitted in each cycle within the LMVJV region are ranked by the Management Board, and these ranks are submitted to the NAWCA Council to serve as one of the elements used to select projects to receive funding.