Eligible applicants include: local, state, federal, and tribal governments and agencies (e.g., counties, cities, towns), special districts (e.g., conservation districts, planning districts, utility districts), non-profit 501(c) organizations, educational institutions, and commercial (for-profit) organizations.
For-profit applicants: please note that this is a request for grant proposals, not a procurement of goods and services; see the Budget section below for specific cost considerations.
The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) is requesting proposals to restore, protect and enhance populations of Mojave desert tortoise and their habitat in California’s western Mojave Desert.
The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) is requesting proposals to restore, protect and enhance populations of Mojave desert tortoise and their habitat in California’s western Mojave Desert. Up to $1 million in funding is expected to be available through support from the U.S. Marine Corps.
GEOGRAPHIC FOCUS/PROGRAM FUNDING PRIORITIES
This Request for Proposals (RFP) is part of NFWF’s Mojave Desert Tortoise Recovery Partnership, and will provide funding to projects that produce measurable outcomes for the threatened Mojave desert tortoise in California’s Western Mojave Desert Recovery Unit focal areas (Figure 1). Priority projects will address the leading factors in Mojave desert tortoise decline such as habitat alteration and fragmentation, environmental change and direct tortoise mortality. The primary goal of this program is to marshal resources in a coordinated manner to work to recover the species by protecting Mojave desert tortoises from reducing or eliminating threats to the tortoise and restoring critical habitat. Conservation activities referenced in NFWF’s Mojave Desert Tortoise Recovery Implementation Plan will be most competitive. Projects that address desert tortoise conservation needs should be located in one or more of six focal areas in the Western Mojave Recovery Unit (Figure 1). However, highway exclusion fencing projects will be prioritized along priority road sections within the Western Mojave Desert identified in Figure 1.
In FY25, the Partnership is specifically soliciting projects in areas where contemporary linear disturbance density is less than or equal to 0.6 km/km2, the approximate and best available maximum linear disturbance density threshold for positive tortoise population expansion. The FY25 Recovery and Sustainment Partnership (RASP) Priority Project Areas comprise tortoise habitats with a minimum linear disturbance density of less than or equal to 0.6 km/km2 and are intended to further direct project proposals within existing focal areas (Figure 2). This strategy intends to make the greatest impact with existing resources in the near term.