State Wildlife Grant (SWG) Program | F19AS00153

Opportunity Information: Apply for F19AS00153

The State Wildlife Grant (SWG) Program is a federal grant program run by the U.S. Department of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service, designed to help State governments (including the District of Columbia, U.S. Commonwealths, and U.S. Territories) conserve wildlife and the habitats those species depend on. A central purpose of the program is to support conservation that goes beyond traditional game management by explicitly including species that are not hunted or fished. In practice, SWG funding is meant to help States build and carry out comprehensive, statewide approaches to wildlife conservation, with an emphasis on preventing species from becoming endangered by addressing threats early and strategically.

Funded work under SWG falls into two main categories: conservation planning and conservation implementation. Planning activities must directly support the development or revision of the applicant’s Wildlife Action Plan, and that plan must be approved by the Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Implementation activities are the on-the-ground or programmatic actions the State proposes in order to execute that approved plan. This structure is important because SWG is not a general-purpose wildlife funding source; projects are expected to tie back clearly to the State’s Wildlife Action Plan priorities, needs, and identified conservation strategies.

A key requirement is that SWG funds must benefit “species of greatest conservation need” (SGCN) as identified in the State’s Wildlife Action Plan. Applicants are expected to use the plan’s SGCN list and priorities to guide what gets funded and, when deciding where to invest, to consider how much other funding is already available for those species. Congress has also directed an emphasis toward species that are listed, proposed, or otherwise being considered for listing under the Endangered Species Act. As a result, the Service encourages States to prioritize candidate, threatened, and endangered species when those species appear in the State plan and when focusing SWG resources on them fits the State’s operational priorities. The underlying idea is to align SWG investments with high-need species and to support proactive conservation that can reduce the likelihood of future ESA listings where possible.

The notice also sets clear boundaries on what SWG will not typically pay for. Wildlife education and law enforcement are generally ineligible uses of these funds, unless they are minor or incidental components and are truly critical to making an otherwise eligible project succeed. This reflects the program’s focus on planning and direct conservation actions, rather than broader agency functions that may be supported through other funding streams.

From an administrative standpoint, this opportunity is a mandatory grant (rather than a discretionary competition) and is tied to natural resources work under CFDA 15.634. Eligible applicants are State governments. The opportunity is identified as Funding Opportunity Number F19AS00153, with a listed award ceiling of $5,000,000. The posting indicates a creation date of March 19, 2019, and an original closing date of August 30, 2020. The expected awards field is shown as 0 in the provided source data, which often reflects how the listing was entered or maintained rather than a statement about whether funding exists in the program overall.

Finally, the SWG Program is positioned as supporting the broader mission and vision of the Fish and Wildlife Service’s Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration (WSFR) program, which emphasizes conservation through partnerships and the long-term health, diversity, and accessibility of fish and wildlife populations. The notice links SWG to Department of the Interior priorities by highlighting conservation stewardship, responsible use of natural resources, and restoring trust with local communities. Overall, the opportunity is best understood as a structured federal funding mechanism to help States plan for and implement targeted conservation actions for at-risk wildlife and habitats, anchored in an approved statewide Wildlife Action Plan and focused strongly on species with the greatest conservation needs.

• The Department of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service in the natural resources sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "State Wildlife Grant (SWG) Program" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 15.634.
• This funding opportunity was created on Mar 19, 2019.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Aug 30, 2020. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $5,000,000.00 in funding.
• Eligible applicants include: State governments.

Apply for F19AS00153

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