The White House Council on Environmental Quality today announced a new public-private grant program to support ecosystem restoration projects consistent with the administration’s initiative to conserve at least 30% of U.S. lands and waters by 2030 (“30×30”).
Dubbed the “America the Beautiful Challenge,” the program will be managed by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and include funding from the Departments of the Interior ($375 million), Agriculture ($35 million), and Defense ($25 million). CEQ called the 2021 bipartisan infrastructure bill a “major source” of the federal funding, which will be leveraged to raise private and philanthropic contributions with a goal toward directing at least $1 billion in grants to communities through 2027.
CEQ Chair Brenda Mallory said that the Challenge “will help mobilize new investments in locally led, voluntary conservation and restoration projects across the country, while making it easier for communities to access these resources,” adding that the initiative “responds to the President’s call to all of us to do more to conserve our lands and waters for future generations and to ensure that every person in our country can experience the wonder of the outdoors.”
CEQ added that the program will “make it easier for communities to access grants” and “deliver landscape-scale impact” by enabling entities to apply for multiple grant programs through a single application and facilitating coordination of project funding across landscapes, watersheds, and seascapes.
A Request for Proposals is expected in early May, with proposals due by the end of July and funding awarded in November. Applicants will be encouraged to prioritize projects that “uplift Tribal and Indigenous-led efforts,” with funding set aside for supporting the efforts of Tribal Nations and territories. Applicants are also encouraged to consider how proposals build “the conservation and resilience workforce of the future.”
The announcement also noted $2.34 billion in additional funding to be released over several years by USDA and NOAA for projects consistent with 30×30, including $500 million in FY 2022 and 2023 for Natural Resources Conservation Service landscape-level initiatives and $1.84 billion over 5 years for NOAA-funded habitat conservation, coastal resilience, and fish passage investments.
