The Wildlife Conservation Society announced a Request for Proposals (RFP) for grants under its new Wildlife Action Opportunities Fund. Made possible through the generosity of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, the Wildlife Action Opportunities Fund will distribute $2 million over the next two years to support 501 (c)(3) nonprofit organizations working to implement State Wildlife Action Plans in any of the 50 states or six U.S. territories. A second RFP for year two of the program will be announced in 2007.

State Wildlife Action Plans were created when Congress charged each state and territory with developing a comprehensive wildlife plan as a condition of receiving federal funding. For more detailed information, links to State Wildlife Action Plans and progress on implementation in your state visit the Teaming with Wildlife website at http://www.teaming.com/

Awards through the Wildlife Action Opportunities Fund will range from $20,000 to $200,000. These grants will support projects that advance the implementation of State Wildlife Action Plans, such as: projects that integrate State Wildlife Action Plan priorities with other land use planning efforts at the local, regional or national level; promote agency incentive programs that are focused on State Wildlife Action Plan priorities; implement policy changes that advance conservation priorities; involve pilot or demonstration landscape-scale habitat restoration or stewardship projects; publicize and raise the profile of State Wildlife Action Plans to the general public and decision makers; improve the existing Plans so as to better facilitate implementation (e.g., developing maps of local conservation areas); help direct mitigation funds or environmental damage awards toward State Wildlife Action Plan priorities; or engage citizens in science projects that are linked to State Wildlife Action Plan priorities.

Funding priority will be placed on projects that are feasible and practical in 1-2 year time periods, are closely aligned with goals of State Wildlife Action Plans, involve multiple organizations, and may serve as models for conservation that can be replicated elsewhere. These funds cannot be used to support land acquisition or conservation easements, political lobbying and advocacy, or capacity building of organizations.

A full outline of the RFP process and the grant making priorities of the Wildlife Action Opportunities Fund is available at the program's web sitehttp://www.wcs.org/wildlifeopportunity. A copy of the RFP is attached to this message as an MS Word document, as well. The deadline for pre-proposals is November 17, 2006 at 5:00 PM Mountain Standard Time.

All questions regarding this program or the RFP process should be directed to Wildlife Conservation Society Grants Program Officer Darren Long (dlong@wcs.org) at 406-522-9333 x103 or Craig Groves (cgroves@wcs.org) at 406-522-9333 x109.