National Fish and Wildlife Foundation

Big conservation news: NFWF is excited to announce a 10-year, $34.5 million renewal of Walmart’s Acres for America program! ?? This landmark public-private partnership is celebrating 20 years of protecting America’s most vital landscapes and wildlife habitat. https://loom.ly/7xP9FVM Today, seven new grants totaling $4 million were awarded to conserve over 100,000 acres nationwide. With this renewal, the total investment will reach an impressive $100+ million over two decades! ??: Canada lynx in Maine

We think pollinators are pretty fly ??! That’s why NFWF and partners just awarded $5.2 million in grants to conserve monarch butterflies, native bees and other insect pollinators across the country. https://loom.ly/a1kyZbY The grants were awarded through the Monarch Butterfly and Pollinators Conservation Fund, a partnership between NFWF and USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), Bureau of Land Management, USDA Forest Service, Bayer | Crop Science, Danone and The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company Foundation. ??: A flutter of monarch butterflies

The longleaf pine forests of the southeastern U.S. are positively teeming with wildlife. In fact, the sheer diversity of plants and animals that call these forests home makes it one of the most biodiverse ecosystems on earth. That’s why NFWF is offering $31 million in grant funding through the Longleaf Landscape Stewardship Fund to support projects that restore, enhance and conserve longleaf pine habitat. Learn more >> https://loom.ly/PmfRrYE Many thanks to our funding partners, USDA Forest Service, USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service, United States Department of Defense, Altria, Bezos Earth Fund, Energy Transfer, International Paper’s Forestland Stewards Partnership, Oxy, The Orton Foundation and Southern Company. ??: White-tailed deer, painted bunting, northern scarlet snake and three-toed box turtle can all be found among the pines of longleaf forests #conservation #longleaf #forest #wildlife #biodiversity

Cool grant opportunity! ?? The Five Star and Urban Waters Restoration Grant Program is seeking proposals nationwide to improve water quality, watersheds, urban habitats, and the species they support through local and community-driven restoration, outreach, education and stewardship efforts. Approximately $2.5 million is available. Have an idea that will directly benefit your community? Learn more and apply >> https://loom.ly/k0fxK0I The Five Star and Urban Waters program is made possible through a partnership between NFWF and the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), USDA Forest Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service, Wildlife Habitat Council, FedEx and Southern Company. #conservation #environment #volunteer #communities #nature #wildlife #habitat #stewardship #partnerships

Some tips from the Mojave desert tortoise to make it through the week: Eat your greens ?? Be like the herbivorous desert tortoise and make sure to chomp on plenty of grasses, wildflowers, fruit and cactus throughout the day. Stay hydrated ?? A desert tortoise can go an entire year without water, so it stores up to 40 percent of its body weight in water inside their bladder. Be kind to others ?? Wildlife species such as Gila monsters, roadrunners and burrowing owls all depend on the burrows dug by the desert tortoise for shelter. The Mojave desert tortoise is here to help you, and we want to help them! We’re soliciting proposals to help conserve the Mojave desert tortoise, with support from the Marine Corps. Learn more >> https://loom.ly/ETdSDxA ??: Mojave desert tortoise #tortoise #wildlife #conservation #desert #environment

Have you heard the good news? ??The red-cockaded woodpecker has been downlisted from an endangered species to a threatened species! RCWs, a keystone species of the southeastern U.S., nest primarily in mature longleaf pine forests and have made a remarkable comeback thanks to decades of dedicated conservation efforts. These birds were one of the first species designated as “endangered” in the 1970s, and since then, they’ve benefited from habitat restoration, protection and relocation programs to establish new populations in restored forests. While there’s still more to be done, we’re glad to support efforts to bring RCWs back from the brink. And we look forward to doing more to maintain healthy forest ecosystems, thanks to a recent $60 million award from the Bezos Earth Fund to help support longleaf pine forest restoration! ??

In case you missed it, the Bezos Earth Fund recently announced a new $60 million award to NFWF to safeguard the future of two iconic American landscapes: the longleaf pine forests of the Southeast and the Northern Great Plains. Watch to learn more about how the Bezos Earth Fund and NFWF are teaming up to support vibrant, healthy grasslands and working lands in the Northern Great Plains.

Each year, millions of elk, mule deer and pronghorn undertake some of the world’s most spectacular wildlife migrations, moving en masse between winter and summer ranges throughout the American West. In the past, these animals could roam freely across vast, undeveloped grasslands, sagebrush steppes and mountains. Today, they must run a gauntlet of busy roads, fencing, agricultural lands, and residential and commercial developments. NFWF and partners seek proposals to enhance and improve big game habitat, stopover areas, and migration corridors to help these majestic animals get to where they need to go! Approximately $3 million in grant funding is available. Learn more >> https://loom.ly/6wRHrwU Thank you to our partners in this effort, Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), USDA Forest Service, USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service and ConocoPhillips. ??: Elk crossing a Rocky Mountain road

Did you know? ?? The southern U.S. is home to nearly 200 species of reptiles, about half of which are found within the longleaf pine range. This #NationalReptileAwarenessDay, we are proud to partner with International Paper through the Longleaf Landscape Stewardship Fund, to support projects that restore the longleaf pine ecosystem, a critical habitat for endangered species such as gopher tortoises and Eastern indigo snakes. Through grants to local partners, we’re helping reintroduce Eastern indigo snakes to northern Florida, boosting the species recovery. We’re also supporting gopher tortoise head-starting programs that involve raising young tortoises until they are large enough to live a safe life in well-managed longleaf pine habitats—such as the Aiken Gopher Tortoise Heritage Preserve in South Carolina. ??: Eastern indigo snake; gopher tortoise

Tonight, we announced a new $60 million award to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and over 80 local partners accelerate restoration of the Northern Great Plains and Longleaf Pine forests. This brings our total investment in US landscape restoration to $150 million to date. ? These unique American landscapes are teeming with biodiversity and remarkable stories of restoration and conservation. Over the past three years, we’ve supported NFWF and local partners to begin restoring 2.7 million acres of degraded land across the country – an area greater than Yellowstone National Park! At the Bezos Earth Fund, we are honored to collaborate with NFWF and the farmers, ranchers, Indigenous-led organizations and community groups all united in a shared mission to protect these precious ecosystems. ? Together, we can realize the vision to halt and reverse conversion of our grasslands and forests so that they thrive for generations to come. Learn more: https://bit.ly/3Y5lfna ? #GenerationRestoration #Conservation #Restoration #Biodiversity