ConocoPhillips SPIRIT of Conservation Program

The purpose of the ConocoPhillips SPIRIT of Conservation program is to improve habitat quality and landscape connectivity in ways that facilitate migrations of avian and terrestrial species, with an emphasis on working lands within focal geographies. The program will award grants to help reduce barriers to migration, restore priority habitats, and improve conservation practices on working lands. The program is a partnership among ConocoPhillips, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Within landscapes heavily dominated by working grasslands, sagelands, and wetlands, the program places a high priority on partnering with ranchers, farmers, and other private and public land managers to help improve landscape connectivity and habitat quality across a mosaic of habitat types and land ownership patterns. Program funding will primarily support the following strategies:

• Remove or modify migration barriers: remove or modify fences and other impediments to facilitate wildlife passage; construct or improve wildlife passage structures; implement innovative wildlife habitat connectivity techniques
• Restore grasslands, sagelands and wetlands: conduct restoration activities to expand or improve patch size and connectivity; remove/modify structures or remove encroaching woody vegetation that negatively impact grassland-nesting birds; restore wetland hydroperiods more beneficial to resident and migrating wildlife
• Protect key habitats along migratory routes: support fee title acquisitions or conservation easements for parcels with priority migration bottlenecks, other important habitat linkage/connectivity functions, or important breeding, wintering, or stopover sites
• Provide technical assistance on working lands: help working land managers/producers develop management plans, implement conservation practices, and enroll in Farm Bill programs to improve working lands function and enhance migration pathways across an array of land ownership

Amount: The ConocoPhillips SPIRIT of Conservation program will award approximately $910,000 in grant awards in 2018. Grant awards will range from $25,000 to $250,000. Past grants have typically ranged from $50,000 to $150,000. Funded projects should be completed within three years following finalization of a grant agreement.

All grant awards require a minimum 1:1 match of cash or contributed goods and services, of which at least 50% should be from non-Federal sources. Matching funds may include cash, in-kind contributions of staff and volunteer time, work performed, materials and services donated, or other tangible contributions to the project objectives and outcomes. The cost of recent land acquisition or easement may also qualify as match for a project involving work at the acquired site. In addition, indirect costs that would not be paid with requested grant funding may be applied as match by an applicant with a federally approved indirect rate.

To be eligible, matching contributions must be:

• ​Raised and dedicated specifically for the project
• Allowable costs based on the program and funding source guidelines
• Applied only to the ConocoPhillips SPIRIT of Conservation grant and not to any other matching program(s); and
• Spent/applied within the period of performance

Eligibility: Non-profit 501(c)(3) organizations; state or federal government agencies; local governments; Indian tribes; and educational institutions.

Projects must occur in one or more of the eligible states: Alaska, Colorado, Louisiana, Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming.

Link: http://www.nfwf.org/spirit/Pages/2018rfp.aspx

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