America the Beautiful Challenge

The America the Beautiful Challenge supports locally led projects that invest in fish and wildlife habitat restoration, ecosystem and community resilience, equitable access to nature, conservation workforce development, habitat corridors and connectivity, and collaborative, partnership-driven conservation. 

By combining multiple sources of federal and private funding into a single competitive grant program, the America the Beautiful Challenge simplifies the application process, enabling larger, more impactful multijurisdictional projects, while making it easier for states, Tribal Nations, U.S. territories, non-governmental organizations, academic institutions and others to access a variety of funds with one application. This opportunity is the result of significant financial contributions from the U.S. Department of the Interior through the Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. Department of Agriculture through the Natural Resources Conservation Service and the Forest Service, the U.S. Department of Defense, Native Americans in Philanthropy, and other private funders. 

The America the Beautiful Challenge seeks to advance conservation and restoration projects that address at least one of the following core areas of need:

• Conserving and restoring rivers, coasts, wetlands, and watersheds
• Conserving and restoring forests, grasslands, and other important ecosystems that serve as carbon sinks
• Connecting and reconnecting wildlife corridors, large landscapes, watersheds, and seascapes
• Improving ecosystem and community resilience to coastal flooding, drought, and other climate-related threats
• Expanding access to the outdoors, particularly in underserved communities

Applicants are encouraged to develop large landscape scale and/or cross jurisdictional projects that advance existing conservation plans and/or are informed by Indigenous Knowledge.