Wyoming Golden Eagle Fund 2020 Request for Proposals

Full Proposal Due Date: February 17th, 2020 by 11:59 PM Eastern Time
 

OVERVIEW

The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (“NFWF”) is conducting a request for proposals (“RFP”) through the Wyoming Golden Eagle Fund (the “Fund”) to competitively award grants for golden eagle conservation projects in Wyoming. The RFP will be administered by NFWF in consultation with the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (“USFWS”).
 
The Fund was established with funds directed to NFWF pursuant to the judgement set forth in U.S. v. Duke Energy Renewables, Inc., Case No. 2:13-cr-00268-KHR (D.Wyo) (the “Judgement”) and the Migratory Bird Compliance Plan (the “MBCP”) established in connection with the Judgement. The Fund will be used to implement golden eagle conservation activities or projects in Wyoming in accordance with the Judgement and the MBCP.
 
Project proposals will be reviewed by a review team (“Review Team”). The Review Team may include, but not be limited to, representatives of the USFWS, NFWF, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, the United States Department of the Interior Bureau of Land Management, and the United States Forest Service.
 

GEOGRAPHIC FOCUS

To be eligible for funding, project activities must occur within the state of Wyoming. 
 
 

PROGRAM PRIORITIES

Funding is available for golden eagle conservation projects, including, but not limited to, the following types of projects:
  • Habitat Protection and Restoration: by protecting or restoring golden eagle habitat. Project examples include, but are not limited to: 
    • ​Expanding and maintaining landscape connectivity to reduce the fragmentation of key golden eagle nesting, migration, and wintering habitats via conservation easements or other means.
    • Securing “at-risk” golden eagle nesting habitat by conservation easements or other means.  
      • Please note: Project proposals for conservation easements must document golden eagle use of the property and clearly describe how the easement will benefit golden eagles.
    • Restoring degraded golden eagle habitats.
    • Restoring and enhancing cottonwood trees in locations where golden eagles regularly nest in trees. 
       
  • ​Actions to Reduce Death, Injury and Disturbances to Golden Eagles: By delivering projects to reduce the risks of death, injury and disturbances to golden eagles.  Project examples include, but are not limited to: 
    • ​Collision reduction projects to move road kill from the side of the road to safer locations.
    • Retrofitting power infrastructure to reduce golden eagle mortality. 
    • Reducing parasite loads at nest sites to improve nestling health and survival
       
  • Rehabilitation: By conducting rehabilitation efforts for injured golden eagles.  Project examples include, but are not limited to:
    • ​Creating and distributing local action kits, to be housed around the state, to enable safe transportation of wounded golden eagles to rehabilitation centers.
    • Coordinating veterinary clinics, animal shelters, and others to establish and train in the safe handling of injured golden eagles.
    • Creating or enhancing a rescue and rehabilitation network in the state of Wyoming.
       
  • ​Education and Outreach: By providing hands-on education and outreach projects for target audiences.  Project examples include, but are not limited to:
    • Delivering programs to increase public understanding and appreciation of local and regional natural resources and the environment that impact golden eagles.
    • Conducting community bird watching outings to encourage the community and youth to learn proper golden eagle and nesting habitat identification.
    • Using new software (e.g. MOVEBANK, ESRI, DATAVIZ) to map movements of golden eagles using existing or new satellite tracking data.
    • Please note: Education and Outreach projects will be scored higher if they include an on-the-ground conservation component.
       
  • ​Monitoring: By facilitating the collection and analysis of data regarding golden eagle nesting habits, migration behavior, blood levels, etc.  Project examples include, but are not limited to:
    • Installing surveillance equipment to capture data about golden eagle nesting habitats.
    • Collecting and analyzing feather and blood samples of golden eagles to identify lead and rodenticide exposure.
    • Capturing migration data of golden eagles by trapping and satellite tagging golden eagles in Wyoming.
    • Please note: Monitoring projects will be scored higher if they include an on-the-ground conservation component.
 

ELIGIBILITY

 
Eligible and Ineligible Entities
  • Eligible applicants include non-profit 501(c) organizations, U.S. Federal government agencies, state government agencies, local governments, municipal governments, for profit businesses, and educational institutions.
  • Ineligible applicants include individuals.
Ineligible Uses of Grant Funds 
  • ​Funds may not be used to support political advocacy, fundraising, lobbying, litigation, terrorist activities, or Foreign Corrupt Practices Act violations.
  • Funds may not be used to support ongoing efforts to comply with legal requirements, including but not limited to permit conditions, mitigation, and settlement agreements. However, grant funds may be used to support projects that enhance or improve upon existing baseline compliance efforts. 
  • Funds may not be used for: marketing efforts that serve to generally promote the applicant organization and its initiatives, capital campaigns, creation of endowments, event sponsorships, and re-granting of awarded funds.  
 

FUNDING AVAILABILITY

  • ​Approximately $750,000 will be available to fund one or more projects in 2020.
  • Grant requests below $25,000 will be considered but will be given lower priority.
 

GRANT PERIOD

  • ​​Projects must start within six months and be completed within 36 months after notification of grant award. Notification of award is projected to be in April 2020.  
 

EVALUATION CRITERIA

 
All proposals will be screened for relevance, accuracy, completeness, and compliance with the priorities as described in this RFP. Proposals will then be evaluated based on the extent to which they meet the criteria described below. 
 
Required Criteria:
 
  • Program Priorities: The project addresses one or more of the Program Priorities in this RFP.  Please note: Education and Outreach proposals, monitoring proposals, and proposals containing research components will be considered but will be given a lower priority than proposals that support the other Program Priorities.
  • Technical Merit: The project is technically sound and feasible, and the proposal sets forth a clear, logical, and achievable work plan and timeline. 
  • Budget: Costs are allowable, reasonable, and budgeted in accordance with NFWF’s Budget Instructions cost categories.  
  • Qualifications: The project engages appropriate technical experts throughout project planning, design and implementation to ensure activities are technically-sound and feasible.  The applicant experience is relevant to delivery of the project, and/or entity has a proven track record of success in implementing conservation projects with specific measurable results.
 
Other Criteria:
  • Letters of Support 
    • ​Letter(s) of support are only requested if the implementation of a proposed project will call for coordination, action, permit, or approval from a local, state, or federal agency, or affect the policies or procedures of such agency.
    • The letter(s) of support should come from the applicable agency(s) and should only acknowledge the anticipated agency coordination and/or comment on the technical merit of the project.
    • The letter(s) of support must be submitted with the application prior to the Proposal Due Date.
       
  • Benefits to Golden Eagles
    • ​Project applications should articulate the number of individual golden eagles that will be benefited by the project.
    • Project applications should explain how this benefit was calculated.
 

TIMELINE

Dates of activities are subject to change.  Please check the program page of the NFWF website for the most current dates and information about the Wyoming Golden Eagle Fund.
 
​​Release of RFP:
​January 6, 2020
​Proposal Due Date:
 ​February 17, 2020 by 11:59 PM Eastern
​Review Period:
 ​Winter/Spring 2020
​Awards Announced:
 ​Mid-April 2020
 

HOW TO APPLY

All application materials must be submitted online through National Fish and Wildlife Foundation’s Easygrants system.
  • Go to easygrants.nfwf.org​ to register in our Easygrants online system. New users to the system will be prompted to register before starting the application. If you are already a registered user, use your existing login.
  • Once on your Easygrants homepage, click the “Apply for Funding” button and select “Wyoming Golden Eagle Fund 2020” from the list of Funding Opportunity options.
  • Follow the instructions in Easygrants to complete your application. Once an application has been started, it may be saved and returned to at a later time for completion and submission.
 

APPLICATION ASSISTANCE 

A PDF version of this RFP can be downloade​d here. 
 
A Tip Sheet is available for quick reference while you are working through your application. This document can be downloa​ded here.
 
For more information or questions about this RFP, please contact: 
 
Courtney Kwiatkowski
Senior Manager, Impact-Directed Environmental Accounts 
National Fish and Wildlife Foundation
202-857-0166 
 
For issues or assistance with our online Easygrants system, please contact the Easygrants Helpdesk
  • ​Email:  Easygrants@nfwf.org​
  • Voicemail:  202-595-2497
  • 9:00 am to 5:00 pm Eastern, Monday-Friday 
  • Please be sure to include: your name, proposal ID #, e-mail address, phone number, program you are applying to, and a description of the issue