Deadline: 31-Mar-2025
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is thrilled to announce its Rapid Response Fund for Aquatic Invasive Species to support the rapid response to a new species introduction within freshwater, estuarine, or marine waters of the United States, including the U.S. territories.
The ability to respond rapidly to new detections of potential invasive species is critical to prevent further spread and avoid harmful impacts to the environment, economy, human health, and cultural resources. Once a new non-native species is detected, there is a short window of opportunity to respond in attempt to eradicate or contain the species. Such activities are often undertaken by state agencies with funds either taken out of budgets that were developed without allocations for such activities or provided on an emergency basis. However, too often funding is absent, resulting in delayed or lack of action. Rapid response funding is needed ensure timely and more effective responses to aquatic invasive species (AIS) and avoid the need for costly long-term and wide-spread control efforts.
Funding Information
- Estimated Total Program Funding: $960,000
- Award Ceiling: $960,000
- Award Floor: $50,000
- All awards through the Rapid Response Fund will have a maximum period of performance of three years.
Eligible Activities
- Response efforts submitted for consideration should be in pursuit of eradication of a targeted species from the defined location. As such, eligible activities for the Rapid Response Fund are those that support or lead up to achieving this goal, including:
- Planning and site delineation:
- Delineation to determine the spatial extent and abundance of an isolated AIS population.
- Analysis and assessment of potential response measures.
- Planning, environmental documentation and/or permit acquisition.
- Measures to contain the population during the species assessment or while a long- term response plan is formulated.
- Deployment of response action:
- Implement actions on site that support or lead up to eradication of the targeted species.
- Survey surrounding areas.
- Monitor the population and effectiveness of applied response measures.
- Planning and site delineation:
Eligibility Criteria
- State governments
- Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized)
- Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments)
- Additional Information on Eligibility
- Federal and state agencies, U.S. territory agencies, interstate organizations, and Federally recognized Indian Tribal Governments and Native American Organizations authorized by Indian tribal governments may apply for funding.
Eligible Locations
- Rapid Response funding may be used to respond to a new species introduction within freshwater, estuarine, wetland, or marine waters of the United States or U.S. territories.
- Funding may also be used to respond to AIS already present in the United States or U.S. territories in areas where the species has not been previously detected.
- For response efforts directed towards species with existing populations in the United States or U.S. territory, priority will be given to incipient populations that are either a secondary invasion, were introduced a significant distance away from an existing population (e.g., introduction into a new watershed), or pose a new threat to vulnerable, high priority, or protected areas.
Application Requirements
- To apply for the Rapid Response Fund, applicants must provide a complete project abstract summary, project narrative, and budget narrative as well as all applicable forms listed in the Application Documents. While drafting these components, please note the following:
- Within the project narrative the applicant must clearly articulate the management goal. In most circumstances, the goal should be eradication of the targeted species from the defined location.
- The project narrative must also include a statement that describes, and provides evidence for, the level of confidence in accomplishing the management goal. In doing so the applicant should consider:
- The size and spatial extent of the target population and the certainty of those factors,
- The connectivity of the waterbody containing the target population to other waters,
- The long-term survival, fecundity, and dispersive capabilities of the target species,
- The difficulty of finding all individuals in the target population or effectively exposing them to the control method, and
- The effectiveness of the response measures applied.
- The applicant must indicate its ability to ensure all environmental compliance reviews and permitting requirements are completed prior to implementing response measures.
- The applicant should also demonstrate a commitment to conduct post-rapid response activities. Such activities are not eligible for funding from the Rapid Response Fund but will be considered in the evaluation process. Such activities may include:
- Restoration and mitigation measures for any adverse impacts from the response measures,
- Long term, follow-up surveys or monitoring, and
- Biosecurity protocols or measures to prevent any re-invasion of the site.
- To focus on the highest priority rapid response needs and expedite award selection, applicants are encouraged to limit their number of applications to one per quarter.
For more information, visit Grants.gov.