The Biden-Harris administration joined the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) and public-and private-sector partners today in announcing $122.4 million in grants through the America the Beautiful Challenge (ATBC). The 61 new grants announced today will support landscape-scale conservation projects across 42 states, 19 Tribal Nations, and 3 U.S. territories. The grants will generate at least $8.7 million in matching contributions for a total conservation impact of $131.1 million. Approximately 42 percent of all 2024 ATBC funding will support projects implemented by Indigenous communities and organizations, representing another year of record funding dedicated to Tribally led projects for a single grant program at NFWF.
America the Beautiful, launched by President Biden in 2021, set the nation’s first-ever goal to conserve at least 30 percent of U.S. lands and waters by 2030. The 10-year, locally led and nationally scaled initiative lifts up efforts to conserve, connect and restore the lands, waters and wildlife upon which we all depend. Over the past four years, the Biden-Harris Administration has conserved more than 45 million acres of our nation’s lands and waters.
ATBC grants support projects that conserve, restore and connect wildlife habitats and ecosystems while improving community resilience and access to nature, which also advance President Biden’s ambitious environmental justice goals. The competitive grant awards were made possible through President Biden’s Investing in America agenda, with funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, other federal conservation programs, and private sources. The Biden-Harris Administration launched the Challenge in 2022 as a partnership with the Departments of the Interior, Agriculture and Defense, Native Americans in Philanthropy, and NFWF.
