Assistance program
Multistate Conservation Grant
$85.7 Million committed in FY2018–FY2026
- Agency
- U.s. Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior, Department of the
- Assistance
- Project Grants (Discretionary)
- CFDA number
- 15.628
- What it does
- This program provides funding for sport fish and wildlife restoration projects and recruitment, retention and reactivation (R3) projects that address regional or national priority needs of State fish and wildlife agencies and their partners that are beyond the scale, scope, and capabilities of a single State. The priority needs, also known as Strategic Priorities, are identified annually by the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (AFWA) with input from State fish and wildlife agencies and their partners. Recipients awarded Traditional Multistate Conservation Grants (T-MSCG) may use the funds for wildlife or sport fish projects involving research, restoration, conservation and management of wild birds, wild mammals, sport fish, and their habitats. These funds may also be used for projects providing for public use and benefit from these resources, including hunter safety education, aquatic education, angler R3 projects and other purposes consistent with the enabling legislation. Recipients awarded R3 Multistate Conservation Grants (R3-MSCG) may use the funds for hunting and shooting sports R3 projects that promote a national hunting and shooting sport recruitment program, including related communication and outreach activities. Multistate Conservation Grants are awarded by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), and the Service and AFWA work cooperatively to manage the program.
- Who benefits
- Projects must benefit at least 26 States, a majority of States in a Region of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, or a majority of States in a Regional association of State fish and wildlife agencies.
- Who applies
- Eligibility is limited to: 1) Agencies with lead management responsibility for fish and wildlife resources in each of the 50 States, the District of Columbia, Commonwealths of Puerto Rico and the Northern Mariana Islands, and the territories of American Samoa, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, or a group of these agencies; 2) The Service, only for the purpose of carrying out the National Survey; or 3) Non-governmental organizations (NGOs). NGOs including educational institutions that are invited to submit full proposals must submit a certification that their organization will not use grant funds to fund, in whole or in part, any activity that promotes or encourages opposition to the regulated hunting or trapping of wildlife or the regulated taking of fish in their application. Proposed projects must address traditional sport fish or wildlife restoration projects or recruitment, retention and reactivation (R3) projects that address regional or national priority needs of State fish and wildlife agencies and their partners that are beyond the scale, scope, and capabilities of a single State. The priority needs, also known as Strategic Priorities, are identified annually by AFWA with input from State fish and wildlife agencies and their partners. Only projects that propose benefits to sport fish, wild birds and/or wild mammals are eligible. Proposed projects must also benefit: 1) At least 26 States or; 2) A majority of the States in a Service Region; or 3) A majority of States in a regional association of State fish and wildlife agencies. Only projects that propose benefits to sport fish, wild birds and/or mammals are eligible. Proposed projects must also benefit: 1) At least 26 States or; 2) A majority of the States in a Service Region; or 3) A regional association of State fish and wildlife agencies.
- Authorized by
- Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration Programs Improvement Act, Pub. L. 106-408, 114 STAT. 1766, §112 et seq.; Dingell-Johnson Sport Fish Restoration Act, 16 U.S.C. §777 et seq.; and Pittman-Robertson Wildlife Restoration Act, 16 U.S.C. §669 et seq.
Committed by fiscal year
* FY2026 is year-to-date — the fiscal year is still in progress, so its total is still filling in. The striped band and dashed line mark that provisional stretch.
Top recipients
By dollars committed.
How to read these numbers
- Committed through this program
Money committed under this assistance listing (its CFDA program), counted in the year each action happened.
- How it's paid
Most programs pay out one way — a grant, or a direct payment to individuals; the flow bar only appears when a program genuinely mixes types.
- Some recipients aren't itemized
For entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare, the government reports one aggregate instead of naming tens of millions of people, so the recipient roster isn't part of the public record.
- Awards, counted once
An award count is the number of distinct awards with at least one action that year — each counted once, however many times it was amended.
- The colored bars
Every bar on this page splits by how the money moves:
Direct payments