National Fish and Wildlife Foundation

About National Fish and Wildlife Foundation

The largest recent grant on file, $99,013,450 to La Coastal Protection & Restoration for conservation projects, shows how National Fish and Wildlife Foundation works at the scale of major landscape and coastal restoration. The foundation awards competitive grants that protect and restore fish, wildlife, plants, and habitats by leveraging public and private resources. Its recent awards also include $36,936,595 to the Coastal Protection & Restoration Authority for barrier island restoration and $34,041,973 to the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality for marsh creation, signaling a strong emphasis on habitat and shoreline work. Across the latest grants listed, the foundation supports state agencies, local governments, conservation groups, and land trusts, often in projects tied to wetlands, estuaries, rivers, and working lands. The portfolio includes both large capital-style restoration awards and smaller project grants, with conservation outcomes linked to fish habitat, bird habitat, coastal resilience, and watershed function. Several of the biggest awards also center on named places such as Louisiana wetlands, Dauphin Island, and the Walker Basin, indicating a place-based conservation strategy rather than a single-species or single-state pattern.

What National Fish and Wildlife Foundation Funds

Habitat restoration is a central theme in the foundation’s grantmaking. It awarded $29,047,733 to the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority of Louisiana for restoring Louisiana wetlands for marsh habitat, and $23,511,268 to the Marine Environmental Sciences Consortium Dauphin Island Sea Lab for saltmarsh stabilization and restoration. Coastal and estuarine projects are another clear focus: the Town of Dauphin Island received $24,638,207 to restore AL Bay marsh and oyster reefs for resilience, while Alabama’s coastal habitat protection efforts also appear in the record. The foundation also backs freshwater and terrestrial work. Ducks Unlimited Inc received $12,497,710 for northern Great Plains grassland habitat for birds, and Trout Unlimited Inc received $5,921,842 for Pacific salmon habitat restored in the Eklutna River. Across these grants, the work is practical and project-based, centered on restoration, habitat function, and species support.

How National Fish and Wildlife Foundation Gives