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A female Montezuma Quail, one of the species that will benefit from the ATBC grant (photo courtesy of Alan Schmierer).
By Adam Hannuksela, Sonoran Joint Venture
In May 2020, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) established the America the Beautiful Challenge (ATBC) to streamline and centralize a national grant funding mechanism to support large-scale landscape conservation across sectors. It is a public-private grant program for locally led ecosystem restoration projects that invest in watershed restoration, resilience, equitable access, workforce development, corridors and connectivity, and collaborative conservation, and supports use of Traditional Ecological Knowledge.
Sonoran Joint Venture (SJV) Science Coordinator, Adam Hannuksela, helped several of our partners in the preparation of a proposal for an ATBC grant. The Sentinel Landscapes Partnership program is guided by the Departments of Defense, Agriculture, and Interior to “strengthen military readiness, support agricultural economies, and protect and conserve natural resources.” However, each Sentinel Landscape is predominantly a local initiative that relies on the surrounding communities to tackle conservation and restoration projects on the ground. Located in southeastern Arizona, the Fort Huachuca Sentinel Landscape Partnership (FHSLP) is situated among Arizona’s Sky Islands in which expansive grasslands and rare riparian areas make it an incredibly diverse landscape. The SJV has worked with the FHSLP for several years (see our recent article here to learn more). To submit the project entitled “Enhancing Climate and Watershed Adaptation Strategies in Fort Huachuca Sentinel Landscape (AZ)”, we brought together partners from the University of Arizona, The Arizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management, Tucson Audubon Society, and Borderlands Restoration Network to focus on restoration in grasslands of southern Arizona.
On November 10, 2022, “NFWF — joined by the U.S. Department of the Interior through the Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. Department of Agriculture through the Forest Service and Natural Resources Conservation Service, the U.S. Department of Defense through the Readiness and Environmental Protection Integration Program, and Native Americans in Philanthropy — announced an inaugural slate of 55 new grants totaling nearly $91 million, leveraging $50.7 million in matching contributions from grantees to generate a total conservation impact of about $141.7 million. Additional support in 2022 is provided by the Bezos Earth Fund.”
As part of this announcement, Borderlands Restoration Network was awarded $977,000 in grant funding to manage restoration within the FHSLP. The grant will provide funding for multiple related projects including invasive bullfrog removal by the University of Arizona on the Babocomari River and fuels reduction in the Elgin and Sonoita area to be done through the Arizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management. Borderlands Restoration network will install erosion control structures, expand their highly effective intern program, and host local workshops to teach restoration skills to community members. Tucson Audubon Society will be conducting bird surveys throughout the year to add to regional monitoring efforts as well as examine the effectiveness of restoration activities on the area’s bird life. To complement the bird surveys, AtoZ Environmental Consulting will conduct a wildlife monitoring study using non-invasive camera traps. The work will take place on public and private land over the next 3 years. The projects will have beneficial effects for more than a dozen endangered species, strengthen climate change resiliency, provide rural employment opportunities, and engage local communities.
Stay tuned for project updates and please reach out to Adam Hannuksela with any questions.