Great Lakes Fish and Wildlife Restoration Act

To provide assistance to States, Indian Tribes, and other interested entities to encourage cooperative conservation, restoration, research, and management of the fish and wildlife resources and their habitats in the Great Lakes Basin.

This Assistance Listing for the Great Lakes Fish and Wildlife Restoration Act was established in FY24. Awards made prior to FY24 were reported under Assistance Listing 15.608. GLWRA provides assistance to States, Indian Tribes, and other interested entities to encourage cooperative conservation, restoration, research, and management of the fish and wildlife resources and their habitats in the Great Lakes Basin.

Anyone/general public with eligible research, restoration, and Regional Project proposals for the restoration of the Great Lakes Basin fish and wildlife resources, as described in the program's Notices of Funding Opportunity on Grants.gov.

Funds may be used to conduct fish and wildlife management and research activities that align with the conservation, restoration, and management goals noted in 16 U.S.C. §941 et seq.

Awarded funds must be spent prior to the appropriations cancelation date.

National Environmental Policy Act Compliance is required.

The Proposal Review Committee (PRC) is comprised of two representatives (one fishery expert and one wildlife expert) of each of the State Directors (New York, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Pennsylvania) and Indian Tribes (Chippewa Ottawa Resource Authority, Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission, Keweenaw Bay Indian Community, Seneca Nation, Oneida Nation, and Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa) in the Great Lakes Basin. They are appointed by the State Director or Indian Tribe to serve on the PRC. The PRC is responsible for review of research, restoration and Regional Project proposals and makes funding recommendations to the Service's Midwest Regional Director. The PRC operates under the guidance of the Service. For restoration and research projects, applicants must submit pre-proposals and based or PRC ranking some are invited to submit full proposals, which are peer reviewed and summary of those are sent to the PRC. The PRC them makes final funding recommendations to the Service's Midwest Regional Director. For Regional Projects, proposals are scored and ranked by the PRC. Applicants are invited to give a presentation on their proposal to the PRC. The PRC makes recommendations to the Midwest Region Director on how much of the annual appropriations should be allocated to Regional Projects and which projects should be developed into final Service work plans for funding.

Successful applicants will receive a Notice of Award electronically via the Department's grants management system (currently GrantSolutions). Successful applicants can anticipate receiving awards by August or September.

The program typically posts a Funding Opportunity on Grants.gov early in the fiscal year, with a pre-proposal deadline set for early in the calendar year. For pre-proposals selected for full proposal submission, the deadline for full proposal submission is typically in early Spring. See the program's Notices of Funding Opportunity on Grants.gov for program contact and annual application deadlines and procedures.

GLFWRA successful and unsuccessful applicants receive an email notification within 2 weeks after a pre-proposal, full proposal, or Regional Project has been selected for the respective phase.