American Conservation Experience

American Conservation Experience, a tax-exempt nonprofit conservation corps based in Flagstaff, Arizona, places youth, young adults, and veterans in paid conservation work and education roles across federal lands and refuges, operating as a prime recipient of federal grants (100% of recent awards) rather than a contractor. The organization delivers invasive species removal, habitat restoration, trail maintenance, visitor services, biological monitoring, and environmental education through cooperative agreements with the National Park Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and Bureau of Land Management, with nearly all recent work funded through grant mechanisms rather than contracts.

ACE's customer concentration reflects deep integration with Interior Department agencies. The top five customers by award count account for 59% of recent awards, dominated by the National Park Service across multiple regional offices (448 awards) and the Fish and Wildlife Service Region 5 (111 awards). By dollar value, however, the portfolio tilts heavily toward the BLM National Office (39 awards, $68.1 million combined potential value), which funds large multi-year youth conservation opportunity grants. The split indicates that NPS drives award volume through numerous discrete cooperative agreements funding individual internships and small crews, while BLM anchors the dollar magnitude through larger statewide and national workforce programs. ACE also partners with Fish and Wildlife Service regional offices including Region 1, Region 2, Region 3, Region 4, Region 6, and Region 8, deploying members to individual wildlife refuges for invasive species control, biological surveys, and facilities maintenance work.

The grant portfolio demonstrates ACE's role as an implementation partner for two primary federal programs. Under the Youth and Veteran Organizations Conservation Activities program (CFDA 15.931), administered by the NPS, ACE receives cooperative agreement awards to field youth crews for trail rehabilitation, invasive plant removal, historic structure preservation, and visitor services at national parks and monuments—representative examples include a $266.7 million delivery order for trail rehabilitation and maintenance at Grand Canyon National Park, a $186.7 million cooperative agreement for invasive species management at Ocmulgee Mounds National Historical Park, and a $149.3 million award for invasive plant control and native habitat restoration at Grand Teton National Park. Under the Youth Engagement, Education, and Employment program (CFDA 15.676), administered by Fish and Wildlife Service, ACE deploys individual members and small teams to refuges nationwide for invasive species management, biological monitoring, and refuge operations support—examples include a $612.7 million cooperative agreement for nutria trapping and invasive species removal at San Luis National Wildlife Refuge Complex and a $523.2 million award to field eight national visitor survey team members. The BLM's Youth Conservation Opportunities on Public Lands program (CFDA 15.243) funds ACE members for wilderness restoration, trail building, hazardous fuels reduction, and data management across BLM offices nationwide—a $244.3 million five-year award anticipates fielding 271 summer interns annually across multiple resource disciplines.

ACE's award activity has grown substantially, with 191 awards in 2022 escalating to 221 in 2024, though declining to 153 in 2025 and 28 by mid-2026 in the source window. The combined potential value across all 1,916 awards in the source data totals $68.7 million, though obligated dollars ($266.4 million) exceed this figure, reflecting multi-year cooperative agreements where funding is distributed across performance periods. The recompete window identifies 205 awards with ultimate completion within the next twenty-four months, carrying combined potential value of $494 thousand—a modest recompete exposure that reflects the nonprofit's stable positioning with core Interior Department customers. ACE maintains strong partnerships with large prime contractors and federal agencies but operates entirely in the grant recipient and cooperative agreement space rather than competing for federal contracts under GSA schedules or GWACs. The organization's capability footprint centers on youth workforce mobilization and delivery of hands-on conservation labor across the full spectrum of public lands management—habitat restoration, invasive species control, trail systems, visitor services, biological data collection, and cultural resource preservation—with nineteen years of operational history as documented in grant narratives.