Wisconsin Tribal Conservation Advisory Council Inc.

Wisconsin Tribal Conservation Advisory Council Inc., a tribally owned, self-certified small disadvantaged business based in Oneida, Wisconsin, provides plant pest and disease surveillance, early detection systems, invasive species outreach and education, and agricultural training services to the U.S. Department of Agriculture as a federal grant recipient (98% of recent awards). The organization operates exclusively as a prime recipient on federal grants — primarily cooperative agreements and project grants — rather than as a contractor or subcontractor.

WTCAC's customer concentration is heavily concentrated in USDA and related agencies. The top five funding agencies account for 91% of recent awards, led overwhelmingly by the Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), which accounts for 44 of the 64 total awards in the source. The remaining customer base includes NRCS (6 awards), the Environmental Protection Agency and EPA Region 5 combined (6 awards), and a single award from the FDA's Institute of Food Safety and Nutrition.

WTCAC's core capability portfolio centers on implementing the Cooperative Agricultural Pest Survey (CAPS) across Wisconsin's eleven federally recognized tribes. Representative work includes a $106,976 cooperative agreement with APHIS effective June 25, 2026 through June 24, 2027 for continued infrastructure development and staffing of a Tribal Pest Survey Specialist position who coordinates survey implementation, manages data collection, and facilitates communication among tribal nations, APHIS Plant Protection and Quarantine teams, and WTCAC; a $109,053 APHIS cooperative agreement awarded August 1, 2024 for similar pest survey specialist infrastructure and deliverables; and a July 28, 2025 APHIS cooperative agreement supporting exotic pest surveys targeting oak ambrosia beetles, emerald ash borer, and spongy moth on tribal lands near recreational areas and firewood storage facilities. WTCAC also delivers Native American seasonal worker employment and training in invasive species mitigation, recruits and trains four college-level tribal youth annually as seasonal workers to conduct pest surveys and outreach, develops pest mitigation tools and technologies in collaboration with tribal partners, and coordinates forest health and agricultural education. A separate APHIS project grant (September 1, 2021 through August 31, 2026) addresses Food Safety Modernization Act compliance training for tribal growers, producers, and traditional harvesters. NRCS cooperative agreements support tribal consultation on conservation practice standards and delivery of training to NRCS and partner staff on effective engagement with Native Americans and tribes. An EPA project grant (March 1, 2022 through December 31, 2023) funded Wisconsin tribal wetland capacity building through the Wisconsin Tribal Wetland Working Group.

Activity has remained relatively flat year over year — seven awards in 2022 declining to one new award in 2026, though the source covers only through mid-July. Seven awards reach ultimate completion inside the next twenty-four months and face recompete. WTCAC acts as a sub-recipient on one agricultural apprenticeship award with the University of Wisconsin System (July 3, 2024), placing up to 30 tribal agricultural apprentices with tribal agriculture programs. The organization operates across Wisconsin tribal lands and has established relationships with all eleven federally recognized tribes in the state, serving as a coordination and implementation hub for APHIS pest surveillance, tribal conservation capacity building, and federal agricultural extension services targeted at historically underserved tribal communities.