Southwest Rivers Headwaters Fund 2025

The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) is requesting proposals to restore, protect and enhance aquatic and riparian species of conservation concern and their habitats in the headwaters of the Colorado River and Rio Grande watersheds. Up to $1.3 million in funding is expected to be available through support from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), U.S. Forest Service (USFS), U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), and the Trinchera Blanca Foundation, an affiliate of The Moore Charitable Foundation.

GEOGRAPHIC FOCUS/PROGRAM FUNDING PRIORITIES
This Request for Proposals (RFP) is part of NFWF’s Southwest Rivers Program and will provide funding to projects that produce measurable outcomes for species of conservation concern in the riparian corridors of the headwaters of the Colorado River and Rio Grande. The Rio Grande Headwaters Focal Area includes the mainstem and headwater tributaries of the Rio Grande in Colorado and northern New Mexico, as well as the headwaters of the Rio Chama, Jemez River, and Rio Puerco. The Colorado River Focal Area includes selected tributaries and headwaters of the Colorado River including the Escalante, Gila, Salt, San Juan, Verde and Virgin Rivers (see Figure 1). Projects located in the San Juan River watershed in southwestern Colorado should be submitted to the concurrent RESTORE Colorado 2025 RFP. Applicants are encouraged to consult NFWF's Southwest Rivers Business Plan mapping portal in informing potential geographic focus.

Priority projects will address the leading factors in aquatic and riparian species decline such as loss of natural processes and habitat, environmental change and invasive species. Projects employing process-based methods of wetlands and riparian restoration are highly encouraged. Maintaining healthy headwater wetlands and riparian areas provide security by improving the reliability of late season flows for water users, fish and wildlife downstream. Proposals should strive to contribute to goals detailed in NFWF’s Southwest Rivers Business Plan, and specifically the strategies related to focal species (see below) conservation. Projects benefiting one or more of the following species and their habitats are priorities for funding.

Business Plan focal species in the Rio Grande Headwaters Focal Area include Rio Grande cutthroat trout, North American beaver and southwestern willow flycatcher.
The focal species in the Colorado River Focal Area is North American beaver.
NFWF expects that projects creating potential beaver habitat will benefit a number of other native aquatic species in these focal areas.

PRIORITY ACTIVITIES
Priority restoration activities that address key limiting factors for focal species in the Colorado River and Rio Grande headwaters include:

Process-based wetland, riparian and instream habitat restoration and enhancement – Restore natural fluvial process that increase floodplain connectivity, dynamic channel processes and recruitment of native riparian vegetation. Activities may include beaver mimicry structures, livestock exclusion fencing and riparian vegetation planting, removal of channel stabilizing structures, and science-based design and analysis for process-based restoration projects.

Riparian habitat restoration and enhancement – Restore stream banks to increase floodplain connectivity and recruitment of native riparian vegetation. Activities may include streambank re-contouring and native vegetation planting, and engineering design and analysis for riparian restoration projects.

Instream restoration and enhancement – Restore and enhance stream channels that have suffered from channelization, thereby restoring the natural variety of stream substrate and flow patterns that benefit the life cycles of the focal species. Specific activities may include stream channel engineering and bank re-shaping.

Increase water availability for species and their habitats and/or remove barriers to flow – Make available more water for environmental flows that are necessary to drive process-based restoration and sustain species and their habitats through voluntary leasing or acquisition of water rights in the focal geographies. Remove or improve infrastructure at road crossings, culverts and check dams that act as barriers to the movement of aquatic species or promote natural dynamic processes to ensure habitat connectivity and fluvial development of the whole valley bottom.

Reintroduction and translocation of focal species – Translocation of focal aquatic species to stream reaches with improved habitat and protection from invasive species. Reintroduction of or attraction projects benefitting North American beaver in a manner compatible with ongoing agricultural use and irrigation and land management objectives, and which benefits other focal species dependent on the habitat created by beaver activity.

Protect focal species from invasives – Remove invasive fish that compete with and/or threaten to hybridize with Rio Grande cutthroat trout from streams which are or could be occupied by the native species. Construct barriers to protect established populations from hybridization where appropriate.

Increase Capacity for Low-tech Process-based Restoration implementation in and among conservation organizations working in the southwest region. Here we define increased capacity broadly, from new positions within an organization to funding for contracting with external partners that bring knowledge or manpower to extend the reach of low-tech process-based restoration techniques throughout the southwest.

Increase Capacity for Implementation of NRCS Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) conservation programs

Increase capacity for implementation of priority conservation activities through NRCS partner positions and technical assistance. Capacity grants should address the following priorities:

Increase Farm Bill program participation and conservation practice implementation among agricultural producers, especially farmers and ranchers in the Historically Underserved and Special Emphasis categories.
Grant recipients will provide technical assistance to interested farmers and ranchers to develop management plans, design and implement conservation practices, share their experiences and lessons learned, and participate in Farm Bill programs, especially the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) and Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP). A particular emphasis should be placed on promoting, designing, and implementing climate-smart agriculture and forestry (CSAF) conservation practices.
Applications are encouraged which support new full-time or part-time partner positions at applicant organizations such as foresters, wildlife biologists, rangeland specialists, and/or other natural resource professionals that will work in conjunction with NRCS personnel in New Mexico on a daily basis to carry out the provisions of the IRA. Duties of IRA partner positions include, but are not limited to, the following:

Providing technical assistance in the development of conservation plans and checkouts of completed practices.
Preparing and/or monitoring various contract management reports.
Preparing and issuing correspondence to participants such as annual practice reminders, deferral letters, preapproval letters, and eligibility letters.
Providing assistance with the application process such as reviewing documents for completeness, verifying control of land, irrigation history, signature authority, required electronic registrations, and troubleshooting eligibility/vendor issues.
Assisting with contract management by uploading and maintaining documents in electronic systems; removing expired contracts from active contract filing cabinets; and ensuring appropriate signatures on documents.
Assisting with the completion of reviews and audits by compiling documentation needed to support audit samples.