Thank you for your interest in partnering with the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS).Under this Notice of Funding Opportunity, "refuge" refers to an area designated as part of the National Wildlife Refuge System managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Other items to note in the Notice of Funding Opportunity:The purpose of this Notice of Funding Opportunity is to provide cooperative agreements and grants to enable nonprofit groups and others to partner with a specific FWS site, FWS Regional office, or FWS headquarters to accomplish FWS work.The FWS site/office requesting the work must fund the project. There is no money set aside at headquarters to do these projects. Therefore, the project budget is limited to the amount the FWS site/office has available.The FWS site/office requesting the work must be substantially involved in the project.The FWS site/office requesting the work must collaboratively work with the potential partner to develop the project narrative and budget.The Congressional authority for this Notice of Funding Opportunity does not include the authority to purchase land.FWS uses GrantSolutions to manage financial assistance applications and awards. Applicants must register in and conduct any subsequent award business with FWS in GrantSolutions. To apply, your organization and organization officials must be established in GrantSolutions. For further details, please see section D7 of this Notice of Funding Opportunity. If using Grants.gov rather than GrantSolutions to apply, please consider submitting the application a couple of weeks early because there is often a delay in the transfer of applications from Grants.gov to GrantSolutions.FWS may not make a Federal award to an applicant that hasn’t completed theSAM.gov registration.Domestic recipients are required to register in and receive payment through theU.S. Treasurys Automated Standard Application for Payments (ASAP), unless approved for a waiver by the Service program.The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) is the premier government agency dedicated to the conservation, protection, and enhancement of fish, wildlife and plants, and their habitats. We are the only agency in the federal government whose primary responsibility is the conservation and management of these important natural resources for the American public.FWS origins date back to 1871 when Congress established the U.S. Fish Commission to study the decrease in the nations food fishes and recommend ways to reverse that decline. Today, we are a diverse and largely decentralized organization, employing about 8,000 dedicated professionals working out of facilities across the country, including a headquarters office in Falls Church, Virginia, and eight Regional offices.The National Non-Infrastructure Partnerships initiative encourages US Fish and Wildlife Service field stations to partner with local, regional, and national nonprofit organizations, other land management groups, state, and tribal partners, and others to accomplish projects that:promote the stewardship of FWS resources through habitat maintenance, restoration, and improvement, biological monitoring, or research;increase awareness and understanding of FWS programs and resources through the development, publication, or distribution of educational materials and products;advance education concerning the mission of FWS through the use of FWS sites as an outdoor classroom to combine educational curricula with the personal experiences of students relating to fish, wildlife, and plants and their habitat, and to FWS cultural and historical resources, and development of other educational programs;promote the understanding of, education relating to, and the conservation of fish, wildlife, plants, and cultural and historical resources;improve scientific literacy.