Central Appalachia Habitat Stewardship Program 2026
Forecasted
Central Appalachia Habitat Stewardship Program 2026 supports landowners and conservation collaboratives with habitat restoration and capacity building to sustain native wildlife across central Appalachia.
Funder: National Fish and Wildlife Foundation
Due Dates (Anticipated): July 2027 (Full proposal)
Funding Amounts: $75,000–$500,000 per project; completion within four years
Summary: Supports voluntary forest, grassland, and freshwater habitat restoration and collaborative conservation capacity across central Appalachia.
Key Information: Projects must fall within the program boundary, which excludes the Pennsylvania Wilds and Blue Ridge/Upper James focal areas.
Description
The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) operates this program to restore and sustain healthy forests, grasslands, rivers, and streams across central Appalachia. Investments seek to improve habitat quantity, quality, and connectivity for native wildlife while supporting resilient local communities and natural resource-based economies. Work on public and private lands includes forest management planning, mined-land reforestation, grassland management, aquatic passage improvements, riparian restoration, and agricultural conservation.
The program also supports landowner outreach, technical assistance, wildlife response monitoring, and conservation collaboratives that sustain and expand restoration over time. Forest priorities target golden-winged warbler, wood thrush, and cerulean warbler without compromising late-successional or old-growth forests. Aquatic priorities emphasize brook trout, eastern hellbender, and freshwater mussels. Grassland priorities include Northern bobwhite, Eastern meadowlark, Eastern box turtle, and pollinators.
