The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) has announced grants totaling $30.2 million in support of projects to expand regenerative agriculture in the Midwest, restore freshwater habitat across the Southeast, rehabilitate former mine lands along the Cumberland Plateau, improve forest bird habitat in Appalachia, and protect grassland bird habitat and waterways in the Northeast.

The funding includes 27 grants totaling $14.7 million awarded through NFWF’s Conservation Partners program to expand the practice of regenerative agriculture on farms and ranches across 21 states in the Midwest and the western grasslands. Partners include the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, and the J.M. Smucker Company, with support from General Mills, and Walmart. The grants will leverage an additional $7 million in matching contributions.

NFWF also awarded $7.7 million through its Southeast Aquatics Fund to restore native freshwater species habitat in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas. The fund is a public-private partnership that includes NRCS, USFWS, U.S. Forest Service (USFS), Southern Company, Altria, Nestlé, and Cargill. The grants will leverage an additional $2.3 million in matching contributions.

In addition, the foundation directed $3.6 million to projects through its Cumberland Plateau Stewardship Fund to rehabilitate former mined land and implement wildlife-focused forest and grazing practices in Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, and Tennessee. The grants will leverage an additional $3.3 million in matching contributions.

NFWF also awarded $2.2 million to projects through its Central Appalachia Habitat Stewardship Program to improve forest habitat management for birds and implement riparian buffers on agricultural lands. The grants will leverage an additional $1.9 million in matching contributions.

And the foundation directed $2 million to projects through its Northeast Forests and River Fund to protect grassland bird habitat and remove waterway barriers for brook trout and Atlantic salmon. The grants will leverage an additional $3.2 million in matching contributions.

(Photo credit: Getty Images/Karl Spencer)