USDA-NIFA-EME-32358: Renewable Resources Extension Act National Focus Fund Projects (RREA-NFF)

USDA-NIFA-EME-32358: Renewable Resources Extension Act National Focus Fund Projects (RREA-NFF)

This page is a historical reference for the FY2026 Renewable Resources Extension Act National Focus Fund (RREA-NFF) competition administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA). The FY2026 application deadline was June 8, 2026, at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time. That deadline has passed. NIFA’s official RREA-NFF program page lists the FY2026 notice as the current notice and does not list a later cycle, so this page should not be read as an open application listing or as evidence that FY2027 submissions are available.

The archived opportunity remains useful for institutions preparing for a future announcement because it records the funding structure, eligible applicant classes, priorities, and submission requirements that applied to the FY2026 notice. Requirements can change in a later NOFO. Applicants should wait for a new official notice and use that notice, rather than this archive entry, for the controlling deadline, forms, priorities, and budget rules.

FY2026 details at a glance

The award figures describe the FY2026 notice only. The NOFO stated that approximately $300,000 was available and anticipated two awards, but it also made clear that USDA was not committed to funding a particular application or a specific number of awards. The minimum award was $130,000 and the maximum was $150,000. The notice identified a 24-month award duration. It did not require matching funds, and matching resources were not an evaluation criterion. It also said that indirect costs and tuition remission were not allowable under this RREA-NFF notice, so a future applicant should not copy an old budget assumption without checking the new announcement.

What the FY2026 program supported

RREA-NFF is an Extension program for forest and rangeland resources. NIFA describes its purpose as making relevant scientific results available to forest and rangeland landowners and managers and strengthening the reach and impact of the Cooperative Extension System. The program is concerned with practical management and conservation, including social and economic benefits connected with forest products, livestock production, recreation, and other uses of these resources. It also addresses preparedness for threats such as land fragmentation, fire, drought, pests, diseases, and invasive species.

The FY2026 NOFO narrowed the competition to two program priorities:

1. Tree Planting Establishment/Reforestation. Projects in this priority were expected to support tree planting or reforestation that improves the long-term health and longevity of forests. The notice connected this work to disturbances such as wildfire, insect pest outbreaks, disease, drought, and invasive species. Proposed Extension work had to integrate research results and technology into reforestation techniques and their deployment.
2. Animal Invasive Control and Management. Projects in this priority were expected to develop Extension programming for highly reproductive invasive animals that expand their range aggressively, including feral pigs and related hybrid populations. The intended audience was forest and rangeland owners and managers who need ways to prevent, mitigate, and manage the impacts of those species.

Across either priority, the FY2026 notice looked for more than a research topic. Projects had to strengthen education, training, or technical assistance for forest and rangeland owners and managers; promote conservation, protection, or market development through effective Extension design; support better markets for forestry and rangeland products or services; and be readily replicable by other institutions, states, or regions. The notice also allowed applicants to propose technology-supported delivery, including examples such as artificial intelligence or virtual reality, when those tools helped people adopt tree-establishment practices or manage invasive animals. Technology by itself was not the program objective; adoption, delivery, and measurable impact were.

Who could apply

The FY2026 applicant eligibility was organizational and limited. Eligible applicants included 1862 land-grant universities, including institutions in the District of Columbia and U.S. Insular Areas; 1890 land-grant universities, including Tuskegee University; and 1994 institutions that offered an associate or baccalaureate degree in forestry and worked in cooperation with State Cooperative Extension Services. The notice also included other state-supported colleges and universities that offered graduate training in sciences basic to forestry and had a forestry school.

The Project Director had to have an Extension appointment authorized by the institution’s Extension Director or Administrator. A research group could not assume that a general university affiliation or an informal Extension partnership satisfied this condition. The applicant institution and the proposed Project Director needed to document the required institutional status and appointment before submission. NIFA warned that failure to meet eligibility requirements by the deadline could result in exclusion from consideration or prevent an award.

The notice allowed multiple submissions from one institution, but duplicate or multiple applications from the same Project Director were not allowed; NIFA said both applications could be disqualified in that situation. Resubmissions had to be submitted as new proposals and include the response to the previous review panel summary in the narrative. Those rules belonged to FY2026 and should be rechecked if NIFA publishes another cycle.

Application route and preparation requirements

The FY2026 application had to be submitted electronically. No other submission method or response was accepted. The official process directed applicants to obtain the electronic package through Grants.gov and to use the version of the NIFA Grants Application Guide included with that package if the guide and NOFO differed.

Before drafting the package, an applicant organization needed to complete and maintain the required registrations. The NOFO identified active System for Award Management registration, a Unique Entity Identifier issued through SAM, eRA Commons registration, and Grants.gov registration. The organization needed at least one Signing Official and one Project Director designated in eRA Commons. Each Project Director needed an active eRA Commons account, and a person serving both as Project Director and Signing Official needed separate accounts for those roles. NIFA’s program page likewise states that all applicants must have an eRA Commons account registered with the organization. The NOFO warned that registration can take six weeks or longer and that creating an eRA Commons account can take up to two weeks, so these are not last-minute checks.

The practical sequence in the FY2026 notice was:

1. Confirm the institution’s eligibility and the Project Director’s Extension appointment.
2. Make sure SAM, the UEI, eRA Commons roles, and Grants.gov registration are active before submission.
3. Find the application package in Grants.gov using USDA-NIFA-EME-32358.
4. Contact the organization’s Authorized Representative to assess readiness before starting the electronic application.
5. Prepare the required forms and attachments in PDF, check the submitted-file manifest, and complete an administrative review.
6. Submit electronically by the stated deadline and retain the submission record and support correspondence.

The application package required the SF-424 R&R cover sheet and the associated forms in the package. The Project Summary/Abstract had to show alignment with RREA-NFF goals. The Project Narrative could not exceed 12 pages of 1.5-spaced text, including figures and tables, with tables no smaller than 11-point Times New Roman. The narrative needed a project title and the selected priority area, followed by the long-term goal, issue statement, justification, rationale, significance, relevant literature, objectives, and approach.

The approach section was expected to identify stakeholders and explain their role in project direction and evaluation. It also needed a logic model and a description of inputs, participants, outputs, short- and medium-term outcomes, projected impacts, activity sequence, delivery locations and timing, project timeline, and a detailed evaluation plan. A project viability and replication section had to explain how other institutions, states, or regions could reproduce the work and how the effort might continue after the project period. A data management plan was required and had to explain how the Project Director and co-Project Directors would manage and disseminate project data. Other attachments included the required conflict-of-interest form.

What a competitive FY2026 proposal needed to demonstrate

NIFA’s review criteria placed the largest emphasis on project merit and relevance. Reviewers considered whether the issue was well defined; whether objectives, outputs, outcomes, and impacts were clear, appropriate, measurable, and achievable; whether the approach used theory-based non-formal adult education; and whether the delivery model was feasible and sufficiently original. Relevance included active stakeholder and partner participation, an evaluation plan tied to short- and mid-term outcomes, and preliminary or current data supporting feasibility.

The final criterion covered personnel, facilities and equipment, the project timeline, and the evaluation plan. The application had to show who would do the work, that key personnel had documented experience developing and evaluating Extension programs, that activities could be completed in a logical sequence, and that the team had the staff and budget resources to evaluate the project. This means a strong proposal would connect each activity to a specific audience action and a measurable result rather than listing workshops, websites, or outreach events without an adoption plan.

The project’s measurement plan was especially important. Applicants had to explain how data collected during execution would document outputs, outcomes, and impacts. The notice specifically called for measurement of adoption of tree planting, reforestation, afforestation, or animal-invasion mitigation practices by practitioners, owners, and managers, along with the economic benefits of those behavior changes during and beyond the project. A future applicant should therefore define the baseline, the people being reached, the practice being adopted, the timing of measurement, and how results will be reported. It should also show how partners will help interpret the findings and how another Extension organization could use the resulting materials or model.

Historical status and official verification

The FY2026 cycle is closed. There is no confirmed next deadline in the official NIFA RREA-NFF program listing used for this page. Do not submit against this archive entry, reuse its June 8 deadline for a future cycle, or assume that the FY2026 priority wording, registration instructions, award range, indirect-cost rule, or narrative limits will remain unchanged. When NIFA publishes a new RREA-NFF NOFO, compare the new funding opportunity number and package against the official program page before updating this record.

Official verification links:

• NIFA FY2026 funding opportunity page
• NIFA RREA-NFF program page
• FY2026 USDA-NIFA-EME-32358 revised NOFO
• NIFA electronic-access support: grantapplicationquestions@usda.gov

The organization behind the opportunity is USDA NIFA. The official NIFA pages identify the program, FY2026 closing date, eligibility categories, and funding range; the revised FY2026 NOFO supplies the detailed priorities, submission sequence, application contents, review criteria, and cost restrictions recorded here.