In June 2026, with support from the Knobloch Family Foundation, Road to Recovery (R2R) awarded grants to 11 Tipping Point species working groups. R2R offered three tiers of grants over 1-3 years to align support with a working group’s capacity and stage of progress toward species recovery. R2R will open the process for Tier 1 and Tier 2 grants again later in 2026
Tier 1 Working Groups: Developing and Organizing
Tier 1 grants support early-stage species working groups as they build the partnerships, leadership structures, and shared vision needed for long-term conservation success. These one-year awards help working groups organize key partners, assess recovery needs, establish priorities, and create the foundation for coordinated species recovery efforts.
Together, the funded Tier 1 projects will build new conservation partnerships, develop recovery plans for declining bird species, and engage communities in conservation action. The grants provide critical early-stage support to help working groups organize, identify priorities, and lay the groundwork for long-term species recovery.
Eastern Towhee Working Group
Grant Recipient: Willistown Conservation Trust
- Launching a range-wide recovery partnership that brings together state agencies, universities, NGOs, landowners, and conservation organizations across the Eastern Towhee’s full life cycle.
- Developing the first coordinated recovery roadmap for Eastern Towhees, including completion of the R2R Species Recovery Progress Wheel and a targeted conservation action plan.
- Connecting people to bird conservation through backyard habitat stewardship, building on successful outreach campaigns that encourage landowners to maintain shrub and early-successional habitat critical for Eastern Towhees and other declining birds.
Hudsonian Godwit Working Group
Grant Recipient: Manomet Conservation Sciences
- Building the first coordinated, hemispheric recovery network for Hudsonian Godwits, connecting researchers and conservation practitioners from Arctic breeding grounds to South American nonbreeding habitats.
- Developing a range-wide conservation strategy for a rapidly declining migratory shorebird, including completion of the R2R Recovery Wheel and an updated international conservation plan.
- Advancing community-driven conservation across the Americas by engaging local communities, Indigenous groups, land managers, and students in habitat stewardship, monitoring, and recovery planning.
Yellow-billed Magpie Working Group
Grant Recipient: California Central Coast Joint Venture and American Bird Conservancy
- Launching a statewide recovery partnership for the Yellow-billed Magpie, a California endemic species that has lost more than half its population and continues to decline across its limited range.
- Developing a science-based recovery roadmap to address key threats including habitat loss, land conversion, West Nile virus, and habitat fragmentation while identifying priority conservation actions across California.
- Building conservation partnerships with ranchers, farmers, and private landowners to support oak savanna and working-land stewardship that benefits both wildlife and local communities.
Tier 2 Working Groups: Advancing Towards Recovery
Tier 2 grants help established working groups strengthen coordination, fill critical knowledge gaps, and advance strategic recovery planning. Through targeted research, training, and technical support, these projects develop the scientific, and organizational tools needed to move species recovery efforts from planning toward implementation.
Together, the funded Tier 2 projects are advancing coordinated recovery efforts for declining bird species by filling critical knowledge gaps, strengthening conservation partnerships, and developing science-based recovery strategies. Through research, monitoring, and meaningful engagement with landowners, Indigenous communities, industry partners, and local conservation organizations and communities, these working groups are building the knowledge, partnerships, and social foundations needed to implement effective conservation action across entire species ranges.
Henslow’s Sparrow Species Conservation Working Group
Grant Recipient: American Bird Conservancy
- Advancing coordinated recovery across the Henslow’s Sparrow’s breeding range by reconnecting agencies, Joint Ventures, researchers, and conservation practitioners to align science, habitat delivery, and recovery planning.
- Strengthening the scientific foundation for recovery through coordinated monitoring, demographic research, integrated population modeling, and identification of priority landscapes where conservation actions can have the greatest impact.
- Applying social science strategies to private lands conservation to understand and further explore how outreach, incentives, trusted messengers, and Farm Bill programs influence landowner participation and long-term grassland stewardship for Henslow’s Sparrow habitat.
Mountain Plover Working Group
Grant Recipient: Bird Conservancy of the Rockies
- Advancing coordinated recovery for the Mountain Plover across the United States and Mexico through improved monitoring, updated conservation planning, and strengthened partnerships throughout the species’ full annual cycle.
- Filling critical knowledge gaps by developing a standardized range-wide monitoring framework, updating population estimates, and improving understanding of habitat use, migration, and winter ecology.
- Integrating social science into grassland conservation by working directly with ranchers, landowners, Indigenous communities, and Mexican ejidos to identify barriers, incentives, and opportunities for prairie dog and Mountain Plover conservation on working lands.
Semipalmated Sandpiper Working Group
Grant recipient: NJ Audubon
- Advancing coordinated conservation for a rapidly declining migratory shorebird across the Western Hemisphere.
- Developing a science-based research and conservation roadmap to address the most pressing threats facing Semipalmated Sandpipers.
- Using social science and community engagement to reduce threats, strengthen stewardship, and build lasting conservation partnerships across the species’ range.
Tier 3 Working Groups: Implementing Recovery
Tier 3 grants support mature working groups that are ready to translate recovery plans into action. Through habitat restoration, threat reduction, community engagement, and conservation delivery, these projects implement on-the-ground solutions, measure biological and social outcomes, and accelerate progress toward long-term species recovery.
Together, the funded Tier 3 projects are translating recovery plans into action by implementing conservation strategies across priority landscapes, engaging landowners and communities, and addressing the human behaviors that drive species declines. Through habitat restoration, sustainable land management, social science research and application, behavior-change initiatives, and coordinated conservation delivery, these working groups are accelerating measurable progress toward long-term species recovery across the hemisphere.
Bachman’s Sparrow Working Group
Grant recipient: American Bird Conservancy
- Accelerating recovery of a Red Alert species through large-scale habitat restoration by expanding prescribed fire, open-pine woodland restoration, and grassland management across priority landscapes in the southeastern United States.
- Turning conservation planning into action on private lands through partnerships with landowners, prescribed burn associations, conservation delivery networks, and forestry professionals to restore and maintain fire-dependent ecosystems at meaningful scales.
- Applying social science to increase conservation adoption by identifying barriers to prescribed fire, understanding landowner motivations and economic considerations, and developing decision-support tools that align habitat restoration with landowner goals and working forest management.
Buff-breasted Sandpiper Working Group
Grant recipients: University of Minnesota and Manomet Conservation Science
- Implementing conservation at key migration and wintering sites across the Americas by expanding bird-friendly grazing and grassland management on working ranches in Uruguay and Bolivia, benefiting Buff-breasted Sandpipers while supporting sustainable livestock production.
- Scaling proven habitat management practices through partnerships with ranchers, conservation organizations, and local communities to increase the availability and quality of critical grassland habitats throughout the species’ annual cycle.
- Integrating social science methods to transform agricultural practices in Texas by working with sod producers, consumers, and industry partners to develop and test “bird-friendly” management approaches that reduce pesticide exposure while remaining economically viable.
Central Grassland Bird Working Group
Grant Recipient: Central Grassland Bird Working Group
- Implementing large-scale, science-driven conservation across the Great Plains by directing habitat protection and restoration to the places where investments can deliver the greatest benefits for declining grassland birds.
- Transforming conservation planning into action through SPARRO, an innovative decision-support tool that combines bird population data, habitat threats, and future conservation scenarios to guide recovery efforts across 17 focal grassland bird species.
- Integrating social science into conservation delivery to identify where communities are most ready for voluntary conservation, measure trust and behavior change among landowners, and ensure conservation investments align with local capacity, priorities, and working-land realities.
Hudsonian Whimbrel Working Group
Grant Recipient: Manomet
- Implementing site-based conservation actions across the Americas to protect critical Hudsonian Whimbrel habitats, including important wintering areas in Brazil and key migratory staging sites in Mexico.
- Translating cutting-edge science into conservation action by using demographic models, tracking data, and threat assessments to identify and address the factors driving long-term population declines.
- Embedding social science and community leadership into recovery efforts through partner engagement, local conservation partnerships, and a new hemispheric Community of Practice that ensures conservation solutions are locally relevant, equitable, and durable.
Lesser Yellowlegs International Working Group
Grant recipients: NJ Audubon, University of Idaho, Fauna Conservation Suriname, and Green Heritage Fund Suriname.
- Implementing targeted conservation actions across the Americas to address the most significant threats facing Lesser Yellowlegs, including wetland loss in agricultural landscapes and unsustainable hunting along key migration routes.
- Bridging science and on-the-ground conservation by translating research on habitat quality, pesticides, drought, and migratory connectivity into practical conservation tools and best management practices for landowners and conservation partners.
- Driving behavior change to support species recovery through partnerships with agricultural producers, game wardens, hunters, and local communities, using social science, outreach, and incentive-based approaches to reduce threats and improve habitat stewardship.