Competitive grants available through the Oiled Wildlife Care Network
The Oiled Wildlife Care Network (OWCN) is currently seeking small grant proposals and pre-proposals from wildlife professionals.
The Oiled Wildlife Care Network (OWCN), a collaborative program between the California Department of Fish and Wildlife – OSPR and the Karen C. Drayer Wildlife Health Center at University of California, Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, is currently seeking research and technology development proposals from wildlife professionals interested in furthering OWCN goals for the 2025 – 2026 funding period:
Pre-proposals for full research projects (>$15,000/year for up to three years, with yearly re-application)
- Proposal submission deadline: 1 January 2025
- Request for full proposals: 1 February 2025
- Full proposal deadline: 1 April 2025
- Grants selected: 30 June 2025
- Funding period: 1 July 2025 – 30 June 2026
- Final project report due: 31 December 2026
- Click here for more information
Small Grant Proposals for pilot or smaller research projects (up to $15,000/year for one year)
- Submission deadline: 1 April 2025
- Grants selected: 30 June 2025
- Funding period: 1 July 2025 – 30 June 2026
- Final project report due: 31 December 2026
- Click here for more information
Proposals with direct application to OWCN readiness and response will be prioritized!
Projects can focus on both marine and inland species. Examples of topics related to these goals include:
- Identify new, and refine current, wildlife hazing, capture, care, and release protocols and technologies to improve animal welfare and rehabilitation success.
- Assess applicability of telemetry/remote sensing techniques to monitor survival and fitness of wildlife after spills.
- Develop and validate new oiled wildlife treatments & clinical diagnostics.
- Generate methods to detect/quantify oil exposure in wildlife to inform capture and care.
- Determine and test methods for minimizing and mitigating the effects of oil on wildlife.
- Investigate medical conditions that may affect care during oil spill response.
- Compile biomedical health parameters of commonly oiled wildlife species where those data are not widely available (e.g., inland species).
- Determine the acute and chronic health impacts of oil exposure to guide and improve capture, care, and treatment.
- Assess the impacts of medical treatments and chemical countermeasures on wildlife.
NOTE: Projects with greater than 50% of effort focused on Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA) issues will not be considered. Research done on species that are not found in California must be applicable to those species or ecosystems that do occur in California.
Goals of the OWCN Research & Technology Development Program
To fund projects related to:
- Improving animal capture and care methods and technologies
- Assessing wildlife health and welfare to inform prevention, capture, care, and release of oiled wildlife
Click here to view past funding recipients!
If you have questions, please contact Katie Leasure at kalesure@ucdavis.edu or at (530) 752-7526.
