2025 SOLICITATION OPENING SOON, please check back. 

ARCD, CCRCD, and TCRCD anticipate awarding up to 140 wildlife structures to Amador, Calaveras, and Tuolumne County land stewards.

Priority species include:

• Barn Owl
• Raptor
• Bats
• Western and Mountain Bluebirds
• Wood Duck
• American Kestrel

RCD technical staff will conduct virtual pre-assessments with interested landowners, followed by site visits to determine structure selection and placement. RCD technical staff will provide assistance to identify best suited species to habitat, wildlife structure installation sites and methods, structure maintenance, and wildlife monitoring. The selection process with give consideration to habitat type, condition, and proximity to human activity. Technical assistance and site selection will occur on a first come, first serve basis.

Structures may be installed on a mounting pole, fence, existing property structure, or tree. 

Awardees will be required to install, clean, and maintain wildlife structures throughout the grant term.  Monitoring of structures may occur over a 10 year period. All structures will become the property of the landowner. Large parcels of land with variable habitat types may be eligible to receive more than one structure.

Awarded structures demonstrating consistent wildlife activity may be selected to install a wildlife camera for monitoring. Still photos of animal activities at structures will be shared on RCD websites. Three livestreaming cameras will be placed at structures demonstrating exceptional wildlife activity, cell phone service permitting. Livestreams will be shared on RCD webpages. RCDs will move still cameras and livestream cameras based on structures' activity. All cameras remain the property of the RCDs, and will be removed by the end of the grant term.

Project objectives include:

• Provide vital nesting or roosting structures to encourage successful utilization of otherwise prime habitat conditions by priority species
• Encourage wildlife predatory pest control of unwanted rodents and insects by providing needed habitat components, and reducing landowner use of rodenticides and pesticides.
• Support the 17 bat species in the Central Sierra: Numerous species of bats in California are in decline. One of the most important, but limiting factors impacting bat populations is a lack of suitable nesting sites.

Property owners will be required to sign a Landowner Access Agreement prior to distribution of structures or placement cameras. To learn more, please review the Landowner Access Agreement template:

If interested, please submit your information here:

Amador Applicants - Wildlife Structure Interest Form

You will be contacted for a site visit if your site is determined to fit project criteria. Filling out this interest form is not a guarantee of funding or assistance. Depending on interest and/or demand the RCDs may not have the capacity to provide technical assistance to all interest form submissions at this time.

Funding made available through Climate Resilience through Habitat Restoration on California Lands Grant from the California Wildlife Conservation Board and California Association of Resource Conservation Districts.