Zoonotic Disease Initiative

The American Rescue Plan provides financial assistance “for research and extension activities to strengthen early detection, rapid response, and science-based management to address wildlife disease outbreaks before they become pandemics and strengthen capacity for wildlife health monitoring to enhance early detection of diseases that have capacity to jump the species barrier and pose a risk in the United States.” Funding will be used to establish and enhance Tribal, State, and Territorial fish and wildlife agencies’ capability to effectively address health issues involving free-ranging terrestrial, avian, and aquatic wildlife and minimize the negative impacts of health issues affecting free-ranging wildlife through surveillance, management, and research to protect the public against zoonotic disease outbreaks. This new federal assistance program is designed to bring wildlife agencies to readiness against future pandemics and encourage them to coordinate their efforts regionally across state and Tribal boundaries. Assistance will be available for a range of activities with the goal of the program to strengthen the foundation of an interjurisdictional landscape-level wildlife health and disease network to protect wildlife, ecosystems, economies, and the American public. This goal is supported by the following objectives:
1. Wildlife managers have a current, evidence-based wildlife disease plan which considers:   
a. Disease surveillance and techniques for surveillance strategies   
b. Diagnostic pathology, microbiology, virology, parasitology, toxicology procedures, and biosafety  
c. Outbreak response  
d. Host population management  
e. Regulatory and policy response  
f. Data management  
g. Risk assessment and decision support  
h. Training   
i. Communication plans so that key entities receive and understand information about wildlife diseases in a timely manner. 
2. State, territorial, and Tribal managers in the same regions are connected in an interjurisdictional network of practitioners.
3. Wildlife managers have access to diagnostic services for wildlife disease.
4. Wildlife managers have capacity to manage wildlife health data, data sharing, and communication.
Project length is one to three years.
Applicants must fill out a survey at the beginning and end of their project. This survey is designed to evaluate the ARP ZDI financial assistance program and will not be used to evaluate individual proposals.