FY25 IIJA/IRA Bureau of Land Management Wyoming Aquatic Resource Management | L25AS00179

Opportunity Information: Apply for L25AS00179

The FY25 IIJA/IRA Bureau of Land Management Wyoming Aquatic Resource Management opportunity (Funding Opportunity Number L25AS00179) is a discretionary funding notice that supports cooperative agreements for on-the-ground and technical work that protects and restores aquatic resources on BLM-managed lands in Wyoming. The focus is on maintaining and improving riparian and wetland areas, aquatic habitats, and water resources so these systems function well for multiple uses over the long term, including fish and wildlife needs and broader watershed health. The program is positioned as a practical implementation arm for BLM managers and partners, combining field restoration and protection with planning support, science, and compliance so that public land management meets land health standards and sustains healthy watersheds for future generations.

Funding is tied directly to major federal investments aimed at ecosystem and climate resilience, specifically the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), Section 40804(b) Ecosystem Restoration, and the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), including Sections 50221 (Resilience), 50222 (Ecosystems Restoration), and 50303 (DOI). In other words, proposals should fit clearly within ecosystem restoration, resilience-building, and related Department of the Interior priorities. The BLM highlights that the program’s work is meant to address real, current stressors affecting Wyoming waters and aquatic habitats, including habitat fragmentation and degradation, drought impacts and water availability challenges, and aquatic invasive species. Projects that reduce vulnerability to drought, wildfire, and flooding and that improve the ability of aquatic systems to recover from disturbance are strongly aligned with the intent of these funds.

The opportunity emphasizes a set of core program functions that give applicants a clear sense of what kinds of work BLM wants to fund. That includes protecting and restoring ecosystem structure and function in riparian and wetland areas and within aquatic habitats; improving or safeguarding water quality across chemical, physical, and biological conditions in surface water and groundwater; and ensuring water availability in both the legal and physical sense for beneficial uses, including restoration actions. It also includes direct habitat work to maintain or rebuild the presence, abundance, and diversity of healthy and self-sustaining riparian, wetland, and aquatic species, with explicit attention to special status species and the wildlife and plant communities that depend on these habitats.

Beyond restoration activities alone, BLM is also looking for proposals that strengthen “decision support,” meaning inventory, assessment, and monitoring that improves understanding of condition and trend, guides day-to-day management, and supports compliance determinations. Environmental compliance itself is another highlighted function, with an expectation that funded work will align with applicable federal laws, Executive Orders, regulations, and policy, and with state law where consistent with federal law. A final core pillar is internal and external involvement: BLM wants projects built around consultation, coordination, and collaboration with federal, state, tribal, and local governments and with community and nonprofit partners, including education and outreach components that help the public better understand aquatic habitats and restoration needs on BLM lands.

In terms of what BLM is specifically inviting partners to do under this notice, the program calls out priorities such as combating climate change and habitat loss impacts to aquatic resources; restoring and reconnecting degraded aquatic systems (which can include addressing fragmentation and improving connectivity); increasing ecosystem resistance, resilience, and adaptability to drought, wildfire, and floods; and determining acceptable levels of hydrologic and ecological change based on BLM management objectives. Proposals that improve or modernize inventory, assessment, and monitoring tools and approaches are also encouraged, as are projects that prevent the establishment and spread of invasive species. The notice also explicitly ties this work to Department of the Interior priorities, including addressing the climate crisis, restoring balance on public lands and waters, advancing environmental justice, and investing in a clean energy future. Consistent with that, BLM encourages increasing public knowledge and engagement around aquatic habitats on BLM lands, with a targeted emphasis on communities of color, low-income families, and rural and Indigenous communities.

Eligibility is fairly broad across public and mission-driven organizations, but with clear exclusions. Eligible applicants include state, county, and city or township governments; special district governments; public and state-controlled institutions of higher education; private institutions of higher education; federally recognized tribal governments; tribal organizations; and nonprofits (both 501(c)(3) and non-501(c)(3)). Individuals and for-profit organizations are not eligible to apply. The notice also clarifies that this specific NOFO is not the pathway for organizations seeking to hire interns or crews under the Public Lands Corps Act of 1993; youth conservation corps-type efforts that rely on that authority must instead be pursued under the separate BLM Youth Conservation Opportunities on Public Lands notice (NOFO 15.243).

The funding instrument is a cooperative agreement, which typically indicates that BLM expects substantial involvement in the project rather than a hands-off pass-through award. The award ceiling is listed at $100,000, and the original application closing date is February 17, 2025. The CFDA (Assistance Listing) number associated with this opportunity is 15.244, and the activity category is Natural Resources, reflecting the program’s emphasis on practical conservation, restoration, monitoring, and management support for aquatic and riparian systems.

Finally, the notice includes an important cost note for applicants connected to Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Units (CESUs). If a cooperative agreement is awarded to a CESU partner under a formally negotiated Master CESU agreement consistent with CESU purposes, indirect costs are capped at no more than 17.5 percent of the indirect cost base recognized in the partner’s federally approved negotiated indirect cost rate agreement (NICRA). Applicants are asked to state whether their proposal furthers the purpose of the CESU program and, if so, which CESU Network should be considered as the host, which can affect how the agreement is structured and how indirect costs are handled.

• The Bureau of Land Management in the natural resources sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "FY25 IIJA/IRA Bureau of Land Management Wyoming Aquatic Resource Management" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 15.244.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2024-12-16.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2025-02-17. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $100,000.00 in funding.
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Special district governments, Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments), Nonprofits having a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Nonprofits that do not have a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Private institutions of higher education.

Apply for L25AS00179

[Watch] Creating a grant proposal using the step-by-step wizard inside the applicant portal: