FY25 IIJA/IRA Bureau of Land Management Headquarters (HQ) Threatened and Endangered Species Program | L25AS00167

Opportunity Information: Apply for L25AS00167

The FY25 IIJA/IRA Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Headquarters Threatened and Endangered Species Program grant opportunity (Funding Opportunity Number L25AS00167) is a discretionary funding program offered by the Department of the Interior's BLM to support conservation work for federally listed threatened and endangered species, as well as BLM-sensitive and other rare wildlife and plants on BLM-managed lands. Awards will be made as cooperative agreements, which generally means BLM expects substantial involvement in the project through collaboration, coordination, and shared implementation rather than a hands-off pass-through grant. The program sits within the Natural Resources funding activity category under CFDA 15.246 and is explicitly framed as a way to advance broader Department of the Interior priorities, including biodiversity protection, slowing extinction rates, improving climate resilience, and leveraging natural climate solutions.

A central theme of the opportunity is aligning on-the-ground species conservation with national goals and equity-focused public benefits. The program emphasizes actions that contribute to conserving at least 30 percent of U.S. lands and waters by 2030, support state agencies in meeting state wildlife population objectives, and use the best available science and data to guide decisions. It also highlights engagement with communities that have often been left out of conservation investment, including communities of color, low-income families, rural communities, and Indigenous communities, with an emphasis on increasing access to economic opportunities connected to wildlife conservation and stewardship.

The types of projects BLM is looking to support span both direct conservation implementation and the science and planning needed to make that implementation effective. On-the-ground actions can include habitat conservation, restoration, and recovery work benefiting federally listed species, BLM sensitive species, and other rare taxa. The opportunity also calls for targeted inventory and monitoring designed to clarify species status, distribution, trends, and conservation opportunities, which is often the foundation for deciding where protections are most needed and which management actions are likely to succeed. In addition, BLM is inviting projects that build knowledge about rare species and their habitats, including research or applied studies in areas such as propagation methods, genetics, ecology, and threat assessment (for example, impacts from invasive species, habitat fragmentation, drought, wildfire, disease, or human disturbance).

Another major focus is proactive protection and management consistent with Endangered Species Act (ESA) requirements, especially ESA section 7(a)(1), which directs federal agencies to use their authorities to further conservation of listed species. Proposals may involve preventative management actions that reduce the likelihood of further declines, improve habitat conditions, or address key limiting factors before populations reach crisis levels. The program also lists augmentation activities as eligible, including translocations (moving individuals to establish or boost populations), seed collections, and propagation, which can be critical tools for rare plant conservation and for wildlife recovery when habitat conditions and long-term management commitments are in place.

BLM is also interested in improving how efficiently and effectively ESA work is carried out, particularly related to ESA section 7(a)(2) consultations (the process used to ensure federal actions do not jeopardize listed species or destroy/adversely modify critical habitat) and broader 7(a)(1) conservation programs. That means projects that streamline consultation workflows, strengthen early coordination, improve data systems, build decision-support tools, or develop conservation measures that can be applied across multiple actions may be competitive if they clearly reduce delays while improving conservation outcomes. In addition to technical conservation work, the opportunity includes a strong public-facing component: increasing public knowledge of listed and sensitive species on BLM lands, with an explicit request for targeted outreach to communities of color, low-income families, and rural and Indigenous communities. Communication deliverables can include outreach and education efforts and updates to program communications platforms such as websites, as long as they are tied to the program's conservation goals.

Eligibility is limited to public and nonprofit entities and educational institutions. 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; other Tribal organizations; and nonprofits (both with and without 501(c)(3) status). Individuals and for-profit organizations are not eligible under this Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO). The NOFO also makes a specific restriction related to youth hiring: it does not support entities hiring interns or crews under the Public Lands Corps Act of 1993. BLM notes that the Public Lands Corps authority is the mechanism that allows BLM to "hire" interns under that statute, and directs eligible Youth Conservation Corps applicants instead to the separate NOFO 15.243 (BLM Youth Conservation Opportunities on Public Lands) for projects that would center on those kinds of crews.

The opportunity includes a note for organizations participating in the Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Units (CESU) network. CESUs are partnerships designed to support research, monitoring, technical assistance, and education services for resource management agencies. If an award is made to a CESU partner under an established Master CESU agreement and the proposal is 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 encouraged to state whether their proposal supports CESU purposes and, if so, to identify which CESU Network should be considered as the host.

Key administrative details include an award ceiling of $250,000 per award and an original application closing date of February 14, 2025. The opportunity was created on December 11, 2024, and is administered by the Bureau of Land Management. Overall, the program is designed for partners who can bring strong technical capacity, credible science, and practical field implementation, while also demonstrating meaningful engagement and communication strategies that connect endangered species recovery work with broader public benefits and inclusive participation.

• The Bureau of Land Management in the natural resources sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "FY25 IIJA/IRA Bureau of Land Management Headquarters (HQ) Threatened and Endangered Species Program" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 15.246.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2024-12-11.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2025-02-14. (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 $250,000.00 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 L25AS00167

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