BLM-WY, Watershed Restoration and Fisheries Improvement | L17AS00149

Opportunity Information: Apply for L17AS00149

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM), under the Department of the Interior, offered a discretionary funding opportunity titled "BLM-WY, Watershed Restoration and Fisheries Improvement" (Funding Opportunity Number L17AS00149) to support watershed protection, restoration, and enhancement work in Wyoming. The program is structured as a cooperative agreement, which means the BLM expects to be actively involved with the selected recipient rather than simply issuing funds and stepping back. The overall focus is natural resources, with an emphasis on projects that improve riparian and aquatic conditions on public lands in ways that translate into measurable benefits for fish, wildlife, and other biological resources.

Geographically, the opportunity targets Wyoming watersheds in three major river systems: the Upper Green River, the Bighorn River, and the Platte River watersheds. The intent is to encourage on-the-ground projects that strengthen watershed function and resilience, particularly in streamside (riparian) and in-stream aquatic habitats. In practical terms, projects under this umbrella often include actions like restoring degraded streambanks, improving channel and floodplain connectivity, reducing sediment inputs, enhancing instream habitat complexity, improving riparian vegetation condition, and addressing other stressors that limit fisheries and broader ecosystem health. The description also makes clear that the effort is meant to be collaborative, involving the recipient and other partners working alongside BLM to implement and coordinate restoration outcomes.

Eligible applicants were broadly defined to include a range of governmental and nonprofit entities with the capacity to carry out watershed and habitat work. Specifically eligible applicants included state governments; county governments; city or township governments; public and state-controlled institutions of higher education; federally recognized Native American tribal governments; and nonprofit organizations with 501(c)(3) status (excluding higher education institutions when applying as nonprofits). This eligibility profile suggests the BLM anticipated proposals from agencies, conservation districts, tribes, universities, and conservation organizations that can plan, permit, implement, and monitor restoration activities, often in partnership with local stakeholders and land management entities.

Financially, the opportunity listed an award ceiling of $900,000 and expected to make one award. The program’s CFDA number was 15.231, aligning it with BLM assistance programs related to natural resource stewardship. The notice was created on June 9, 2017, with an original closing date of August 8, 2017, indicating a roughly two-month application window. Overall, the grant was designed to concentrate a substantial level of support into a single cooperative project (or coordinated set of projects) that advances riparian and aquatic restoration goals in the specified Wyoming watersheds, with BLM and partners jointly guiding implementation to ensure benefits to fisheries, wildlife habitat, and watershed health on public lands.

• The Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management in the natural resources sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "BLM-WY, Watershed Restoration and Fisheries Improvement" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 15.231.
• This funding opportunity was created on Jun 09, 2017.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Aug 08, 2017. (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 $900,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 1 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Nonprofits having a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education.

Apply for L17AS00149

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