Department of the Interior – Bureau of Land Management ORWA Fisheries and Aquatic Resource Management | L21AS00255

Opportunity Information: Apply for L21AS00255

The Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is offering a discretionary funding opportunity titled "ORWA Fisheries and Aquatic Resource Management" (Funding Opportunity Number L21AS00255). The funding is intended to support work in the natural resources arena, specifically projects that advance fisheries and aquatic resource management objectives associated with BLM-managed lands and waters. Awards under this opportunity are issued as cooperative agreements, which generally means BLM expects to have substantial involvement during the project period (for example, coordinating on planning, technical decisions, deliverables, or monitoring), rather than simply providing a pass-through grant with minimal agency engagement.

This opportunity falls under CFDA (now commonly referred to as Assistance Listing) 15.244 and sets an award ceiling of $500,000 per award. While the record does not specify the total number of expected awards, the ceiling signals that projects can be moderate to fairly large in scale, depending on the scope and available funding. The opportunity was created on January 25, 2021, and the original application closing date was June 15, 2021.

Eligibility is limited to public and nonprofit or educational entities, and it explicitly excludes individuals and for-profit organizations. Eligible applicants include state, county, and city or township governments; special district governments; independent school districts; public and state-controlled institutions of higher education; private institutions of higher education; federally recognized Native American tribal governments; other Native American tribal organizations; public housing authorities and Indian housing authorities; and nonprofits (both 501(c)(3) organizations and nonprofits without 501(c)(3) status), as long as they are not institutions of higher education in the nonprofit category listed. In practical terms, this means the program is geared toward public agencies, tribes, universities, and mission-driven organizations capable of carrying out fisheries and aquatic management work in partnership with BLM.

A key restriction in this notice is that it does not support entities hiring interns or crews under this program. The notice highlights that the Public Lands Corps Act of 1993 (16 USC, Chapter 37, Subchapter II - Public Lands Corps) is the legislative authority that allows BLM to "hire" interns, and because of that, youth internship or crew-style projects need to be pursued through a different funding opportunity. Specifically, eligible Youth Conservation Corps must apply under NOFO 15.243, "BLM Youth Conservation Opportunities on Public Lands," rather than through this fisheries and aquatic resource management announcement. As a result, applicants should design proposals around professional project staffing and partner-delivered technical work rather than youth corps placements, internship pipelines, or crew-based labor models.

Overall, this NOFO is best understood as a cooperative funding pathway for qualified governmental, tribal, nonprofit, and academic partners to collaborate with BLM on fisheries and aquatic resource management activities, with clear boundaries around who can apply and what types of workforce models are allowed under this specific authority.

• The Bureau of Land Management in the natural resources sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Department of the Interior – Bureau of Land Management ORWA Fisheries and 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 2021-01-25.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2021-06-15. (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 $500,000.00 in funding.
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Special district governments, Independent school districts, Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities, 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 L21AS00255

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