FY2025 ABPP - Battlefield Restoration Grants | P25AS00475

Opportunity Information: Apply for P25AS00475

The FY2025 ABPP Battlefield Restoration Grants (Funding Opportunity Number P25AS00475) are offered by the National Park Service (NPS) through its American Battlefield Protection Program (ABPP) to help communities restore historic battlefield landscapes to better reflect "day-of-battle" conditions. The overall goal is historic preservation of significant American Revolution, Civil War, and War of 1812 battlefields, recognizing these places as important shared heritage sites. This program is one of four ABPP grant lines (Preservation Planning, Battlefield Restoration, Battlefield Interpretation, and Battlefield Land Acquisition), but this particular opportunity is focused specifically on restoration work and the planning needed to do that work correctly.

Projects must be located on eligible battlefields identified in the key national survey reports used by ABPP: Civil War battlefields listed in the Civil War Sites Advisory Commission (CWSAC) Report on the Nation's Civil War Battlefields (1993), and the principal Revolutionary War and War of 1812 battlefields identified in ABPP's Report to Congress on the Historic Preservation of Revolutionary War and War of 1812 Sites in the United States (2007). A core eligibility rule is that the restoration site must be outside the external boundaries of any unit of the National Park System. In addition, the property must fall into one of the program's protected-ownership pathways: it must either have been protected with assistance from the NPS Battlefield Land Acquisition Grant (BLAG) program, or be owned by a state or local government (such as a state or local battlefield park), or be owned by a nonprofit organization. In all cases, the property has to be within the boundaries of the battlefields listed in the survey reports.

Funding is provided through the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) and is awarded competitively. A major budgeting requirement is a dollar-for-dollar non-federal match, meaning the applicant must provide matching funds equal to the federal award amount. The opportunity lists an award ceiling of $750,000, and the federal share ranges depend on which grant category an applicant pursues.

Two grant categories are available. Scoping Grants support the early stages of project development, helping applicants do the up-front work needed to decide what treatment is appropriate and defensible from a preservation standpoint. Typical scoping activities include research, documentation, and evaluation of existing conditions; consultation with stakeholders; and development of treatment and management plans, schematic designs, and/or specifications. These projects must align with the Secretary of the Interior's Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties and the Guidelines for the Treatment of Historic Landscapes. The expected federal share for Scoping Grants is generally $30,000 to $100,000, with a 1 to 2 year period of performance.

Implementation Grants support the actual on-the-ground restoration treatments, but only when the applicant has already completed sufficient planning prior to applying. For Implementation proposals, applicants are expected to have already evaluated the historic resources and made a reasoned determination (using the Secretary of the Interior's Standards and the landscape guidelines) about whether preservation, rehabilitation, or restoration is the right approach. Eligible treatments can include reconstruction of specific features or elements within a landscape, as long as there is adequate documentation and the new work is clearly differentiated from historic fabric. However, the program draws a firm line against total reconstructions of buildings or landscapes that no longer retain integrity to the battle period, because those efforts are considered interpretive rather than preservation-focused and are not eligible. Implementation Grants generally support federal shares from $50,000 up to $750,000, with a 2 to 5 year period of performance, and require applicants to include planning documentation in the application that demonstrates compliance with the Standards and Guidelines and shows a credible evaluation of historic resources.

Because LWCF funds are involved, any land developed with these grant funds will be subject to LWCF non-conversion requirements, which are intended to ensure that protected recreation and conservation values are not later converted to non-qualifying uses. There are also specific long-term protection requirements for nonprofit owners: if a nonprofit holds title to eligible lands, it must convey a perpetual preservation easement to the appropriate State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) or to another organization acceptable to both NPS and the SHPO. More broadly, projects must occur on properties that are protected by an executed preservation easement or another preservation instrument, and proposed activities must comply with all terms of the executed easement or preservation agreement that has been reviewed and approved by ABPP and recorded with the property deed.

The program also spells out key limits on what it will and will not fund. Eligible work is limited to planning and implementation activities for the treatment of Revolution, Civil War, and War of 1812 battlefield properties that meet the location and ownership/protection rules and sit outside National Park System boundaries. Activities that are intended to mitigate easement violations or to address adverse effects identified through Section 106 (or similar state cultural and environmental review processes) are not eligible for funding under this opportunity, which keeps the grant focused on proactive restoration rather than compliance-driven remediation.

From an application strategy standpoint, ABPP will accept multiple applications from the same applicant, but to spread resources across more sites, an applicant can receive only one grant per property from the FY25 funding cycle. Applicants are also encouraged to prioritize projects that support America250, the national commemoration of the 250th anniversary of the United States, including projects that recognize and honor the nation's founding, history, and cultural heritage.

Eligible applicants include a wide range of public, nonprofit, tribal, and higher education entities: state, county, and city or township 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 (as long as they are not institutions of higher education). The administering agency is the National Park Service, the CFDA number is 15.926, and the application closing date listed for this opportunity is 2026-01-08.

• The National Park Service in the other sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "FY2025 ABPP - Battlefield Restoration Grants" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 15.926.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2025-09-09.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2026-01-08. (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 $750,000.00 in funding.
• 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), 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.

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