FY25 IIJA/IRA Bureau of Land Management Oregon/Washington (ORWA) Invasive and Noxious Plant Management | L25AS00083

Opportunity Information: Apply for L25AS00083

The FY25 IIJA/IRA Bureau of Land Management Oregon/Washington (ORWA) Invasive and Noxious Plant Management opportunity (Funding Opportunity Number L25AS00083) is a discretionary Bureau of Land Management funding program offered through cooperative agreements to support on-the-ground and programmatic work that prevents, detects, inventories, controls, and monitors invasive plants and state-designated noxious weeds on BLM-managed public lands in Oregon and Washington. The program is rooted in the practical reality that invasive species drive large, recurring public costs and can permanently degrade landscapes by outcompeting native vegetation, simplifying plant communities, and reducing the ecological services those communities provide.

The core purpose is to protect native plant communities that underpin wildlife habitat, watershed function, recreation, rural economies, and working landscapes. The notice emphasizes that invasive and noxious weed expansion is widely viewed as one of the most serious threats to native plant communities, with impacts that ripple outward into hunting, fishing, camping, hiking, and overall ecosystem function. It also highlights the broader drivers behind these invasions, including increased trade, travel, and tourism that accelerate species movement, as well as heightened vulnerability after disturbance events like wildfires that are becoming more frequent. Because weeds do not respect boundaries, the opportunity also frames invasive plant management as a cross-boundary issue, noting that infestations on public lands can spread to adjacent private lands in both rural and urban settings, creating economic losses for agriculture and other local resources.

This funding is organized under CFDA 15.230 and falls within the Natural Resources activity category. The BLM plans to fund projects via cooperative agreement, which typically means substantial federal involvement in project design, coordination, or implementation compared to a standard grant. The listed award ceiling is $500,000. The application closing date is March 5, 2025, and the opportunity was created on December 4, 2024. While the notice does not specify the exact number of awards in the excerpt provided, applicants should plan for a competitive process and design proposals that clearly tie activities to measurable outcomes like acres treated, infestations mapped, early detection response timelines, or post-treatment monitoring results.

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 (other than federally recognized tribal governments); and nonprofit organizations both with and without 501(c)(3) status (other than institutions of higher education). Individuals and for-profit organizations are explicitly ineligible under this NOFO, so proposals must come from an eligible public, tribal, educational, or nonprofit entity.

There are also two important participation constraints called out. First, this NOFO does not support entities hiring interns or crews under the Public Lands Corps Act of 1993. The notice explains that the Public Lands Corps Act is the only legislative authority that allows BLM to hire interns under that authority, and directs eligible Youth Conservation Corps applicants to a different funding opportunity (NOFO 15.243, BLM Youth Conservation Opportunities on Public Lands) for projects built around those youth hiring mechanisms. Second, applicants associated with Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Units (CESUs) should pay close attention to the indirect cost limitation. CESUs are described as partnerships designed to promote and provide research, studies, assessments, monitoring, technical assistance, and education. If an award is made to a CESU partner under a negotiated Master CESU agreement consistent with the CESU purpose, indirect costs are capped at no more than 17.5 percent of the indirect cost base recognized in the partner’s federally approved NICRA. Applicants are expected to state whether their proposal furthers CESU purposes and, if so, identify which CESU Network should serve as host.

Overall, this opportunity is aimed at practical, results-oriented invasive plant and noxious weed management across BLM lands in Oregon and Washington, with strong emphasis on protecting ecological integrity, recreational values, watershed health, and nearby private lands and local economies. Proposals that align prevention, early detection and rapid response, treatment, and follow-up monitoring into a coherent plan, and that demonstrate coordination across jurisdictions and landownership boundaries, fit the problem statement the BLM lays out in the notice.

• The Bureau of Land Management in the natural resources sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "FY25 IIJA/IRA Bureau of Land Management Oregon/Washington (ORWA) Invasive and Noxious Plant Management" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 15.230.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2024-12-04.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2025-03-05. (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, 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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