IIJA/IRA Bureau of Land Management Alaska Aquatic Resource Management | L25AS00115

Opportunity Information: Apply for L25AS00115

The IIJA/IRA Bureau of Land Management Alaska Aquatic Resource Management opportunity (Funding Opportunity Number L25AS00115) is a discretionary federal funding program offered by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to support on-the-ground and planning-focused work that protects and restores aquatic resources on BLM-managed lands in Alaska. The program sits within BLMs Alaska Aquatic Resources Program, which is focused on maintaining healthy watersheds by improving riparian and wetland condition, safeguarding aquatic habitats, and protecting surface and groundwater resources so they continue to support fish and wildlife, other public uses, and long-term ecosystem needs. The funding is tied to major federal investments through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), specifically Section 40804(b) Ecosystem Restoration, and through the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), including Sections 50221 (Resilience), 50222 (Ecosystems Restoration), and 50303 (DOI).

The overall purpose is to help BLM and its partners address a wide set of aquatic challenges that are especially important in Alaska, including habitat degradation and fragmentation, the need for restoration and reconnection of aquatic systems, drought resilience and changing water availability, and prevention and response to aquatic invasive species. The program emphasizes applying best management practices to avoid or minimize impacts to water resources and aquatic habitats, while also improving the technical foundation for decision-making through inventory, assessment, monitoring, and compliance work. In practical terms, this can include projects that restore stream and floodplain function, rehabilitate wetlands and riparian corridors, improve aquatic habitat connectivity, stabilize or improve water quality conditions, and build stronger watershed resilience to climate-driven stressors like wildfire, flooding, and drought.

BLM lays out several core functions that frame what it expects projects to accomplish. These include protecting and restoring ecosystem structure and function (the physical and ecological processes that keep riparian, wetland, and aquatic systems working), protecting water quality (chemical, physical, and biological integrity of both surface water and groundwater), and ensuring water availability (including the legal and physical availability of water for beneficial uses and for restoration needs). The program also highlights proactive habitat protection and restoration to maintain healthy, self-sustaining species and biodiversity, including special status species, and it places a strong value on decision support activities such as inventorying aquatic resources, assessing condition and trends, monitoring outcomes, and using data to guide management and evaluate compliance.

Another major theme is coordination and accountability. Projects are expected to be carried out in a way that supports environmental compliance with applicable federal laws, regulations, executive orders, and policy (and with state law when consistent with federal law). BLM also signals that strong proposals will include meaningful consultation, coordination, and collaboration with partners such as federal, state, tribal, and local governments, along with community and nonprofit stakeholders. Education and outreach are included as a program function as well, reflecting a desire not only to implement restoration but also to improve public understanding of aquatic habitats and watershed health.

The opportunity is also explicitly aligned with Department of the Interior priorities, particularly actions that address the climate crisis, restore balance on public lands and waters, advance environmental justice, and support a clean energy future. Within that framing, BLM calls out specific areas where it wants partner support, including: reducing climate change and habitat loss impacts to aquatic resources; restoring and reconnecting degraded aquatic systems; increasing resistance, resilience, and adaptability to drought, wildfire, and flood events; defining acceptable levels of hydrologic and ecological change relative to BLM management objectives; improving inventory, assessment, and monitoring tools and activities; preventing the establishment and spread of invasive species; and expanding public knowledge of aquatic habitats on BLM lands with a targeted focus that includes communities of color, low-income families, rural communities, and Indigenous communities. BLM references an attachment titled Suggested Focal Areas for BLM Alaska for additional detail on priority geographies or project types.

From an administrative standpoint, awards will be made as cooperative agreements, which typically means BLM expects substantial involvement during project execution (for example, coordination on technical decisions, monitoring approaches, permitting/compliance steps, data standards, and reporting). The funding activity category is Natural Resources, and the CFDA number listed is 15.244. The posted award ceiling is $100,000. The notice lists an original closing date of 2025-03-17.

Eligibility is broad across public and nonprofit sectors, but it excludes individuals and for-profit organizations. Eligible applicants include state governments, local governments (county and city/township), special district governments, public and state-controlled institutions of higher education, private institutions of higher education, federally recognized tribal governments, tribal organizations (including those other than federally recognized tribal governments), and nonprofits with or without 501(c)(3) status (as long as they are not institutions of higher education).

The notice also includes two important limitations. First, it does not support proposals that hinge on hiring interns or crews under the Public Lands Corps Act of 1993; groups looking to do youth-crew or intern hiring under that authority are directed instead to a separate funding path (NOFO 15.243, BLM Youth Conservation Opportunities on Public Lands). Second, for applicants applying as part of a Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit (CESU), there is a specific indirect cost limitation: if the award is issued under a formally negotiated Master CESU agreement consistent with the CESU mission, indirect costs are capped at 17.5 percent of the applicable indirect cost base recognized in the applicants federally approved NICRA. Applicants are expected to state whether their proposal supports the purpose of the CESU program and, if so, identify which CESU Network should serve as the host.

Overall, this opportunity is best understood as a partner-focused funding vehicle for aquatic ecosystem restoration and resilience work on BLM lands in Alaska, combining field restoration, invasive species prevention, water quality and availability protection, and strong monitoring/decision-support components, with an emphasis on collaboration, compliance, and outcomes that hold up under accelerating climate and disturbance pressures.

• The Bureau of Land Management in the natural resources sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "IIJA/IRA Bureau of Land Management Alaska 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 2024-11-13.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2025-03-17. (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 $100,000.00 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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