IIJA/IRA Bureau of Land Management Alaska Invasive and Noxious Plant Management | L25AS00117

Opportunity Information: Apply for L25AS00117

The IIJA/IRA Bureau of Land Management Alaska Invasive and Noxious Plant Management opportunity (Funding Opportunity Number L25AS00117) is a discretionary BLM Alaska program that supports on-the-ground and programmatic work to prevent, detect, inventory, control, and monitor invasive plants and state-designated noxious weeds on public lands in Alaska. The central goal is to reduce the spread and impacts of invasive and noxious plant species that can outcompete native vegetation, permanently degrade landscapes, and drive long-term management costs. The program frames invasive and noxious plant expansion as one of the most serious threats to native plant communities and the benefits those communities provide, including wildlife habitat, healthy watersheds, recreation access and experience, rural economies, and working landscapes.

Projects funded under this opportunity are meant to address the real-world pathways and conditions that allow invasive plants to spread and take hold. The description emphasizes how increased trade, travel, and tourism accelerate the movement of species into new areas, and how disturbance, especially more frequent wildfires, can make sites more vulnerable to invasion. It also highlights that the consequences extend beyond BLM boundaries: infestations can reduce ecosystem function and watershed health, diminish hunting, fishing, camping, and hiking opportunities, and create economic losses in both rural and urban communities. Impacts can also spill onto adjacent private lands, affecting farms, ranches, and other resources and increasing costs to the agricultural sector and landowners.

Awards are made as cooperative agreements, signaling that BLM expects to have substantial involvement during the project (for example, coordination on methods, priorities, reporting, or field implementation) rather than simply issuing a pass-through grant. The funding activity area is natural resources (CFDA 15.230), and the posted award ceiling is $100,000. The opportunity was created on November 21, 2024, and the original closing date is March 17, 2025.

Eligibility is limited to public and nonprofit entities and higher education institutions. 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 nonprofits with or without 501(c)(3) status (excluding institutions of higher education). Individuals and for-profit organizations are explicitly ineligible under this notice of funding opportunity.

Two important limitations are called out. First, this NOFO does not support organizations proposing to hire interns or crews under the Public Lands Corps Act of 1993, because that authority is handled separately; Youth Conservation Corps applicants are directed instead to apply under NOFO 15.243, BLM Youth Conservation Opportunities on Public Lands. Second, for applicants that are part of a Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit (CESU), the notice clarifies that CESU awards made under a formally negotiated Master CESU agreement are subject to an indirect cost cap: indirect costs are limited to no more than 17.5 percent of the applicable indirect cost base recognized in the partner's federally approved NICRA. CESU applicants are also expected to state whether their proposal advances the CESU purpose (research, studies, assessments, monitoring, technical assistance, and education) and to identify which CESU Network should serve as host if applicable.

• The Bureau of Land Management in the natural resources sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "IIJA/IRA Bureau of Land Management Alaska 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 2024-11-21.
• 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.

Apply for L25AS00117

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