WESTERN MOJAVE ENCROACHMENT SOLUTIONS PROJECT FOR THE MARINE CORPS AIR GROUND COMBAT CENTER TWENTYNINE PALMS, CALIFORNIA | N62473 25 2 0002

Opportunity Information: Apply for N62473 25 2 0002

The WESTERN MOJAVE ENCROACHMENT SOLUTIONS PROJECT is a Department of the Navy funding opportunity managed through Naval Facilities Engineering Command Southwest that focuses on protecting military readiness at Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center (MCAGCC) Twentynine Palms while improving landscape resilience and conserving sensitive desert ecosystems in the western Mojave. The core problem it is trying to address is that Southwest training and testing ranges are increasingly stressed by severe drought, wildfire, and flooding, which can damage infrastructure, disrupt water supplies, degrade soils and habitat, and ultimately constrain the ability to train and test at scale. MCAGCC Twentynine Palms is a major strategic training installation, covering about 1,102 square miles and supporting live-fire and combined-arms training across 27 range management units that include targetry, routes, landing areas, expeditionary spaces, and safety buffers. Because MCAGCC trains roughly one-third of the Fleet Marine Force and Reserve units each year, the Navy is treating these climate-driven and watershed-related impacts as mission risks that need coordinated, on-the-ground solutions and better monitoring.

A central feature of this opportunity is its connection to the Mojave Desert Sentinel Landscape, a 2024 designation covering roughly 3.5 million acres between several major military installations in Southern California, including MCAGCC, Fort Irwin, Edwards AFB, Naval Weapons Station China Lake, and Marine Corps Logistics Base Barstow. While the designated Sentinel Landscape itself does not include the military lands, it is intended to align and coordinate work across the broader region, including the additional adjacent military acreage. The Sentinel Landscape concept is designed to bring together state, federal, tribal, county, local, and nongovernmental partners to reduce incompatible development pressures and address shared natural resource vulnerabilities. Within that framework, the grant emphasizes landscape-scale and watershed-scale actions that strengthen resilience: improving stormwater infiltration, increasing groundwater recharge, building soil health, reducing wildfire risk, mitigating heat impacts, and restoring habitat and ecosystem function. The Navy is specifically looking for innovative solutions that improve watershed function and reduce both current and projected degradation, paired with practical monitoring capabilities such as field sampling, remote imagery, and data analysis that can demonstrate results and guide future investments.

Another major driver is species conservation under the Recovery and Sustainment Partnership (RASP), a Department of Defense and Department of the Interior initiative launched in 2018 to support recovery of Endangered Species Act listed species while increasing flexibility for military mission activities. At MCAGCC, the focal species is the Agassiz's desert tortoise, which is listed as threatened and occurs widely on the installation but has been declining. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service works closely with the Marine Corps on tortoise conservation through monitoring, permitting, mitigation guidance, and recovery planning. MCAGCC has taken a leadership role for the desert tortoise under RASP and has chosen a participation level that trades sustained financial support for robust off-base population recovery in exchange for broader operational flexibility on-base. This arrangement is formalized through a RASP Biological Opinion completed via ESA Section 7 consultation, and the investment strategy is coordinated through the Mojave Desert Tortoise Recovery Implementation Plan (May 2022), developed with the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.

In practical terms, the Navy is seeking statements of interest to establish a funding framework linking MCAGCC and USFWS for two connected lines of effort: (1) drought, fire, and flood encroachment resistance activities within the Mojave Desert Sentinel Landscape context, and (2) desert tortoise conservation investments aligned with both the Sentinel Landscape program and RASP commitments. The intent is to support actions that reduce environmental and climate-related encroachment on training and infrastructure while meeting conservation goals that help sustain long-term mission flexibility. The award is structured as a Cooperative Agreement, which typically implies active collaboration between the government and the recipient during implementation, rather than a more hands-off grant.

Administratively, this is an earmark-category opportunity with Funding Opportunity Number N62473 25 2 0002 and CFDA 12.005. The anticipated award ceiling is $9,000,000 with one expected award, and the original closing date is May 2, 2025. A key constraint is eligibility: the Cooperative Agreement is intended to be sole-sourced to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation under Section 101(d)(2) of the Sikes Act, meaning only NFWF submissions will be accepted and evaluated. Any applications or materials from other organizations will not be reviewed. This effectively makes the opportunity a mechanism for the Navy to fund and coordinate a specific partnership vehicle through NFWF to deliver watershed resilience and tortoise recovery outcomes tied directly to military readiness needs at Twentynine Palms and the broader western Mojave region.

• The Naval Facilities Engineering Command Southwest in the natural resources sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "WESTERN MOJAVE ENCROACHMENT SOLUTIONS PROJECT FOR THE MARINE CORPS AIR GROUND COMBAT CENTER TWENTYNINE PALMS, CALIFORNIA" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 12.005.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2025-04-02.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2025-05-02. (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 $9,000,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 1 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Others.

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