FY25 IIJA/IRA Bureau of Land Management Wyoming Good Neighbor Authority | L25AS00192

Opportunity Information: Apply for L25AS00192

The FY25 IIJA/IRA Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Wyoming Good Neighbor Authority (GNA) funding opportunity (Opportunity Number L25AS00192) is a discretionary, natural-resources grant offered as a cooperative agreement. It is designed to help BLM in Wyoming partner across boundaries to complete on-the-ground restoration and resilience work that is hard to do when land ownership and management are split among federal, state, local, tribal, and private interests. The program’s strategic goals focus on restoring landscape connectivity and function, conserving and restoring lands in ways that help address climate change, improving water resources, and repairing or mitigating legacy disturbances (older impacts on the land such as degraded sites, erosion problems, or past development effects that still need restoration).

A key theme in this opportunity is cross-boundary coordination. Many of the project examples are framed around situations where effective restoration requires multiple landowners or jurisdictions to act together rather than in isolated patches. The Good Neighbor Authority tool is highlighted as a practical mechanism for aligning BLM work with a cooperating entity’s efforts so that treatments can be implemented consistently across a broader landscape, improving ecological outcomes and reducing inefficiencies. The emphasis is not just on planning, but on getting work completed on the ground through coordinated implementation.

The notice describes a wide range of eligible project types that fit Wyoming BLM priorities. Noxious weed and invasive species treatments are a major category, including herbicide applications, mechanical removal, and biological controls, especially when those treatments are already being conducted nearby and BLM-managed acres can be included to make the overall effort more effective. Fuels management is another core area, with examples such as thinning, piling, mastication, mowing, and the use of chemical or biological applications, as well as prescribed fire. These activities are framed around protecting at-risk communities, improving wildfire resilience, and supporting safe and effective wildfire response. Closely related community assistance projects are also contemplated, particularly when there is mutual benefit across ownership boundaries and when partners can leverage funds to accelerate treatments like thinning near communities or juniper removal to improve broader landscape resilience.

Forest management activities are included, especially those that increase forest resilience to wildfire, insects, disease, and drought through density management and related treatments. On rangelands, the opportunity calls out plant restoration needs after wildfire, drought, or invasive species impacts. The examples here extend beyond simply reseeding; they include development of plant materials, seed collection, site preparation, and seeding or planting with seed or seedlings. The notice underscores that native plant restoration often makes the most sense at a cross-boundary scale, and GNA can be used when a cooperating entity is already doing that work and BLM can align its acres with the same restoration push.

Wildlife movement, migration, and habitat connectivity are explicitly prioritized, with an emphasis on cooperative habitat restoration and rangeland structural improvements that reduce barriers and support unimpeded wildlife movement. The opportunity gives concrete examples such as fence removal or fence upgrades to reduce animal fatalities and movement constraints; invasive species control and revegetation along migration corridors and stopover areas; and improving water availability in key movement areas. Water-related examples include development and protection of natural springs, removal of invasive riparian vegetation to increase water availability, building guzzlers or other artificial water sources, and wet meadow restoration. This ties directly back to the program goals around both connectivity and water resources.

The notice also discusses NEPA support in a careful way. It clarifies that BLM’s decision-making authority under NEPA cannot be delegated to a cooperating entity, but a partner can assist in conducting NEPA work when that support is part of the overall project needed to implement authorized restoration services. In practice, this signals that proposals can include partner capacity to help with analysis, documentation, surveys, or related preparatory components, while BLM retains the formal decision role.

Riparian restoration is another highlighted category, particularly following floods, large washouts, or other changes that alter riparian form and function in ways that affect wildlife and livestock. The program notes that riparian work is often most effective when implemented across an entire stream reach in coordination with partners and other federal agencies. Example actions include headcut and erosion control structures, repair or removal of check dams, addressing leaking ditches, recontouring channels or banks, and revegetation to stabilize streambanks and restore function.

Targeted grazing is included as an eligible tool when used as carefully controlled grazing to achieve specific vegetation management outcomes, such as weed control, wildfire fuels reduction, and other restoration objectives. The notice points out that implementing targeted grazing commonly requires supporting infrastructure and monitoring, including fence installation, range improvements or enclosures, maintenance of those improvements, and livestock and range monitoring. Importantly, there is a major eligibility limitation tied to this program: the overall opportunity is limited to state, county, and tribal governments, and all other applicant types are ineligible. That limitation matters in practice because it narrows who can directly apply and receive an award, even if other entities might play roles as subcontractors or partners under an eligible applicant’s lead.

There are also clear constraints around youth hiring and internship programs. This NOFO does not support applicants hiring interns or crews under the Public Lands Corps Act of 1993, and it states that the Public Lands Corps Act is the only legislative authority that allows BLM to "hire" interns under that framework. As a result, Youth Conservation Corps entities are directed instead to the separate funding opportunity under NOFO 15.243, BLM Youth Conservation Opportunities on Public Lands, if they want to pursue projects structured around that authority. This is essentially a boundary-setting statement: this GNA opportunity is for restoration implementation through eligible governmental applicants, not for building youth crews through PLC authorities.

For applicants connected to Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Units (CESUs), the notice includes an indirect cost policy that can affect budgeting. CESUs are described as partnerships intended to promote and provide research, studies, monitoring, technical assistance, and educational services. If an award is made to a CESU partner under a formally negotiated Master CESU agreement consistent with CESU purposes, the indirect cost rate is capped at no more than 17.5 percent of the indirect cost base recognized in the partner’s federally approved NICRA. Applicants are asked to state whether their proposal furthers CESU purposes and, if so, which CESU Network should be considered as the host. This portion signals that CESU-based proposals are welcome, but budgeting needs to reflect the specific CESU indirect-cost limitation when applicable.

From a logistics standpoint, the opportunity is administered by the Bureau of Land Management, with CFDA (Assistance Listing) number 15.015, and it anticipates awards under a cooperative agreement structure, meaning BLM is likely to have substantial involvement during project execution compared with a standard grant. The original application closing date is February 17, 2025. The posted award ceiling is $5,350,000. The eligible applicant categories listed are state governments, county governments, federally recognized tribal governments, and tribal organizations other than federally recognized tribal governments, aligning with the program statement that eligibility is limited to state, county, and tribal governments. Overall, the opportunity is best read as a Wyoming-focused cross-boundary restoration and resilience vehicle under GNA, aimed at practical, implementable projects that tie directly to connectivity, climate-resilient restoration, water improvements, and repairing past land impacts.

• The Bureau of Land Management in the natural resources sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "FY25 IIJA/IRA Bureau of Land Management Wyoming Good Neighbor Authority" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 15.015.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2024-12-16.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2025-02-17. (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 $5,350,000.00 in funding.
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments).

Apply for L25AS00192

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