BLM-CO White River Field Office Restoration and Monitoring Project | L17AS00133

BLM-CO White River Field Office Restoration and Monitoring Project FAQs

1) What is the BLM-CO White River Field Office Restoration and Monitoring Project?

This is a Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Colorado funding opportunity to build a coordinated, landscape-scale restoration program in and around the White River Field Office (WRFO) in western Colorado. The focus is on restoring and sustaining healthy, productive ecosystems across grasslands, shrublands, woodlands, and riparian corridors, while maintaining the working and recreational values of public lands.

2) What is the main goal of this opportunity?

The core goal is to improve overall land health and long-term ecosystem function by coordinating restoration, reclamation, and monitoring efforts at a landscape and watershed scale. The effort is intended to enhance wildlife habitat, improve watershed condition, and address issues such as habitat fragmentation, watershed impairment, and invasive species that extend across property boundaries.

3) Where will the work take place?

The work is centered in and around the White River Field Office area in western Colorado. The approach is explicitly cross-boundary, meaning the program is intended to work across jurisdictions and landownership types, including public, private, and state lands.

4) Is the project limited to BLM-managed lands?

No. A key feature is that it is not confined to BLM parcels alone. The project is meant to function across jurisdictions and landownership boundaries to address landscape-scale problems that do not stop at fence lines.

5) What type of award is this?

This opportunity is structured as a cooperative agreement. That means BLM expects substantial involvement and coordination with the selected recipient (cooperator), rather than issuing a pass-through grant with minimal federal engagement.

6) What does "substantial involvement" by BLM mean in this context?

Based on the announcement, substantial involvement includes close coordination with the recipient to identify and prioritize projects, collaborate on project planning and design, support implementation arrangements, and participate in monitoring and adaptive improvements over time.

7) How many awards are anticipated, and what is the maximum funding amount?

The announcement anticipated a single award with a funding ceiling of $125,000.

8) What is the opportunity number and CFDA?

The opportunity number is L17AS00133. The assistance listing is identified as CFDA 15.231 (Natural Resources) under the U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management.

9) Who is eligible to apply?

Eligibility is listed as unrestricted, which indicates a wide range of entity types could apply, subject to any additional eligibility language contained in the full announcement.

10) What kinds of partners is the selected recipient expected to work with?

BLM emphasizes collaboration with a broad network that may include state and local partners, conservation districts, producers and ranchers, educational and research institutions, nonprofit organizations, grazing permittees, and other federal land management agencies, among others.

11) What role is the recipient expected to play?

The recipient is expected to serve as a hub that brings partners together, aligns priorities, and helps move projects from ideas to on-the-ground work. The recipient is also expected to help build durable partnerships and strengthen the capacity to continue restoration even during budget uncertainty by consolidating and leveraging multiple funding sources.

12) What are the main phases of work described in the announcement?

The work is described in three phases: (1) outreach, coordination, and partnership development; (2) project identification and prioritization in coordination with BLM; and (3) project design, development, implementation support, and monitoring.

13) What is included in the outreach, coordination, and partnership development phase?

This phase includes recruiting partners, building and maintaining public support, and conducting consultation and communication with landowners, permittees, allottees, agencies, and the broader public. It also includes facilitating relationships and agreements needed for cross-boundary restoration work and ensuring restoration actions are understood and supported by affected stakeholders.

14) What is included in the project identification and prioritization phase?

In coordination with BLM, the recipient would help compile an inventory of landscapes and sites that could benefit from reclamation or restoration and then prioritize projects based on need and impact. The announcement highlights prioritizing the most severely impacted lands and highest-need projects, while maintaining reasonable geographic distribution and a balanced mix of project types.

15) Does the opportunity anticipate matching funds or partner contributions?

The announcement indicates this phase may involve organizing and securing partner contributions and matching funds where applicable, including support from permittees, the public, and other cooperating organizations. It also anticipates leveraging partner programs and in-kind support.

16) What is included in the project design, implementation support, and monitoring phase?

The recipient is expected to work closely with BLM staff to plan and design specific projects based on available funding (including any matching funds), solicit qualified entities to carry out on-the-ground work, and establish enforceable agreements with implementers. The recipient is also expected to participate in monitoring to evaluate treatment outcomes and use those results to improve future planning.

17) What types of on-the-ground activities are contemplated?

The opportunity describes a broad range of restoration and reclamation activities, including reclaiming and restoring impaired watersheds and disturbed landscapes, controlling or reversing invasive plant infestations, enhancing wildlife habitat, and improving vegetative resources. It also includes erosion control measures, range improvements, and vegetation treatments using chemical, mechanical, and prescribed fire methods.

18) Is there a specific focus area within restoration and reclamation?

Yes. A specific emphasis is placed on reclamation of abandoned or orphaned oil and gas disturbance features where there is no operator of record, such as well pads, roads, and other infrastructure.

19) How does the opportunity address cross-boundary constraints like mixed ownership?

The announcement acknowledges that some actions may be limited by landownership constraints. Even so, the intent is to improve whole landscapes and watersheds through coordinated planning and targeted implementation across ownership boundaries.

20) What kinds of funding and support sources might be leveraged alongside this award?

The announcement anticipates leveraging partner programs and in-kind support, including potential alignment with USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP). It also mentions possible contributions from sportsmen and conservation groups, industry trade groups, grazing permittees, soil and water conservation districts, and tribal, state, and local governments.

21) What outcomes is BLM trying to achieve through this cooperative agreement?

Intended outcomes include improved watershed and landscape condition, enhanced wildlife habitat, sustained land health, and strengthened capacity to continue restoration work over time. The approach also seeks to deliver measurable land health improvements through targeted reclamation/restoration treatments and monitoring.

22) When was the opportunity posted and when was it originally due?

The posting information provided indicates it was created on June 3, 2017, with an original closing date of August 2, 2017.

23) What makes this opportunity different from a typical project-specific restoration grant?

Based on the description, it is designed as a coordinated, landscape-scale program with a strong emphasis on partnership-building and cross-jurisdiction implementation. The recipient is expected to act as a coordinating hub, align priorities, and support multiple projects from identification through monitoring, rather than focusing on a single isolated site or treatment.