FY25 Bureau of Land Management Invasive and Noxious Plant Management- Bureau wide | L25AS00298

Opportunity Information: Apply for L25AS00298

The FY25 Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Invasive and Noxious Plant Management - Bureau wide funding opportunity (Funding Opportunity Number L25AS00298) supports projects that help BLM prevent, detect, inventory, control, and monitor invasive plants and state-designated noxious weeds on public lands. The program is framed around the idea that invasive species are one of the most serious and persistent threats to native plant communities, with long-term consequences for wildlife habitat, watershed function, recreation, rural economies, and working landscapes like rangelands and forests. The opportunity emphasizes that invasive and noxious plants are not just an ecological issue; they also create significant economic costs each year for control, management, and lost resource value, and they can permanently degrade public lands if left unchecked.

The notice highlights why this work is urgent now. Human-driven pathways such as trade, travel, and tourism have accelerated the movement of species, increasing both the speed and volume at which invasives spread into new areas. At the same time, disturbances that make sites more vulnerable, especially wildfires that are occurring more frequently, create openings for invasive plants to establish and expand. BLM points out that noxious weeds are particularly aggressive and are legally designated by states as harmful to public health, the environment, or the economy, which reinforces the need for coordinated and sustained management efforts.

A key theme is that invasive and noxious plants have impacts that extend well beyond the boundaries of BLM-managed lands. The opportunity notes that infestations can reduce recreational opportunities on public lands, including hunting, fishing, camping, hiking, and overall enjoyment of healthy ecosystems. It also stresses spillover effects onto adjacent private lands in both rural and urban settings, contributing to broader economic losses, especially in agriculture, and creating downstream impacts to other resources and community well-being. In practice, this positions the program as supporting landscape-scale or cross-boundary approaches where appropriate, even though the focus is on protecting public lands and their associated values.

Funding is offered through a cooperative agreement, which typically indicates that BLM expects substantial involvement in the project during performance (for example, coordination, technical input, or shared implementation responsibilities). The opportunity is categorized under Natural Resources and is associated with CFDA number 15.230. While the listing does not specify a set number of anticipated awards in the provided text, it does include an award ceiling of $500,000 per award.

Eligibility is limited to non-federal entities that fit the listed applicant types. Eligible applicants include state, county, and city or township governments; public and state-controlled institutions of higher education; private institutions of higher education; federally recognized Native American tribal governments; tribal organizations that are not federally recognized tribal governments; and nonprofit organizations (both 501(c)(3) and non-501(c)(3), as long as they are not institutions of higher education). Individuals and for-profit organizations are explicitly ineligible under this notice of funding opportunity, which is an important screening factor for prospective applicants and partners.

There are also notable restrictions related to youth and internship hiring. This NOFO does not support entities hiring interns or crews under the Public Lands Corps Act of 1993. The notice explains that the Public Lands Corps Act is the only legislative authority that allows BLM to "hire" interns under that authority, and it directs eligible Youth Conservation Corps and similar applicants to instead pursue projects under a separate opportunity: NOFO 15.243, BLM Youth Conservation Opportunities on Public Lands. In other words, if an applicant is trying to build a project primarily around youth crews or internship hiring under that specific statute, this is not the correct funding stream.

The notice also addresses Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Units (CESUs), which are partnerships designed to provide research, studies, assessments, monitoring, technical assistance, and educational services. If a cooperative agreement is awarded to a CESU partner under a formally negotiated Master CESU agreement and the work aligns with CESU purposes, the indirect cost limitation is called out clearly: indirect costs are capped at no more than 17.5 percent of the indirect cost base recognized in the partner's federally approved Negotiated Indirect Cost Rate Agreement (NICRA). Applicants are asked to state whether their proposal furthers CESU program purposes and, if so, to identify which CESU Network should be considered as the host, which helps BLM place the agreement appropriately within the CESU structure.

Administrative details included in the source data indicate the opportunity was created on 2025-06-23 and has an original closing date of 2025-07-23. Overall, the grant is aimed at supporting practical, on-the-ground and programmatic efforts that reduce the spread and impacts of invasive and noxious plants, protect native plant communities, and maintain the ecological and economic benefits that healthy public lands provide.

• The Bureau of Land Management in the natural resources sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "FY25 Bureau of Land Management Invasive and Noxious Plant Management- Bureau wide" 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 2025-06-23.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2025-07-23. (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 $500,000.00 in funding.
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township 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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