BLM CA Seed Strategy Action Item 2.4.2 | L17AS00157

Opportunity Information: Apply for L17AS00157

The BLM CA Seed Strategy Action Item 2.4.2 opportunity (Funding Opportunity Number L17AS00157) is a Bureau of Land Management cooperative agreement aimed at advancing the National Seed Strategy for Rehabilitation and Restoration in California. The core purpose is to help BLM quantify, in a defensible and repeatable way, the ecological and economic costs and benefits associated with planting native versus non-native species on public lands. Rather than funding on-the-ground seeding alone, the emphasis is on analysis and decision support: generating credible estimates of how different planting choices affect ecosystem services, restoration outcomes, and associated economic tradeoffs, so BLM and partners can make better-informed restoration and rehabilitation decisions.

A defining feature of the project is the required use of the InVEST platform (Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs), an open-source suite of models and data workflows developed by the Natural Capital Project and its network. The recipient is expected to work jointly with BLM to design and implement studies that apply InVEST to relevant California public-land contexts, using transparent inputs and methods that can be reviewed and reproduced. Because InVEST outputs and applications are intended to become part of the public record, the work is structured to produce traceable datasets, documented assumptions, and modeling products that can be reused and adapted for future projects or different local conditions. The opportunity also highlights capacity-building, with the expectation that training and knowledge transfer will enable BLM staff or other users to continue applying the tools after the period of performance.

In addition to technical analyses, the project scope explicitly includes education and outreach components tied to Seed Strategy Action Item 2.4.2. That typically implies developing materials and engagement activities that explain findings to land managers and stakeholders, demonstrate how InVEST-based assessments can inform restoration planning, and translate model results into practical guidance. In other words, the recipient is not only producing modeling results but also helping BLM socialize the approach, improve understanding of the tradeoffs between native and non-native plantings, and promote consistent use of the methodology across future rehabilitation and restoration efforts.

Eligibility is listed as unrestricted in general, but with a major program-specific requirement: the recipient must already be a Natural Capital Project partner and must be familiar with InVEST. This effectively narrows the applicant pool to organizations with established ties to the Natural Capital Project network and demonstrated technical capability with the platform. The award is administered by the U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management, under CFDA 15.231, and the funding instrument is a cooperative agreement, which signals substantial involvement by BLM in shaping, guiding, and collaborating on the work as it proceeds.

Financially, the opportunity anticipated a single award with a ceiling of $700,000. The original posting indicates it was created June 12, 2017, with an original closing date of August 11, 2017, and expected awards listed as 1. Overall, the grant is best understood as an applied ecosystem-services and restoration decision-support partnership: using an open, repeatable modeling framework to quantify and communicate the ecological and economic implications of planting choices on California public lands, while building lasting agency capacity to run similar assessments in the future.

• The Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management in the natural resources sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "BLM CA Seed Strategy Action Item 2.4.2" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 15.231.
• This funding opportunity was created on Jun 12, 2017.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Aug 11, 2017. (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 $700,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 1 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Unrestricted (i.e., open to any type of entity above), subject to any clarification in text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility.

Apply for L17AS00157

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