FY23 IIJA Bureau of Land Management Headquarters (HQ) Recreation and Visitor Services | L23AS00168

Opportunity Information: Apply for L23AS00168

The FY23 IIJA Bureau of Land Management Headquarters (HQ) Recreation and Visitor Services opportunity (Funding Opportunity Number L23AS00168) is a discretionary federal grant program run by the U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management (BLM). It is offered as a cooperative agreement, which generally means recipients should expect substantial involvement from BLM in planning, coordination, technical input, or oversight during the project rather than a hands-off pass-through award. The program’s activity area is Natural Resources, and it is associated with CFDA/Assistance Listing 15.225. The overall focus, as indicated by the title and program office, is to support recreation and visitor services work connected to BLM-managed public lands, aligning with infrastructure and public access priorities that are often tied to IIJA-related investments.

Eligibility is limited to public and nonprofit or educational entities, and the notice is explicit about who cannot apply. Individuals and for-profit organizations are ineligible under this Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO). Eligible applicants include a broad range of government and public-serving organizations such as state, county, and city/township governments; special district governments; independent school districts; public and state-controlled institutions of higher education; private institutions of higher education; federally recognized Native American tribal governments; other Native American tribal organizations; public housing authorities and Indian housing authorities; and nonprofit organizations both with and without 501(c)(3) status (in both cases, excluding institutions of higher education when the nonprofit category is used). In practical terms, the program is structured to fund entities that can deliver public benefit projects and coordinate effectively with BLM, rather than private commercial operators or individual applicants.

A key restriction in this NOFO is that it does not support entities hiring interns or crews under the Public Lands Corps Act of 1993. The notice emphasizes that the Public Lands Corps Act (16 USC, Chapter 37, Subchapter II) is the only legislative authority that allows BLM to "hire" interns under that specific framework, and that this particular funding opportunity is not the vehicle for that type of youth or internship engagement. As a result, Youth Conservation Corps or similar youth-focused applicants are directed away from this program and toward a different opportunity specifically meant for that purpose: NOFO 15.243, titled BLM Youth Conservation Opportunities on Public Lands. This distinction matters for project design, because proposals that center on internship hiring or youth crews under that statute would be considered out of scope here and would be more appropriately submitted under the youth conservation-focused NOFO.

The administrative details provided indicate the opportunity was created on January 23, 2023, with an original closing date of March 24, 2023. The award ceiling listed is $350,000, meaning applicants should plan budgets at or below that maximum per award (unless the full NOFO text specifies exceptions). While the dataset excerpt does not state the total available funding or the exact number of expected awards, it does signal an intent to make one or more awards through cooperative agreements for projects that strengthen recreation and visitor services connected to BLM’s mission and public lands management responsibilities.

Taken together, the opportunity is best understood as a BLM HQ-managed, IIJA-era cooperative agreement program intended to fund eligible public, tribal, educational, and nonprofit partners to carry out recreation and visitor service improvements or related natural resource visitor-facing work on or tied to BLM lands, with clear exclusions for individuals, for-profit entities, and projects that rely on Public Lands Corps internship or crew hiring authorities.

• The Bureau of Land Management in the natural resources sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "FY23 IIJA Bureau of Land Management Headquarters (HQ) Recreation and Visitor Services" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 15.225.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2023-01-23.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2023-03-24. (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 $350,000.00 in funding.
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Special district governments, Independent school districts, Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities, 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.

Apply for L23AS00168

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