FY24 Bureau of Land Management Wild Horse and Burro Resource Management - Off Range | L24AS00087

Opportunity Information: Apply for L24AS00087

The FY24 Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Wild Horse and Burro Resource Management - Off Range funding opportunity (Funding Opportunity Number L24AS00087; CFDA 15.229) is a discretionary grant competition offered by BLM to support off-range work tied to management of wild horses and burros. Awards are made as cooperative agreements, which generally means BLM expects to have substantial involvement in the funded work (for example, coordination, technical input, or shared oversight) rather than simply issuing a pass-through grant with minimal federal participation. The program sits within the Natural Resources funding activity category and is aimed at partners that can help carry out BLM priorities related to off-range aspects of the Wild Horse and Burro Program.

Eligibility is limited to public and nonprofit or educational entities rather than private commercial actors. Specifically, eligible applicants include state, county, city or township governments, special district governments, independent school districts, public and state-controlled institutions of higher education, private institutions of higher education, federally recognized tribal governments, other tribal organizations, public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities, and nonprofits both with and without 501(c)(3) status. Individuals and for-profit organizations are explicitly ineligible to apply under this Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO), which is an important screening point for prospective applicants.

A key restriction in the NOFO is that it does not support projects where the applicant intends to hire 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 legislative authority BLM uses for that type of internship or crew hiring arrangement, and that youth-focused conservation corps efforts need to be routed through a separate funding channel. As a result, Youth Conservation Corps or similar youth-serving entities that want to propose projects involving interns or crews are directed to apply instead under NOFO 15.243, titled BLM Youth Conservation Opportunities on Public Lands, rather than this Wild Horse and Burro Off-Range competition.

The opportunity also highlights the role of Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Units (CESUs), which are partnerships designed to facilitate research, studies, assessments, monitoring, technical assistance, and educational services. If a cooperative agreement is awarded to a CESU partner under an existing, formally negotiated Master CESU agreement and the project is consistent with CESU purposes, the NOFO applies a specific indirect cost limitation. In that CESU context, 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 expected to state clearly whether their proposal advances CESU program purposes and, if so, identify which CESU Network should serve as the host, which can affect how the award is structured and how indirect costs are handled.

The original application closing date listed for this opportunity was January 15, 2024, and the award ceiling is shown as $7,500,000. While the listing includes a field for expected awards, that value is not provided in the source data excerpt. The opportunity was created on October 13, 2023. Overall, the NOFO is best understood as a BLM partnership mechanism for qualified government, tribal, nonprofit, and higher-education applicants to carry out off-range components of wild horse and burro management, with clear constraints around applicant type, youth internship/crew hiring authorities, and indirect cost treatment for CESU-based awards.

• The Bureau of Land Management in the natural resources sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "FY24 Bureau of Land Management Wild Horse and Burro Resource Management - Off Range" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 15.229.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2023-10-13.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2024-01-15. (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 $7,500,000.00 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.

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