BLM-CO White River Field Office Restoration and Monitoring Project

Description

The Bureau of Land Management Colorado's 8.3 million acres of public lands, along with 27 million acres of mineral estate, are concentrated primarily in the western portion of the State. The lands range from alpine tundra, colorful canyons, and mesas in the southwest, to rolling sage-covered hills in the northwest. These public lands play a vital role in providing open space and contribute to Colorado's quality of life. The public lands and resources administered by the BLM are among Colorado's greatest assets, benefitting local communities and our nation. Colorado's public lands support diverse lifestyles and livelihoods on healthy and working landscapes in Colorado's backyard. BLM Colorado's National Conservation Lands encompass approximately one million acres, or one-eighth of all BLM land in the state. This funding opportunity announcement seeks cooperators for a landscape-scale restoration effort to restore grasslands, shrublands, woodlands, and riparian areas to a healthy and productive condition within the Bureau of Land Management's White River Field Office (WRFO) located in Colorado. The program features restoration efforts and treatments across multiple jurisdictions and ownership to improve land health. BLM Colorado seeks cooperators to engage in a collaboratve restoration effort on public and private lands and includes the following activities: â¿¢ Land health improvements across a landscape regardless of ownership; â¿¢ Defragmentation of landscapes; â¿¢ Re-establishment of extant species; â¿¢ Re-establishment of natural ecosystem processes; and â¿¢ Consolidating & leveraging funds allows restoration to continue despite budget uncertainties The BLM, along with state and local partners, educational institutions, nonprofit organizations, and other federal land management agencies, share a vision to improve the health of the land and enhance its recreation and natural resource values. The WRFO has a history of working alongside of local land managements, conservation districts, producers and ranchers, conservation organizations, research and educational institutions to further the goals of improved land health. Specific activities will include fostering cooperation and consultation between BLM and its partners for the purposes of monitoring, reclaiming and restoring wildlife habitat, impaired watersheds, and developing range improvements on public, private and state lands. While the Recipient has general latitude as to how to achieve the project objectives in furtherance of the public purposes served by this award, the Recipient shall generally carry out the project with the following guidelines, goals and performance measures, which must be reflected in the proposal submitted for consideration and award: â¿¢ The first aspect of the project funded through this award would include all outreach, coordination, and partnership development activities. General activities to be carried out by the Recipient would be the recruitment and fostering of public support and the support of partners for the overall project and for the specific project activities funded for the reclamation and restoration of specific landscapes, including necessary interaction with the public, affected agencies, and public and private landowners, allottees, and permittees. â¿¢ The second aspect would be to identify and prioritize in cooperation with the BLM specific projects for reclamation and restoration, which would include identifying with BLM assistance an inventory of lands which could benefit from the project, ensuring an equitable mixture of types of land impacted and reasonable geographic distribution of specific projects. This effort would also take into account the most severely impacted lands and the highest need projects and undertaking activities to acquire matching funds, if applicable, for the specific projects from permittees, the public, and other partners. â¿¢ The third aspect would be working with BLM staff to design and develop the specific reclamation and restoration projects, assistance in monitoring the success or failure of these projects, planning and designing the projects based on available funds and matching funds, if applicable, soliciting entities to perform the specific project activities that are the reclamation and restoration work, and initiating appropriate enforceable agreements between the Recipient and the entities that will perform the reclamation and restoration work. Project work may be implemented utilizing various partnership funding and in-kind service opportunities that may be available through the National Resources Conservation Service's Environmental Quality Incentive Program (EQIP); sportsman and conservation groups; industry trade groups; grazing permittees; soil and water conservation districts; and state, tribal, and local government agencies. The Recipient, through this agreement, will work with the BLM and the other partners to improve entire landscapes and watersheds. Specific project activities may be limited in scope based on land ownership whether it be private or public lands. After the planning and design period, typical project activities may include the following: reclamation and restoration of impaired watersheds or landscapes; reclamation of abandoned/orphaned oil and gas well pads, roads and other infrastructure where there is no operator of record; the restoration of invasive plant species; the enhancement of wildlife habitat; and the improvement of vegetative resources. Additionally, the type of treatment activities may include chemical, mechanical and prescribed fire vegetative treatments, erosion control, range improvements, reclamation of abandoned oil and gas development facilities such as well pads, roads, pits, power lines, etc.

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