Investments in Restoration and Conservation Across America

WASHINGTON – The Bureau of Land Management today announced $28 million in investments from the Inflation Reduction Act for six large-scale partnerships with national organizations, States, and the Navajo Nation to support restoration and conservation on public lands.

As part of President Biden’s Investing in America agenda, these partnerships will help BLM implement critical conservation projects in sagebrush, forest, grassland, desert, and aquatic ecosystems through a collaborative approach with Tribes, States, and other partners. The investments will leverage additional funding, connect to local communities, and ensure the long-term success of restoration efforts on public lands.

The announcement comes as the Biden-Harris administration celebrated the one-year anniversary of the Inflation Reduction Act last week, the largest climate investment in U.S. history. This funding helps advance America the Beautiful, the Administration’s initiative to support locally led conservation efforts across the country with a goal to conserve and restore 30 percent of U.S. lands and waters by 2030.

“President Biden’s Investing in America agenda enables us to work more deeply with local, State, and Tribal partners to improve the health of our landscapes," said BLM Director Tracy Stone-Manning. "We're proud to announce these six national partnerships that build on our restoration track record and put people to work restoring public lands."

The $28 million in funding for the six partnerships come in addition to previously announced plans to infuse $161 million from the Inflation Reduction Act in 21 Restoration Landscapes, and the close to $40 million the Bureau already deployed in these areas from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

The partnerships announced today include:

A $9.9 million partnership with The Nature Conservancy will increase the scope and speed of low-tech process-based restoration (such as creating natural-looking beaver dams and rock structures) in key western watersheds to support healthy riverscapes and intact sagebrush ecosystems. The partnership will include up to seven landscapes in Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, Colorado, Oregon, and Utah where The Nature Conservancy will work with BLM offices to accelerate implementation of these restoration methods.
An $8.9 million partnership with Trout Unlimited on a large-scale, coordinated watershed and aquatic restoration initiative across arid landscapes of the Upper Colorado Basin, California-Great Basin, and Columbia Pacific Northwest regions. This initiative will improve drought resiliency, promote aquatic connectivity, and conserve ecosystems, habitats, and the species that depend upon them.
A $3.5 million partnership with the Mule Deer Foundation on BLM-managed public lands to improve and conserve important habitat for mule deer and sage-grouse. This agreement will focus on defending and growing core sagebrush habitat, which provides key winter and migratory habitats for mule deer.
Across BLM-managed lands in the West, $2.5 million will be used to employ and manage a team of Backcountry Hunters and Anglers’ (BHA) field staff to inventory, modify, and remove fences on BLM lands in areas of identified need. The partnership will also include BHA members, supporters, and corporate partners to assist with fence work.
In New Mexico, $1.8 million will fund a partnership with the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) to support project work through its Pecos Watershed Conservation Initiative and Southern Plains Grassland Program. These established NFWF programs support the goals of BLM's Restore New Mexico program to restore and maintain rangelands.
In New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah, $1.2 million will fund the Navajo Nation’s Diné Native Plants Program, a native plant seed banking and ecological restoration program. The funding will support project outreach and expand the cultural plants aspect of the program for another two years. The BLM and Navajo Nation will collaborate to establish a seed certification program and administrative pathways for the program to be able to market and sell native plant materials to Federal and non-Federal agencies, including directly to the BLM.
Selected projects are in areas that hold significant potential for cross-boundary partnerships and investments from Federal agencies, State, Tribal and local governments, private landowners, and partner groups to support increasing the scope and scale of restoration work.

Source: U.S. Department of Interior - Bureau of Land Management