BLM-CO Gunnison Basin Wet Meadow Restoration and Climate Change Adaptation Project | L17AS00188

Opportunity Information: Apply for L17AS00188

The BLM-CO Gunnison Basin Wet Meadow Restoration and Climate Change Adaptation Project is a Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Colorado funding opportunity aimed at restoring degraded wet meadows and riparian areas in the upper Gunnison River Basin of southwestern Colorado. While these wet, green patches make up only a small part of the broader sagebrush landscape, they play an outsized role in supporting wildlife, sustaining water supplies later into the summer, and helping ranching operations that depend on reliable forage and functioning riparian systems. The project is managed through the BLM Gunnison Field Office (GFO), which oversees more than 600,000 acres of public land across a wide range of ecosystems, from sagebrush steppe around 7,000 feet to high-elevation forests and alpine tundra above 14,000 feet.

The core problem the grant addresses is the long-term degradation of wet meadows and riparian corridors caused by erosion and historic land uses, which in many places has led to incised channels, headcuts, and lowered water tables. When streams cut downward, they disconnect from their floodplains, water drains away faster, and soils dry out earlier in the season. The opportunity emphasizes that climate stressors are likely to worsen these conditions, particularly more frequent or intense droughts and runoff events that accelerate erosion. A key example referenced is the severe 2002 drought, which helped highlight how vulnerable these systems are when water is scarce and the landscape cannot store moisture effectively.

The ecological driver behind the work is the need to protect and improve habitat for the federally threatened Gunnison sage-grouse, a species with only about 5,000 birds remaining worldwide. Wet meadows provide essential brood-rearing habitat, giving chicks access to insects, cover, and nutritious plants during critical stages of the life cycle. The same habitats also support pollinators, migratory birds, mule deer, elk, and other wildlife, while providing forage for domestic livestock. Beyond habitat, functioning wet meadows act like natural sponges: they hold water in the soil, spread flows across floodplains, reduce flashy runoff, and slowly release water later in the season, which helps maintain baseflows and shallow groundwater levels through the growing season.

BLM is looking for a cooperator to help carry out on-the-ground restoration designed to rebuild hydrologic and ecological function and improve resilience under changing climate conditions. The approach relies on established restoration "best practices" that slow and spread water, trap sediment, stabilize eroding channels, reconnect streams to their floodplains, and increase wetland plant cover. Many of the techniques referenced align with methods popularized by Bill Zeedyk (noted in the opportunity as co-author of "Let the Water do the Work"), which focus on using simple, process-based structures to encourage natural healing rather than heavily engineered channel reconstruction.

Specific restoration tools mentioned include grade control structures (such as one-rock dams and low-water crossings), flow dispersal structures (such as media lunas, plug-and-spread treatments, and filter dams), and headcut control structures (including Zuni bowls, rock rundowns, log-and-fabric treatments, and laybacks). The notice also recognizes that not every site responds the same way, so treatments may vary with conditions and objectives. In addition to in-channel and floodplain structures, the work can include measures to reduce damage from concentrated trailing by wildlife and cattle, such as installing drift fencing to redirect movement and allow vegetation and soils to recover.

The grant builds on an existing, partnership-driven effort involving federal partners, state and local agencies, nonprofit organizations, colleges and universities, and local ranchers and landowners. The opportunity notes measurable progress to date: roughly 140 acres treated using more than 1,000 structures across 21 stream miles in eight watersheds, resulting in improvements to more than 1,000 acres of Gunnison sage-grouse brood-rearing habitat. This funding opportunity is intended to continue and expand those restoration activities across the Gunnison Basin.

Administratively, the opportunity is a discretionary Cooperative Agreement under CFDA 15.231, with unrestricted eligibility (meaning a wide range of applicant types may apply). It was posted by the Bureau of Land Management with funding opportunity number L17AS00188, an original closing date of 2017-08-25, and it anticipated a single award. The listed award ceiling is $32,000.

• The Bureau of Land Management in the natural resources sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "BLM-CO Gunnison Basin Wet Meadow Restoration and Climate Change Adaptation Project" 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 2017-06-26.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2017-08-25. (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 $32,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 1 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Unrestricted.

Apply for L17AS00188

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