CONSERVATION Native fish, wildlife and their habitat
The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA)
The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act has over 11 billion dollars to invest in creating healthy natural areas that support our wildlife, recreation, and economy. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for conservation and communities in Oregon.
Video update by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife featuring Gov. Kate Brown provides background information on the long-standing project to rehabilitate the Wallowa Lake dam. View on YouTube.
ODFW IIJA Focal Areas
ODFW is focusing efforts in a few key places where additional funding is needed to get us over the finish line, achieving great outcomes for fish and wildlife and for Oregon’s communities. The six focal themes/areas include:
Wallowa River Fish Passage and Flow Restoration: The goals of this effort are to provide upstream and downstream passage for migratory fish species in the Wallowa River system, including Wallowa Lake, and upgrade irrigation infrastructure as needed to accomplish instream flow benefits in the Wallowa River and tributaries. Click on this link for more details on ODFWs IIJA efforts in the Wallowa. ODFW Contact: Jeff Yanke (Jeff.YANKE@odfw.oregon.gov)
Klamath Basin Restoration: ODFW has identified habitat restoration and enhancement, fish screening and passage, and re-establishment of native anadromous fish runs as the primary areas of emphasis for IIJA opportunities in the Klamath Basin. Click on this link for more details on ODFWs IIJA efforts in the Klamath. ODFW Contact: Philip Milburn (Philip.J.MILBURN@odfw.oregon.gov)
Oregon Coast Coho Recovery: ODFW and partners have identified the Nehalem, Nestucca, Alsea, South and Middle Umpqua, and the Coos as priority areas for restoration of the federally-threatened Oregon Coast Coho salmon. Priority actions will address limiting factors, such as stream complexity, water quantity, and water quality. Click on this link for more details. ODFW Contact: Renee Coxen (Renee.J.COXEN@odfw.oregon.gov)
Rogue Watershed Resiliency: The Rogue Watershed Resiliency Initiative seeks to advance state and federal investments that will restore water quantity and quality and upgrade infrastructure to promote fish passage in the Rogue Watershed. Click on this link for more details on ODFWs IIJA efforts in the Rogue. ODFW Contact: Chandra Ferrari (Chandra.A.FERRARI@odfw.oregon.gov)
Wildlife Habitat Restoration: This effort is focused on funding projects that restore habitat structure and function, sustain working lands, and allow for the return of natural disturbance regimes in natural systems, and help build resiliency to a drier and warmer future. Click on this link for more details. Contact: Sara Reif (Sarah.J.REIF@odfw.oregon.gov)
Connectivity and Wildlife Passage: Wildlife connectivity is significantly reduced by roadways as a result of habitat loss and fragmentation, injury and mortality, and behavioral avoidance. Wildlife crossing structures and associated directional fencing significantly reduce the impacts of roads on wildlife populations. Click on this link for more details. ODFW Contact: Rachel Wheat (Rachel.E.WHEAT@odfw.oregon.gov)
Keep checking in for more information, and make sure to explore our vision for IIJA funding implementation! ODFW IIJA Focal Areas (pdf)
IIJA Grants Currently Open:
BOR WaterSMART Small-Scale Water Efficiency Projects
Focus: Small-scale on-the-ground projects that seek to conserve, better manage, or otherwise make more efficient use of water supplies. Projects include: canal lining/piping, municipal metering, irrigation flow measurement, SCADA, landscape irrigation measures, high-efficiency indoor appliances/fixtures, and commercial cooling systems.
Application Deadline: January 14, 2025
Awards: $125K
Eligible Applicants: State and local agencies, Tribes, irrigation/water districts, water/power authorities, or NGOs acting in partnership with these entities
Focus: The study, design, and construction of aquatic ecosystem restoration projects that are collaboratively developed, have widespread regional benefits, and result in an improvement to the health of fisheries, wildlife, and aquatic habitat through restoration actions or improved fish passage.
Application Deadline: April 15, 2025
Awards: $500K - $10M
Eligible Applicants: State and local agencies, Tribes, irrigation/water districts, water/power authorities, or NGOs acting in partnership with these entities
BOR WaterSMART Large-Scale Water Recycling Projects
Focus: Planning, design, and construction activities for water recycling projects that have a total project cost greater than or equal to $500M.
Application Deadline: April 7, 2025
Awards: $180M max/project
Eligible Applicants: State and local agencies, Tribes, irrigation/water/wastewater districts, water/power authorities, or NGOs acting in partnership with these entities
Focus: To assist at-risk local communities and Tribes with planning and mitigating against the risk created by wildfire. Funding is provided for: 1) development/revision of Community Wildfire Protection Plans (CWPP), and 2) implementation of projects described in CWPPs.
Application Deadline: February 28, 2025
Awards: $10M/project
Eligible Applicants: ODF, Tribes, city and county governments, nonprofits, and institutions of higher education
BLM OR/WA Fuels Management and Community Fire Assistance Program
Focus: To assist with fuels management and community fire assistance program activities to reduce the risk and impact of catastrophic wildfires to local communities through coordination, reducing the amount of hazardous fuels, and furthering the education of landowners about wildfire prevention and mitigation.
Application Deadline: March 5, 2025
Awards: $30K - $900K
Eligible Applicants: States, Tribes, city and county governments, nonprofits, and institutions of higher education
BLM OR/WA Forest and Woodlands Resource Management
Focus: Activities that inform and promote forest health, sustainable forest management, fire resiliency, and habitat conservation needs. These activities could include: planting trees, thinning, salvage treatments, vegetation control, fuels reduction, riparian or upland restoration, Endangered Species Act or cultural clearances, data collection, monitoring, and research.
Application Deadline: February 12, 2025
Awards: $10K - $100K
Eligible Applicants: States, Tribes, city and county governments, nonprofits, and institutions of higher education
Focus: Projects that build healthy communities and economies, advance environmental justice, address the climate crisis, and provide safe and equitable access to outdoor recreation opportunities for all Americans. Projects will connect with youth, tribes, and underserved communities to foster public lands stewardship.
Application Deadline: March 10, 2025
Awards: $5K - $200K
Eligible Applicants: States, Tribes, city and county governments, nonprofits, and institutions of higher education
Focus: Provide employment for participants (between the ages of 16 – 30, veterans up to age 35) and to gain work experience in public lands and natural resources management. Recruitment efforts should focus on young, diverse people from local communities to assist with conservation projects that protect and promote multiple-use on public lands.
Application Deadline: March 2, 2025
Awards: $28K - $50K
Eligible Applicants: States, Tribes, city and county governments, nonprofits, and institutions of higher education
BLM OR/WA Plant Conservation and Restoration Management
Focus: Meeting the priorities of the National Seed Strategy. Projects that protect biodiversity; increase resilience to climate change and help leverage natural climate solutions; contribute to 30/30; engage communities of color, low income families, and rural and indigenous communities; all related to native seed production and restoration.
Application Deadline: February 19, 2025
Awards: $5K - $300K
Eligible Applicants: States, Tribes, city and county governments, nonprofits, and institutions of higher education
Focus: Protect and restore riparian and wetland areas, aquatic habitats, and water resources to provide functioning ecosystems for a combination of balanced and diverse uses. Projects can address restoration/protection needs, habitat fragmentation and degradation, drought resiliency, water quality/quantity, aquatic invasive species, and decision support systems.
Application Deadline: February 4, 2025
Awards: $50K - $200K
Eligible Applicants: States, Tribes, city and county governments, nonprofits, and institutions of higher education
BLM OR/WA Threatened and Endangered Species Program
Focus: Actions that protect biodiversity; slow species extinction rates; increase resilience to climate change; contribute to 30/30; support State agencies to meet State wildlife population objectives; engage communities of color, low income families, and rural and indigenous communities; and use the best science and data available to make decisions.
Application Deadline: March 3, 2025
Awards: $1.5M (max/project)
Eligible Applicants: States, Tribes, city and county governments, nonprofits, and institutions of higher education
Focus: Activities that support maintaining land health and productivity, increasing carbon sequestration, and creating resilient landscapes. These activities could include: conservation of rangelands to combat climate change; soils mapping and development of ecological site descriptions; and engagement of community members/stakeholders through mentoring, training, and educational programs.
Application Deadline: February 18, 2025
Awards: $30K - $500K
Eligible Applicants: States, Tribes, city and county governments, nonprofits, and institutions of higher education
NOAA Transformational Habitat Restoration and Coastal Resilience Grants
Focus: Projects selected through this funding opportunity will have a transformative impact for coastal communities and tribes across the country. They will help sustain our nation’s fisheries, make significant strides in the recovery of threatened and endangered species, and help protect coastal communities and ecosystems from the impacts of climate change. They will support efforts such as reconnecting rivers to their historic floodplains, out planting corals to rebuild reefs, building living shorelines that protect coasts from erosion and sea level rise, and more.
Focus: Water conservation and efficiency projects, water management and infrastructure improvements, and river and watershed restoration projects that provide significant ecological benefits and increase the reliability of water resources.
Application Deadline: March 11, 2025
Awards: $5M max
Eligible Applicants: State and local agencies, Tribes, irrigation/water districts, water/power authorities, or NGOs acting in partnership with these entities
Focus: Fish passage projects that to remove instream barriers, restore aquatic organism passage, and restore climate resilient aquatic connectivity in rivers, floodplains, and coastal habitats.
Application Deadline: December 31, 2024
Awards: $250K - $10M
Eligible Applicants: State, county, and city governments, Tribes, housing authorities, educational institutions, NGOs, businesses, and individuals
USFWS Fisheries Restoration and Irrigation Mitigation Act Funding
Focus: To reconnect habitats fragmented by irrigation related barriers in the Pacific Ocean drainage areas of Oregon by providing fish screening and passage to help restore native fish and other aquatic species to self-sustaining levels.
Application Deadline: April 20, 2025 (although applications submitted after Sept. 30, 2024 will only be considered if funds are remaining)
Focus: To improve fish passage through the removal of dams and other in-stream barriers for native migratory fish to reopen migratory pathways and restore access to healthy habitats.
Application Deadline: February 10, 2025
Awards: $750,000K - $8M
Eligible Applicants: States, local governments, Tribes, NGO's, institutions of higher education, and commercial organizations
NOAA Restoring Tribal Priority Fish Passage through Barrier Removal
Focus: To provide financial and technical assistance to Tribes, and organizations that represent Tribes, to remove barriers to fish passage for native migratory fish.
USDA Water & Waste Disposal Technical Assistance and Training Grant Program
Focus: To assist communities with water or wastewater systems through free technical assistance and/or training provided by the grant recipients. Qualified private non-profit organizations will receive grant funds to identify and evaluate solutions to water and waste disposal problems in rural areas, assist applicants in preparing applications for water and waste grants made at the State level offices, and improve operation and maintenance of existing water and waste disposal facilities in rural areas.
Focus: To assist communities through free technical assistance and/or training provided by the grant recipients. Qualified organizations will receive grant funds to reduce or eliminate pollution of water resources in rural areas, and improve planning and management of solid waste sites in rural areas.
Application Deadline: December 31, 2024
Awards: $1M max
Eligible Applicants: Public bodies, nonprofit organizations, and academic institutions
Focus: To promote economic development and job creation in rural areas that create more markets; advance racial justice, equity, and opportunities; and address climate change and environmental justice.
Application Deadline: February 28, 2025
Awards: $30M program total
Eligible Applicants: States, local governments, Tribes, NGO's, and institutions of higher education
There is a lot we can all do to benefit both fish and wildlife, our communities, and our economy. Funds from the IIJA are a once in a lifetime opportunity to do the work but the time is short. We have just 5 years to make the most of this chance.
Apply for an IIJA grant directly or with partners, and bring vital funding into Oregon!
Communicate Oregon’s IIJA funding needs with federal agency partners
Provide support for IIJA funding in ODFW focal areas
Let us know if you receive any IIJA funding in Oregon
Where to find more information on the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act:
Build.gov: The White House website on the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law
Where to find more information on IIJA funding opportunities:
Visit Grants.gov: for more information on IIJA grant opportunities, enter ‘Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act’ in the keyword search. You can also subscribe to grant updates.
Click here to see a summary of the potential funding opportunities ODFW is following that relate to natural resources in Oregon. Please note that not all funding opportunities are included, and make sure to check back frequently as the information will be updated in real-time. Updated 06/29/22
4034 Fairview Industrial Drive SE :: Salem, OR 97302 :: Main Phone (503) 947-6000 or (800) 720-ODFW [6339]
Do you have a question or comment for ODFW? Contact ODFW's Public Service Representative at: odfw.info@odfw.oregon.gov
Share your opinion or comments on a Fish and Wildlife Commission issue at: odfw.commission@odfw.oregon.gov
Do you need this information in an alternative format or language? Contact 503-947-6000 or click here.
