Bureau of Land Management Headquarters (HQ) Wildlife Program

Overview

The Headquarters (HQ) Wildlife Program fulfills the Department of the Interior visions of improving the management of wildlife and their habitats, and upholding trust and related responsibilities. The Wildlife Program is responsible for administering program activities that support maintaining functioning wildlife habitats, developing, and implementing restoration projects, and the inventory and monitoring of priority habitats and species to track trends and use on public lands. BLM-managed lands are vital to thousands of species of mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and invertebrates. To provide for the long-term conservation of wildlife and biodiversity on public lands, the Wildlife Program uses a science-based approach to manage public lands to identify projects that support meeting land health standards and desired resource objectives for priority species and habitats, as outlined in land use plans. The program is focused on addressing habitat connectivity issues and implementing projects that consider climate change impacts to short- and long-term objectives. 

The Wildlife Program uses a multi-scale approach that involves coordination with BLM offices and other programs; Federal, state, and tribal governments; and non-governmental partners to accomplish projects and coordinated management at appropriate scales. The BLM’s primary partners in wildlife habitat conservation include the respective state fish and wildlife agencies, tribal governments, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The Wildlife Program also collaborates with other agencies and numerous conservation partners to leverage resources and maximize the benefits for wildlife habitat. The BLM uses the latest geospatial data technologies to share wildlife and wildlife data within BLM and with partners to work more efficiently. This program will fund projects under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act PL 117-58, Section 40804(b) Ecosystem Restoration. 

The BLM (HQ) Wildlife Program’s priority work includes:

• Identifying and supporting projects that address wildlife habitat restoration that are in alignment with restoration landscapes, address habitat land health standards, and improving habitat connectivity supporting wildlife migration such as big game, and migratory birds.
• Projects the support collaborations with State and Tribal Wildlife agencies to address data gaps, implement coordinated landscape or regional monitoring to inform populations status and trend tied to public lands administered by BLM.
• Support projects that will assist BLM with using existing assessments or data to understand climate change impacts on landscape or priority ecosystems important to achieving short and long terms habitat objectives, for example, water availability during extended droughts, or new or emerging impacts for invasives species.
•  Inventory of priority wildlife species and habitats to inform distribution, condition, trend, and utilization of wildlife and special status plant resources to inform preparation of environmental impact statements (EIS's), environmental assessments (EA's), resource management plans (RMP's), activity plans, and certain resource management authorizations.
• Identifying regional or landscape restoration opportunities that address or incorporate priority habitat desired outcomes, and/or address habitat connectivity (such as grassland, woodlands, dunes, deserts, riparian, and wetland areas) for priority wildlife populations that depend on BLM managed lands. Projects should support resiliency on the landscape, including seasonal habitats.
• Collaborating with state wildlife agencies to attain wildlife population goals for priority species, including recreational species, and identifying and managing for habitat connectivity, migrations, stopover habitats, critical water sources, refugia, etc.
• Collaborate with State wildlife agencies to develop an inventory and status of wildlife infra-structure such as water developments, fencing, perches, enclosures, bat gates, etc., and addressing climate effect such as drought.
• Collaborating with Tribal governments to develop management strategies for conserving wildlife resources on public lands.
• Working with local governments, communities, private landowners, and conservation organizations to develop partnership opportunities, leverage resources, implement projects, and improve recreational access for hunting and fishing on public lands.
• Developing and sharing science-based strategies for wildlife conservation through professional workshops, meeting, and work groups.
• Evaluating existing decision support tools and information to enhance BLM's wildlife conservation activities to meet goals and objectives, with consideration of climate effects under different future scenarios. Results should be applicable for informing on the ground activities and identifying any gaps or questions to be addressed.
• Coordinating and implementing wildlife related environmental education to stimulate public understanding of the BLM role in maintaining and enhancing viable populations of wildlife and wildlife habitat.
• Address Bureau Sensitive Species objectives in Resource Management Plans or other conservation plans, including State Fish and Wildlife Agency Wildlife Action Plans.

The recipient should expect Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to have substantial involvement in the project. Prior to submitting an application, applicants are encouraged to contact the Wildlife Resources Program Lead at the BLM state, district, or field office where the work is proposed to take place to discuss proposed projects in order to determine eligibility under the BLM priorities and criteria.