Upper Salmon Basin Habitat Improvement Planning and Coordination | BOR PN 19 N015

Opportunity Information: Apply for BOR PN 19 N015

The Bureau of Reclamation grant opportunity titled "Upper Salmon Basin Habitat Improvement Planning and Coordination" (Funding Opportunity Number: BOR PN 19 N015; CFDA 15.517) is a discretionary grant focused on natural resources work in Idaho's Upper Salmon Basin. The program is designed to support basin-wide planning, coordination, and technical analysis that lead to practical habitat improvement projects, with a strong emphasis on using consistent data and analytical tools to guide where and how restoration actions should be pursued. Eligibility is unrestricted, meaning a wide range of applicants may apply, and the funding opportunity was originally posted on August 15, 2019, with an original closing date of August 31, 2019. The stated maximum award amount (award ceiling) is $1,600,000, though the number of expected awards is not specified in the provided source details.

At the core of the work is completion of four reach assessments and associated final reports covering priority areas in the Lemhi River, Pahsimeroi River, and Upper Salmon River systems. These reach assessments are intended to produce detailed, reach-scale evaluations that combine physical habitat conditions, geomorphology, and biological considerations to describe limiting factors and opportunities for improvement. The final reports are expected to be usable planning products that document methods, findings, and recommended actions, and that can be used by partners to move efficiently from assessment into implementation.

Beyond assessment, the opportunity emphasizes building a pipeline of restoration and habitat improvement projects across the Upper Salmon Basin. This includes identifying potential projects, prioritizing them based on ecological benefit and feasibility, and developing them to a level that supports permitting, funding readiness, and eventual construction or on-the-ground implementation. In practice, this project development element is about turning basin planning into an actionable portfolio, not just a list of ideas, and aligning projects with the most pressing habitat constraints for fish and other aquatic resources.

A major technical component involves continued development and refinement of analytical tools used to evaluate habitat and fish production potential at the reach scale. This includes, but is not limited to, fish-habitat models that can estimate carrying capacity and help quantify how habitat changes might translate into biological responses. By improving these tools, the program aims to strengthen the defensibility and consistency of prioritization decisions, support performance-based restoration planning, and allow partners to compare expected outcomes across reaches and projects using a common analytical framework.

The grant also calls for habitat monitoring coordination, reflecting the need to connect restoration actions with measurement and learning. Rather than treating monitoring as isolated site-by-site efforts, the intent is to coordinate monitoring approaches across the basin so that data are comparable, gaps are reduced, and results can be rolled up to inform future decisions. This type of coordination typically supports shared protocols, schedules, metrics, and partner alignment so that monitoring informs both adaptive management and reporting needs.

Data collection and data stewardship are explicit deliverables. The program supports collecting, managing, analyzing, and sharing datasets that enable additional reach assessments in the Upper Salmon Basin and make existing biological and geomorphic tools easier to apply to real projects. This means investing in the behind-the-scenes infrastructure that makes technical work repeatable and transferable: consistent datasets, organized geospatial information, accessible databases, and documented methods that other partners can use without having to recreate prior work. The goal is to reduce friction in future planning cycles and to ensure that assessments and models are grounded in current, well-managed information.

Finally, the opportunity highlights the importance of landowner coordination and outreach, alongside broader coordination of technical efforts in the basin. Because much of the habitat improvement potential in the Upper Salmon Basin is closely tied to private lands, irrigation infrastructure, and working landscapes, effective outreach and relationship-building are treated as essential to moving projects forward. This includes facilitating communication, aligning objectives among landowners and technical partners, and coordinating technical assistance so that proposed actions are both scientifically sound and practically implementable in the local context.

• The Bureau of Reclamation in the natural resources sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Upper Salmon Basin Habitat Improvement Planning and Coordination" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 15.517.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2019-08-15.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2019-08-31. (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 $1,600,000.00 in funding.
• Eligible applicants include: Unrestricted.

Apply for BOR PN 19 N015

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