FY26 Bureau of Land Management Invasive and Noxious Plant Management - Bureau wide

The Bureau of Land Management is offering grants between $20,000 and $400,000 for projects that tackle invasive and noxious plant management on public lands across the United States. Up to 40 awards will be made under this funding round. The program targets organizations that can prevent, detect, inventory, control, and monitor weed populations on BLM-managed lands. Invasive plants are a serious problem for American public lands. They cost the public millions of dollars each year in control and management efforts. Many noxious weeds are highly competitive and can permanently degrade the ecosystems they invade. BLM considers noxious weed expansion the single greatest threat to native plant communities and the values those communities provide, including wildlife habitat, watershed function, recreation opportunities, rural economies, and working landscapes. The Bureau of Land Management manages over 245 million acres of public land, mostly in the western United States. Its mission is to sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of these lands for current and future generations. Invasive species work is a core part of that mission, especially as wildfires become more frequent and severe, leaving landscapes more vulnerable to weed invasion. Human activity, including trade, travel, and tourism, has accelerated the movement of species to unprecedented levels, making early detection and rapid response more important than ever. This funding supports a range of activities. Projects may focus on early detection and rapid response to new infestations, emergency stabilization and burned area rehabilitation, education and citizen science, direct treatment of invasive species to protect resource values, or development of classical biological control agents. The work affects not just public lands but also adjacent private lands, farms, ranches, parks, waters, forests, and even backyards. Invasive species reduce recreational opportunities like hunting, fishing, camping, and hiking, and they cause economic losses in both rural and urban communities. Eligible applicants include state and local governments, tribes, non-profit organizations, and educational institutions. Individuals and for-profit organizations cannot apply. Organizations that want to hire interns or crews under the Public Lands Corps Act of 1993 should not apply here, as this funding does not support that authority. Those groups should look at the separate BLM Youth Conservation Opportunities program instead.