The Bureau of Land Management’s foundation has established its first grants program, a step forward in the group’s evolving mission to help the bureau better manage millions of acres across the West.
The Foundation for America’s Public Lands announced Thursday the establishment of the “drought resilience fund” and the awarding of $2.4 million for two restoration and protection projects in Arizona and Colorado.
The foundation said the two projects in the Colorado River basin are the first of what is expected to eventually include numerous locally led funding projects on BLM lands across the West. The money for the two projects comes from foundation fundraising efforts involving private donors, as well as funding from the Inflation Reduction Act.
The foundation was established by Congress in 2017 but only formally launched by Interior Secretary Deb Haaland in January 2022. Until that time, BLM was the only major federal land management agency without an affiliated foundation to raise private funds that can be used to address management issues across the 245 million acres the bureau oversees.
