FY26 Bureau of Land Management Recreation and Visitor Services - Bureau wide | L26AS00048

Opportunity Information: Apply for L26AS00048

The FY26 Bureau of Land Management Recreation and Visitor Services - Bureau wide opportunity (Funding Opportunity Number L26AS00048, CFDA 15.225) is a discretionary federal funding program administered by the Bureau of Land Management to support recreation and visitor service improvements on BLM-managed public lands. The central purpose is to strengthen the quality, safety, accessibility, and overall experience of outdoor recreation on BLM sites in ways that also benefit nearby communities and local economies that rely on visitation and outdoor tourism. Awards are issued as cooperative agreements, which generally means recipients should expect substantial involvement from BLM staff during project planning and delivery, such as coordination on design standards, resource protection requirements, compliance, and on-the-ground implementation.

For fiscal year 2026, BLM is explicitly prioritizing projects that advance administration priorities and implement major recreation-related laws and initiatives. The notice highlights three key pieces of legislation shaping what BLM wants to fund: the Expanding Public Lands Outdoor Recreation Experiences Act (EXPLORE Act), the Great American Outdoors Act, and the John D. Dingell, Jr. Conservation, Management, and Recreation Act. While the notice does not list specific project types in the excerpt provided, the thrust is clear: proposals must be directly tied to enhancing recreation opportunities and visitor services on BLM lands, and they must show how the work will improve visitor experience in a tangible way. In practical terms, competitive projects typically describe clear recreation or visitor-service outcomes such as better access, improved amenities, safer and more sustainable facilities, better information and wayfinding, reduced visitor conflicts, improved stewardship capacity for high-use areas, and other measurable benefits that visitors will notice.

A key eligibility and program-fit point is that every submission must be grounded on BLM-managed public lands and must clearly demonstrate a recreation and visitor services improvement. Projects that are primarily conservation, research, or general land management without a direct visitor services or recreation enhancement component are less likely to align with the stated requirement. The notice is also clear about who cannot apply: individuals and for-profit organizations are ineligible under this NOFO, so applications must come from qualifying public or nonprofit entities rather than private businesses or unaffiliated individuals.

Eligible applicants include a broad range of governmental, educational, tribal, and nonprofit organizations. Specifically eligible are state governments; county governments; city or township governments; special district governments; public and state-controlled institutions of higher education; private institutions of higher education; federally recognized tribal governments; other tribal organizations; and nonprofits both with and without 501(c)(3) status (as long as they are not institutions of higher education under those nonprofit categories). This range is designed to allow common BLM partners, such as counties, municipalities, recreation districts, tribes, universities, and trail or conservation nonprofits, to collaborate with BLM on visitor-facing projects.

There is also an important restriction related to youth hiring and the Public Lands Corps. This NOFO does not support entities seeking to hire interns or crews under the Public Lands Corps Act of 1993. The notice emphasizes that the Public Lands Corps Act is the only authority that allows BLM to "hire" interns under that framework, and that youth conservation corps-style projects must be pursued under a different opportunity: NOFO 15.243, BLM Youth Conservation Opportunities on Public Lands. In other words, if an applicant is planning a project primarily structured around youth crews or intern hiring under the Public Lands Corps mechanism, this is not the right funding vehicle, and they should shift to the youth-focused NOFO instead.

From a funding and timing standpoint, the opportunity has an award ceiling of $2,000,000 per award and anticipates around 60 awards. The original closing date is August 28, 2026, and the notice creation date is July 27, 2026. The activity category is Natural Resources, reflecting that the work occurs on public lands, but the emphasis is squarely on recreation infrastructure, visitor services, and the recreational use experience rather than purely ecological or scientific objectives.

Overall, this NOFO is best understood as BLM's bureau-wide funding avenue for partner-led, visitor-centered improvements on BLM lands in FY26, aligned with current federal recreation priorities and the implementation of major public-lands recreation legislation. Competitive proposals will tightly connect proposed tasks to specific recreation and visitor service outcomes on BLM sites, show clear public benefit, and demonstrate strong coordination with BLM given the cooperative agreement structure.

• The Bureau of Land Management in the natural resources sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "FY26 Bureau of Land Management Recreation and Visitor Services - Bureau wide" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 15.225.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2026-07-27.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2026-08-28. (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 $2,000,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 60 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Special district governments, Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments), Nonprofits having a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Nonprofits that do not have a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Private institutions of higher education.

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