Oregon Tribal Youth Restoration Project .doc

Office: LLOR932000 Oregon/Washington State Office Notice of Funding Opportunity Number: L24AS00057 Project Submission Dates and Times: February 21, 2024, 5pm EST

Project Title: Oregon Tribal Youth Restoration Landscapes Project Opportunity

Maximum Available Funding in FY24: $950,000 BLM has determined $600 weekly stipend equal to $15.00 per hour is reasonable for youth crew members and $18.00-$25.00 per hour for crew leaders or individual placements (interns). Stipends above this amount must be justified in budget narrative with why increase is needed.

Project Background Information: The OR-WA BLM intends to build upon the Western Oregon Tribal Youth Corps Project, piloted in 2020, to offer youth corps employment opportunities to tribal youth throughout Oregon. The partnership accomplishes goals within the John D. Dingell, Jr. Conservation, Management, and Recreation Act of 2019 (Dingell Act) which includes provisions of the 21st Century Conservation Service Corps Act (21CSC), to establish an Indian Youth Service Corps, and directs the Secretary of the Interior to increase emphasis on offering opportunities to expand tribal youth engagement and service on public lands.

Project Objective: The objectives are to provide Oregon youth with opportunities to learn about natural resources management while gaining life skills that will help them with future employment opportunities. This project will increase the number of partnerships with Tribes and tribal-youth serving organizations throughout Oregon; increase the number of tribal youth provided meaningful employment; provide a meaningful mixture of skills gained; provide youth with a minimum of 80 hours of employment; instill a sense of shared community service that benefits public lands. In addition, youth corps participants will identify and establish pathways to natural resource education, career/vocation, and volunteerism. The Youth Corps will work directly with BLM project leaders to outline project work statewide that supports the restoration and conservation goals of the Inflation Reduction Act and the BLM’s Youth Program to offer meaningful employment opportunities to youth. The youth corps project work will be both crew-model based and individual placements. The project work will include, but it not limited to, fire/fuels treatments, trail maintenance or rehabilitation, wildlife habitat improvements, botany/plant projects, forestry and climate resilience. Individual placement/internship projects will include conducting cultural inventory and surveys, monitoring and collecting data on sensitive plants, restoring trails and installing fencing, and implementing education and interpretation programs with BLM specialists. Special emphasis will be on project to be conducted within the BLM Southwest Oregon (Coos Bay, Roseburg, Medford Districts) and the Southeast Oregon Sagebrush (Lakeview, Burns, Vale Districts) Restoration Landscape geographic areas. In addition, the selected Youth Corps will showcase the partnership accomplishments through a social media marketing campaign or video promotion and will conduct up to 4 tours with agency and community leaders.

Work Schedule: Monday – Friday, generally 8 AM to 5PM, for a minimum of 12 weeks, with flexible start/end dates in May-June/August-September. Weekends might be required but would be a rare occurrence.

Qualification Requirements: This opportunity is suitable for youth with a high school diploma interested in natural resource careers or are working towards an undergraduate or graduate degree in a natural resource-related discipline. As stated in the duties this opportunity will require time outdoors and field work that is often under somewhat rigorous physical conditions. Individual Placement/Interns may also be required to complete a security background check if unsupervised access to federal buildings or information systems is required.

Housing: Agency cannot provide housing but may be able to assist in locating campsites or provide recommendations.

Vehicle Needs: Youth Corps will need to provide for all transportation of crews. Some project sites are accessible by 2-wheel drive vehicles, but 4-wheel drive vehicles are required at many locations. Driving on pavement, gravel and native surface roads will be a common occurrence.

Other Project Considerations:

Supplies: BLM will provide all the supplies and equipment necessary for conducting the project work.

Travel: Field camping may be necessary to complete some tasks due to the remoteness of some locations.

Training Requirements: Training may include chainsaw certification, first aid, computer security, crew leads training, individual skills training and can be provided by the Youth Corps or through the BLM, as available.

Duties: Engage the next generation of youth in the outdoors and natural resources. Through participating in this hands-on, employment-based program, tribal youth and others from local Oregon communities will be engaged in projects that improving the health of our watersheds and wildlife populations, access to recreation areas, and instill a shared sense of ownership and responsibility for the lands and resources we all benefit from and enjoy. The Youth Corps recipient will implement a statewide program that offers youth corps programming from corner to corner of the state including engaging with Tribal nations. The Youth Corps will promote opportunities for youth to discover and develop life-ready skills. This will be accomplished by completing hands-on stewardship and natural resource projects that benefit the public including, but are not limited to, new trails, clear trails, watershed restoration, animal exclosures, fence construction, weed removal, native plant propagation, hazardous fuels/fire management, riparian restoration, fisheries and aquatics monitoring, and education and interpretation programs. All projects must have a public benefit and must be tied to the community. Through working together in partnership, the BLM will increase emphasis on offering opportunities to expand tribal youth engagement and service on public lands. youth to find meaningful training and work opportunities. The tribal youth will earn greatly needed wages, be exposed to public service and natural resource careers, receive training, and be immersed in stewardship as we reopen and care for our public lands.

The majority of youth that are hired will be local tribal members. The Youth Corps recipient will work directly with BLM project leaders and with Tribal Nations to complete ecosystem restoration, conservation and community resilience projects with a focus on work within the 2 Oregon/Washington BLM Restoration Landscapes in southwestern and southeastern Oregon including recreation, wildlife, botany/plant, rangelands and forestry projects.

BLM’s Involvement: There will be substantive BLM programmatic involvement by a BLM professional that will work directly with the Youth Corps recipient to oversee all projects and also collaborate on project orientation and hands-on training. BLM will have the right to intervene by modifying the project management plans, if a project is not staying on schedule, technical issues arise, etc. In addition, BLM and recipient will meet regularly to discuss progress and track project outcomes; review any training needs; and then make a decision what direction to take in finalizing a project or moving to the next phase. The BLM will make site visits as warranted by program needs. The recipient will also be responsible for significant developments, i.e., events which may occur between the scheduled performance reporting dates that have significant impact upon the supported activity. In such cases, the recipient must inform the BLM or pass-through entity as soon as the following types of conditions become known:

1. Problems, delays, or adverse conditions which will materially impair the ability to meet the objective of the Federal award. This disclosure must include a statement of the action taken, or contemplated, and any assistance needed to resolve the situation.

2. Favorable developments which enable meeting time schedules and objectives sooner or at less cost than anticipated or producing more or different beneficial results than originally planned.

BLM Program Contact:

Field PO Name Maya Fuller

Field PO Phone Number 503-808-6437

Field PO Email mfuller@blm.gov

Applicants are encouraged to refer to the full program announcement number L24AS00057 posted on Grants.gov for all program requirements and applicable terms and conditions. Recipients selected for awards will be required to adhere to those requirements should an award be made.

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