Region 06 Fiscal Year 2025 Wetland Program Development Grants

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is soliciting applications for Region 06 Fiscal Year 2025 Wetland Program Development Grants (WPDGs), a cooperative agreement program designed to assist state, Tribal, territorial, local government, interstate, and intertribal entities in developing or refining comprehensive wetland protection, management, and restoration programs. Applicants must demonstrate projects that develop or refine wetland programs through research, training, demonstrations, or studies conducted within EPA Region 6 (Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas), and must provide a minimum 25 percent cost-sharing commitment. The application deadline is April 6, 2026 at 11:59 p.m. ET, with award notifications anticipated in August 2026. Evaluation will be based on nine criteria totaling 100 points: project need and environmental benefit (20 points), project tasks (20 points), milestone schedule and timely expenditure (11 points), budget (10 points), transfer of results (7 points), environmental results and tracking (10 points), programmatic capability (6 points), partnerships (10 points), and past performance (6 points). Applicants must submit required forms including SF-424, SF-424A, EPA Key Contacts Form 5700-54, EPA Form 4700-4, and a project narrative not exceeding 26 double-spaced pages through Grants.gov.

Up to 10 awards of no more than $500,000 each will be made from total anticipated funding of $1,234,000 to $2,468,000, with Track One (Wetland Program Plans) receiving approximately $1,851,000 and Track Two (non-WPP Core Element Framework projects) receiving approximately $617,000. Projects will support performance periods of one to four years, with anticipated approval of grants within four months of application receipt. All activities must occur within EPA Region 6, with emphasis on developing or refining wetland programs rather than implementation projects, land purchases, or conventional restoration activities.