Region 9 Fiscal Year 2025 Wetland Program Development Grants

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 9 is soliciting applications for Wetland Program Development Grants to assist state, Tribal, territorial, and local government entities in developing or refining comprehensive wetland protection, management, and restoration programs. Eligible applicants must be located within EPA Region 9 (Arizona, California, Hawaii, Nevada, and U.S. territories including Guam, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands) and must demonstrate how their proposed projects align with the Core Elements Framework for wetland programs. Applicants will be evaluated on nine criteria totaling 100 points, including project need and environmental benefits, project tasks and milestone schedules, budget adequacy, transfer of results, environmental outputs and outcomes, programmatic capability, partnerships, and past performance. All applicants must provide a minimum 25 percent cost share of total project costs, with limited waivers available for Insular Areas and Tribal entities. The application deadline is April 13, 2026, at 11:59 p.m. ET, with selection notifications anticipated in June 2026 and award notifications in September 2026.

Approximately $3,456,000 will be distributed across up to 10 grants, with individual awards not exceeding $500,000, with approximately $2,073,600 allocated to Track One (Wetland Program Plan development) and $1,382,400 to Track Two (specific program development actions). Project periods are expected to range from two to four years. Ineligible activities include implementation projects, land purchases, permit-required activities, vehicle purchases, and conventional wetland restoration. All applications must be submitted through Grants.gov, and applicants must register with SAM.gov and obtain a Unique Entity Identifier prior to application submission.