Department Of Natural Resources

The Georgia Department of Natural Resources, a U.S. state government entity operating as a child division of the State of Georgia, functions as a federal grant recipient across environmental, wildlife, and outdoor recreation programs. The agency does not hold federal contracts as a prime contractor in the traditional sense; instead, it receives direct federal grants and cooperative agreements from natural-resource and environmental agencies, supplemented by a small number of pass-through federal task orders for specialized services.

Georgia DNR's federal footprint is heavily weighted toward grant work rather than contract procurement. Over the past five years (2022–2026), the agency has received 306 total awards across federal sources, with 98 percent acting as the direct prime recipient or awardee on grants and cooperative agreements. The agency draws funding from 38 distinct federal customer agencies, with the top five accounting for 73 percent of award count: the Department of the Interior Fish and Wildlife Service Region 4 (299 awards totaling $82 thousand in combined potential value), the Department of the Interior Fish and Wildlife Service overall (252 awards), the National Park Service National Office (157 awards), the Environmental Protection Agency (145 awards), and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (129 awards with $156 thousand combined potential value). When ranked by dollar magnitude rather than award count, the Department of Homeland Security Coast Guard dominates potential value (32 awards, $574 thousand), followed by the Air Force (17 awards, $297 thousand) and NOAA ($156 thousand across 129 awards).

Georgia DNR's grant portfolio spans wildlife restoration, habitat protection, water quality management, coastal zone management, and outdoor recreation development. Representative recent awards include a $3.527 million formula grant from the Coast Guard (October 2025) for boating safety activities through the State Recreational Boating Safety Program; a $12 million formula grant from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (July 2025) for wildlife habitat development, operations, monitoring, and technical guidance statewide; a $6 million project grant from Fish and Wildlife Service (July 2024) for North American Wetlands Conservation funding to permanently protect 3,530 acres; a $5.77 million cooperative agreement with NOAA (October 2024) to administer Georgia's federally approved Coastal Management Program; and a $3.784 million formula grant from the EPA (July 2025) for nonpoint source management and watershed restoration, with subawards totaling $4.123 million to implementing partners and the Georgia Forestry Commission. Georgia DNR also serves as the pass-through grantor for numerous Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) state and local assistance grants, distributing funds to municipalities and counties for park development—examples include $2.16 million to the City of South Fulton for Burdett Park improvements, $1.618 million to Dade County for Dade County Community Forest, and $1.766 million to Paulding County for Richard Creek Reservoir Park, all awarded October 2025 with performance through September 2028.

On the contract side, Georgia DNR holds a single-award indefinite delivery contract (FA483022D0001) with the Air Force Air Combat Command for environmental systems protection and water quality support, with three delivery orders placed totaling $30 thousand in combined potential value. A small number of task orders under related Air Force blanket purchase agreements (FA483015A0029 with six task orders, $46 thousand) support specialized environmental monitoring and fuel delivery services. Recent examples include a $24,480 purchase order (May 2026) for supplemental law enforcement services at Lake Sidney Lanier and a $7,470 delivery order (August 2024) for environmental systems protection and water quality support at an Air Force installation.

The agency's federal grant work reflects Georgia DNR's core mission in wildlife management, habitat restoration, and public recreation. Fish and Wildlife Service grants dominate by count—funding species conservation (frosted elfin, gopher tortoises, red-cockaded woodpeckers, spotted turtles, eastern indigo snakes), hunter education, fishing industry management, and habitat enhancement through prescribed burns and invasive species control. NOAA funding supports coastal management program administration, estuarine research reserve operations at Sapelo Island, and living shorelines and nature-based resilience infrastructure under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act. EPA awards fund water quality monitoring, nonpoint source pollution control, underground storage tank prevention, superfund site oversight, and lead-based paint and asbestos compliance programs. The National Park Service and Interior provide Land and Water Conservation Fund grants for park acquisition and development, distributed as subawards to local governments statewide.

Georgia DNR's federal funding is concentrated in formula grants and cooperative agreements allocated on a per-state basis under established statutory programs (Pittman-Robertson Wildlife Restoration Act, Sport Fish Restoration, State Wildlife Grants, Clean Water Act state assistance, NOAA Coastal Zone Management), rather than competitive solicitations. The agency reports an active recompete exposure: 77 awards are scheduled to reach ultimate completion within the next 24 months, creating potential for renewal or program competition. Obligated dollars ($1.83 billion across all awards) far exceed combined potential value ($1.6 million shown in the portfolio), reflecting that most awards are ongoing cooperative agreements and grants with multi-year performance periods and annual or phased funding releases rather than single fixed-price contracts.