Washington State Department Of Natural Resources

Washington State Department of Natural Resources (DNR), doing business as D N R, is a state government agency that acts as a prime recipient of federal grants for forest management, wildfire mitigation, habitat conservation, and geologic mapping services across Washington State. The agency also holds a small number of federal contracts and serves as a sub-recipient on fire management and ecosystem restoration grants administered through the Washington Military Department and other state entities.

DNR operates as a U.S. state government entity headquartered in Olympia, Washington, managing approximately 5.6 million acres of public lands. The agency's federal funding footprint is dominated by pass-through grant recipients and cooperative agreements rather than competitive procurement. Of 616 total awards in the source (spanning 1993 through August 2026), 561 are prime grants or cooperative agreements (91%), with 55 sub-awards (9%) flowing through the Military Department or other prime grantees. Most recent annual activity shows 51 awards in 2024, 34 in 2025, and 18 so far in 2026, indicating sustained but variable federal engagement.

DNR's customer concentration is heavily weighted to forestry and conservation agencies. The Department of Agriculture Forest Service Region 6 (Pacific Northwest Region) leads by far, with 134 awards totaling $1.1 million in combined potential value—nearly all wildfire mitigation, landscape restoration, and forest health programming under CFDA codes 10.664 (Cooperative Forestry Assistance), 10.720 (Community Wildfire Defense Grants), 10.697 (Hazardous Fuel Reduction), 10.698 (Cooperative Fire Assistance), and related authorities. The Department of the Interior Fish and Wildlife Service and its Region 1 office account for 108 combined awards totaling $387 thousand, primarily funding endangered species monitoring, habitat acquisition, and rare plant conservation. FEMA (44 awards) channels fire management assistance grants and disaster recovery funding through the Military Department to DNR as a sub-recipient. The top five customers cover 59% of recent awards.

DNR's concrete work spans forest and natural resource management on nonfederal lands: hazardous fuels reduction and prescribed burning; development and distribution of genetically improved tree seeds and seedlings for reforestation; community wildfire protection planning and implementation; geologic mapping and LiDAR data collection (through the Washington Geological Survey); endangered species and rare plant monitoring and surveys; land acquisition and conservation easement management under the Forest Legacy Program; watershed restoration; and derelict vessel removal in coastal and marine waters. Representative work includes $995,640 in Bipartisan Infrastructure Act funding for Webster Forest Nursery equipment upgrades (awarded August 2026, USDA Forest Service Region 6); $30.7 million in Community Wildfire Defense Grants for wildfire risk assessments and mitigation projects (December 2024, Region 6); $28.7 million in wildfire defense grants focused on high-risk communities (July 2026, Region 6); $6.75 million for Forest Legacy Program conservation easement acquisition protecting 7,422 acres (August 2025, Region 6); and $3.5 million for derelict vessel removal from Washington's coastal waters (October 2025, NOAA Marine Debris Program). DNR also receives USGS cooperative agreements for geologic mapping ($812,868 through 2025), LiDAR re-collection ($1.1 million+), mine waste characterization ($303,043 through August 2027), and data preservation initiatives.

DNR competes under full-and-open solicitations rather than set-asides; the agency holds no SBA designations. The three parent contract vehicles listed (two blanket purchase agreements and two indefinite delivery vehicles) collectively account for only five task orders, indicating minimal reliance on standing federal contract vehicles. Instead, DNR's federal engagement is grant-driven, with competitive selection common in Forest Service and Interior Department solicitations. The agency's combined potential value across all awards is $4.2 million, but obligated dollars ($716.2 million) far exceed potential value, reflecting the mature, multi-year nature of grant awards with substantial sums already paid or accrued against ceiling amounts.

Recompete exposure in the next twenty-four months is moderate: 27 awards with combined potential value of $196 thousand face ultimate completion dates through October 2027, creating opportunities for competitors on renewal solicitations from Forest Service Region 6, USGS, and Fish and Wildlife Service.

DNR operates primarily on its own as a prime grant recipient; the source lists no formal teaming relationships or major subcontractors beyond Oregon State University (OSU), which partnered on a satellite-based forest monitoring system sub-award. The agency also receives pass-through funding as a sub-recipient under Washington Military Department fire management assistance grants, where DNR implements fire suppression and hazard mitigation work on behalf of FEMA and other federal disaster authorities.