Bureau of Reclamation’s WaterSMART Cooperative Watershed Management Grant

The objective of this NOFO is to invite states, Indian Tribes, irrigation districts, water districts, local governmental entities, non-profit organizations, Existing Watershed Groups, and local and special districts (e.g., irrigation and water districts, county soil conservation districts) to submit proposals for Phase I activities to develop a watershed group, complete watershed restoration planning activities, and design watershed management projects. See Section C.4. Eligible Projects for a more comprehensive description of eligible activities.A “watershed group,” as defined in Section 6001(6) of the Cooperative Watershed Management Act (see Section A.1. Authority for full citation) is a grassroots, non-regulatory entity that addresses water availability and quality issues within the relevant watershed, is capable of promoting the sustainable use of water resources in the watershed, makes decisions on a consensus basis, and represents a diverse group of stakeholders, including hydroelectric producers, livestock grazing, timber production, land development, recreation or tourism, irrigated agriculture, the environment, municipal water supplies, private property owners, Federal, state and local governments, tribes, and disadvantaged communities.A “disadvantaged community, as defined in Section 6001(2) of the Cooperative Watershed Management Act, means a community (including a city, town, county, or reasonably isolated and divisible segment of a larger municipality) with an annual median household income that is less than 100 percent of the statewide annual median house-hold income for the state in which the community is located, according to the most recent decennial census. 

The objective of this NOFO is to invite states, Indian Tribes, irrigation districts, water districts, local governmental entities, non-profit organizations, Existing Watershed Groups, and local and special districts (e.g., irrigation and water districts, county soil conservation districts) to submit proposals for Phase I activities to develop a watershed group, complete watershed restoration planning activities, and design watershed management projects. See Section C.4. Eligible Projects for a more comprehensive description of eligible activities.A “watershed group,” as defined in Section 6001(6) of the Cooperative Watershed Management Act (see Section A.1. Authority for full citation) is a grassroots, non-regulatory entity that addresses water availability and quality issues within the relevant watershed, is capable of promoting the sustainable use of water resources in the watershed, makes decisions on a consensus basis, and represents a diverse group of stakeholders, including hydroelectric producers, livestock grazing, timber production, land development, recreation or tourism, irrigated agriculture, the environment, municipal water supplies, private property owners, Federal, state and local governments, tribes, and disadvantaged communities.A “disadvantaged community, as defined in Section 6001(2) of the Cooperative Watershed Management Act, means a community (including a city, town, county, or reasonably isolated and divisible segment of a larger municipality) with an annual median household income that is less than 100 percent of the statewide annual median house-hold income for the state in which the community is located, according to the most recent decennial census. 

In order to be eligible to receive an award as an Existing Watershed Group, the applicant must be an eligible entity as described immediately above and must be either:

An Existing Watershed Group, (i.e., a grassroots, non-regulatory legal entity that otherwise meets the definition of a watershed group)
A participant in an Existing Watershed Group that meets the definition of a watershed group 

Applicant Eligibility for Existing Watershed Groups

In order to be eligible to receive an award as an Existing Watershed Group, the applicant must be an eligible entity as described immediately above and must be either:

An Existing Watershed Group, (i.e., a grassroots, non-regulatory legal entity that otherwise meets the definition of a watershed group)

A participant in an Existing Watershed Group that meets the definition of a watershed group as described above

Please see the full Notice of Funding of Opportunity document in the related documents tab above

A “watershed group,” as defined in Section 6001(6) of the Cooperative Watershed Management Act (see Section A.1. Authority for full citation) is a grassroots, non-regulatory entity that addresses water availability and quality issues within the relevant watershed, is capable of promoting the sustainable use of water resources in the watershed, makes decisions on a consensus basis, and represents a diverse group of stakeholders, including hydroelectric producers, livestock grazing, timber  production, land development, recreation or tourism, irrigated agriculture, the environment, municipal water supplies, private property owners, Federal, state and local governments, tribes, and disadvantaged communities.

A “disadvantaged community, as defined in Section 6001(2) of the Cooperative Watershed Management Act, means a community (including a city, town, county, or reasonably isolated and divisible segment of a larger municipality) with an annual median household income that is less than 100 percent of the statewide annual median house-hold income for the state in which the community is located, according to the most recent decennial census.