The Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board (OWED) is seeking applications for its 2025 Land Acquisition Grants Program.
Donor Name: Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board (OWED)
State: Oregon
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 09/17/2025
Size of the Grant: Not Available
Grant Duration: Grant Duration Not Mentioned
Details:
The Oregon Constitution specifies that OWEB may fund projects involving the purchase of interests in land from willing sellers for the purpose of maintaining or restoring watersheds and habitat for native fish or wildlife.
Eligible Projects
- OWEB’s administrative rules for land acquisition grants allow for future acquisitions of perpetual property interests and the reimbursement of purchases of perpetual property interests that occurred no more than 18 months before the grant application deadline.
- Disruptions to some federal funding programs are impacting the ability of conservation organizations to complete land transactions. To best support the project partners and mission, to allow grant applications to be submitted for eligible property interests purchased up to 36 months before the application deadline of September 17, 2025. To utilize this exception, an applicant must provide sufficient documentation, in OWEB’s discretion, that federal funds were sought and awarded or otherwise obligated to their project, then revoked, cancelled, or suspended by the federal agency because of circumstances within that agency. OWEB will not accept applications for property purchases that occurred more than 18 months before the September 17, 2025, deadline if a loss of federal funding is not documented and determined as qualifying for the rule waiver. More information about lookback periods is under the Budget heading in the section entitled What You Should Know About OWEB Requirements, below. Applicants should consult with OWEB staff before submitting a grant application to determine which lookback period applies to their project.
Eligibility Criteria
Entities able to hold OWEB-funded interests in land, as long as the entity continues to use the land for the purposes specified in the constitution:
- Local, state, and federal agencies
- Tribes
- Not-for-profit land conservation organizations and trusts
- Oregon institutions of higher education
- Independent not-for-profit institutions of higher education or political subdivisions of the state.
For more information, visit OWEB.
