The U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service is seeking applications for its Recreation Sites and Visitor Services: Creating Quality Recreation Experiences.
Donor Name: Forest Service
State: All States
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 02/07/2025
Size of the Grant: Not Available
Grant Duration: 5 Years
Details:
This Outreach of Interest (OOI) functions as an outreach mechanism to cultivate relationships and connect with potential partners. This OOI is intended to solicit responses to explore future projects meeting the needs and interests of potential partners through partnership agreements within legislative authority with USDA Forest Service. This OOI seeks to foster a shared commitment to quality recreation experiences on National Forest System lands. New partnerships will help add capacity in support of a growing interest in outdoor recreation.
Recreation is one of the primary ways the public uses and experiences the national forests and grasslands. From family picnics at day-use sites to remote backcountry hunting trips, there are a myriad of ways people recreate on National Forest System lands. USDA Forest Service provides 160,000 miles of trails, 10,000 developed recreation sites, and nearly 196 million acres of forests and grasslands to explore. USDA Forest Service works to develop, maintain, and update recreation infrastructure to improve user experiences and to provide diverse recreation opportunities for a variety of users. They build new infrastructure, maintain what they have, interact with the visiting public, and provide daily services to certain recreation sites. The public visited national forest and grassland sites over 200 million times between 2017 and 2021. Recreation use of the national forests and grasslands has increased over time, creating challenges to the agency and the existing partners to keep up with infrastructure needs and provide outstanding visitor experiences. Partnerships help USDA Forest Service meet its stewardship responsibilities for recreation infrastructure and to the recreating public. Such projects serve to engage local community members and cultivate a vested interest in long term success and “ownership” in final outcomes; provide opportunities for job training, personal development, conservation service, and natural resource appreciation; and cultivate the next generation of natural resource stewards and recreation specialists. Potential projects generated through this partnership could improve infrastructure resiliency to weather events; or improve access to public lands for activities such as hunting, fishing, and wildlife viewing and increase recreation capacity; and/or improve visitor safety and the quality of visitor experiences.
Potential projects could include:
- Clean restrooms, pick up litter, remove trash, and provide other such services at developed recreation sites and/or at trailheads.
- Replace or recondition signs and/or information kiosks at developed recreation sites or trailheads. Replace or install signs and blazes along trails.
- Maintain recreation infrastructure such as parking lots, picnic tables, outbuildings, etc. Work could include power-washing, sanding, painting, staining, re-striping, etc.
- Serve as recreation ambassadors: monitor sites and activities, conduct public engagement, walk trails, and note where there are maintenance needs, etc. Report findings back to the local USDA Forest Service office.
- Conduct trail maintenance work such as brushing, logouts, and drainage clearing. Work must comply with USDA Forest Service standards; workers must meet all sawyer qualifications.
- Complete trail condition surveys and trail bridge inspections and/or conduct facility condition surveys at developed recreation sites. Work must comply with USDA Forest Service protocols for data collection and reporting; inspector certifications may be required.
- Complete erosion mitigation and/or streambank stabilization to protect recreation infrastructure and improve climate resiliency.
Project Priorities
Priority will be given to projects that are designed to support the USDA Forest Service in the following areas:
- Enhance sustainable recreation opportunities;
- Make recreation infrastructure more resilient and promote safety;
- Identify workforce development opportunities;
- Build diversity and inclusion;
- Enhance community economic opportunities;
- Support, benefit, or engage communities that are historically underserved, marginalized, and adversely affected by persistent poverty or inequality (pursuant to Executive Order 13985, Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government)
Project Period
Awards under this announcement are typically 1 to 5 years in length. Projects of greater complexity may be awarded for a longer period, not to exceed 5 years.
Eligibility Criteria
Eligible responders include for profit; non-profits; institutions of higher education; federal, state, local, and Native American tribal governments; organizations and special purpose districts (public utility districts, fire districts, conservation districts, school districts, and ports).
For more information, visit Grants.gov.
