Notice of Intent to Award | BOR LC 18 N002

Opportunity Information: Apply for BOR LC 18 N002

This Notice of Intent to Award (Funding Opportunity Number BOR LC 18 N002) is a discretionary grant from the Department of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation, focused on native fish conservation in the Colorado River Basin. The proposed recipient is the Nevada Department of Wildlife, which will operate and maintain two dedicated fish-rearing facilities: the Lake Mead Hatchery and the Overton Wildlife Management Area. The core purpose is to produce and support recovery-oriented stocking of three native fish species: razorback sucker (Xyrauchen texanus), bonytail (Gila elegans), and flannelmouth sucker (Catostomus latipinnis). The work described centers on hatchery and grow-out operations that help rebuild or sustain populations by consistently producing fish for release into the wild.

The activities funded under this award are practical, production-driven tasks that support long-term augmentation programs. They include rearing wild-caught larvae, growing fish through post-larval and sub-adult stages, and carrying out annual stocking of multiple year classes. The emphasis on multiple year classes matters because it spreads risk across different survival conditions and improves the odds that stocked fish will contribute to stable, reproducing populations over time. In other words, this is not a one-time release effort; it is a sustained propagation and stocking program intended to compensate for low natural recruitment and ongoing pressures in altered river and reservoir ecosystems.

A major justification for the project is the conservation status and historical decline of these species, especially razorback sucker and bonytail, which are among the four large-river fishes endemic to the Colorado River Basin that are listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act. Razorback sucker were once abundant and broadly distributed throughout the basin, occupying the mainstem Colorado River and major tributaries across several states. Their decline is tied largely to major changes in river systems, particularly the construction of mainstem dams and the establishment of reservoir habitats that favor introduced, nonnative sport fish. Those nonnative predators and competitors, combined with altered flow regimes and habitat fragmentation, have sharply reduced razorback sucker distribution and abundance compared to historical conditions. The opportunity description notes that some persistence has occurred in the lower basin after reservoir creation, but largely due to early post-dam recruitment pulses and continued human-assisted augmentation, which is exactly the kind of effort this grant supports.

Bonytail has a similar story of wide historical distribution and steep mid-20th-century decline linked to habitat modification from dams and the spread of nonnative fishes. The description highlights an important difference, though: bonytail have struggled to persist in lower basin reservoirs compared with razorback sucker, making continued propagation and stocking especially central to their conservation strategy. It also notes that a captive broodstock lineage was established from a small number of fish captured in Lake Mohave between 1976 and 1988, underscoring how limited the natural remnant population became and why managed production remains a cornerstone of recovery planning.

Flannelmouth sucker is presented somewhat differently in the notice. Historically, it was among the most abundant large fish in parts of the Upper Colorado River Basin, but it declined in the lower basin and at one point was largely restricted to areas above Lake Mead and a short segment of the Salt River. While it is not described here as ESA-listed, it is identified as a species of special concern in Arizona and considered extinct in California. It is included in the Lower Colorado River Multi-Species Conservation Program because of the risk that it could become listed under federal or state protections in the future. Including flannelmouth sucker in the hatchery production and stocking portfolio is therefore both a conservation and risk-management approach: maintaining or rebuilding populations now can reduce the likelihood of more severe regulatory outcomes later, while also improving ecosystem integrity.

From an administrative standpoint, the opportunity is categorized under environmental activities, uses a grant as the funding instrument, and lists state governments as eligible applicants, aligning with the intended awardee being a state wildlife agency. The posted award ceiling is $1,178,961, with one expected award, reflecting a targeted, single-recipient action rather than an open competitive pool. Key dates included a creation date of December 13, 2017, and an original closing date of December 27, 2017, consistent with the "Notice of Intent to Award" framing, where the agency signals its plan to fund a specific project and recipient. Overall, the grant is designed to keep hatchery infrastructure and operations running so Nevada can reliably produce and stock imperiled native fishes, supporting recovery and long-term conservation outcomes in the lower Colorado River Basin.

• The Department of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation in the environment sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Notice of Intent to Award" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 15.517.
• This funding opportunity was created on Dec 13, 2017.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Dec 27, 2017. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $1,178,961.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 1 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: State governments.

Apply for BOR LC 18 N002

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