Group items tagged

The mission of the CESU Network is to promote, conduct, and provide research, technical assistance, and education services nationwide in support of the missions of participating federal agencies and their partners concerning natural and cultural resource management on federal and-or private lands and waters. Also in order to achieve this mission, each CESU project is conducted cooperatively and with substantial involvement by and benefits to federal and nonfederal partners. Each project must also be consistent with the mission of the individual CESU through which it is administered. This announcement is part of the master agreement L13AC00082 These projects involve assisting the BLM with long term adaptive management and ongoing planning on Fort Ord National Monument-FONM by continuing the university student and volunteer programs for young people to learn about but not limited to: restoration ecology, studying grassland and woodland ecosystems, watersheds, evaluating existing management actions, providing management guidelines for future actions, inventory, monitoring, evaluation, and evaluating field plots for determining new techniques to improve results of BLMs habitat restoration on FONM.

The National Estuarine Research Reserve System (NERRS or System) consists of estuarine areas of the United States and its territories designated and managed for research and educational purposes. Each reserve within the system is chosen to represent a different bio-geographic region and to include a variety of ecosystem types in accordance with the classification scheme of the national program as presented in 15 CFR § 921. By funding designated reserve agencies and universities to conduct land acquisition and construction projects that support the NERRS purpose, NOAA will strengthen protection of key land and water areas, enhance long-term protection of the habitats for research and education, and provide for facility and exhibit construction that meet the highest sustainable design standards possible.

The U.S. Navy Communications Site project area (hereinafter referred to as "Range Station 21") is operated by Naval Surface Warfare Center, Dahlgren Division (NSWCDD) and located on Muses Beach along the Potomac River in Westmoreland County, Virginia. Shoreline stabilization measures are necessary to arrest shoreline erosion that is threatening to undercut the access road to Range Station 21. The proposed project area is approximately 130 linear feet of Muses Beach in Westmoreland County, Virginia. Range Station 21 is located on private land and leased by the Navy in support of military operations at Naval Support Facility (NSF) Dahlgren; however, the proposed project area is outside the area leased by the Navy and will require the successful cooperator to negotiate a right of entry (ROE) or real estate interest with the property owner. The primary purpose of this Cooperative Agreement is to provide services to design and construct a shoreline erosion control structure on private property to further protect the access road to Range Station 21. The intent of these efforts is to mitigate shoreline erosion, which threatens the access road and thus the accessibility to the existing Navy range monitoring station. No land reclamation is intended in this effort. The shoreline stabilization will support military operational requirements at NSF Dahlgren and benefit efforts to improve water quality of the Potomac River and Chesapeake Bay.

NOAA delivers funding and technical expertise to restore Great Lakes coastal habitats. These habitats support valuable fisheries and protected resources; improve the quality of our water; provide recreational opportunities for the public's use and enjoyment; and buffer our coastal communities from the impacts of changing lake levels. Projects funded through NOAA have strong on-the-ground habitat restoration components that provide social and economic benefits for people and their communities in addition to long-term ecological habitat improvements. Through this solicitation, NOAA seeks to openly compete funding available for habitat restoration in U.S. Great Lakes Areas of Concern (http://www.epa.gov/glnpo/aoc/) under the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative as anticipated in the President's FY2015 Budget. Applications should be submitted for any project that is to be considered for this funding, even for those projects already submitted as applications to other NOAA competitions. Competition will ensure that the most beneficial restoration projects are selected to realize significant ecological gains. Applications selected for funding through this solicitation will be implemented through a grant or cooperative agreement. Funds will be administered by the NOAA Restoration Center (RC). Multi-year cooperative agreement awards will be considered, and additional releases of funds may be used to fund selected proposals through FY17 without further competition. Awards are dependent upon the amount of funds made available to NOAA for this purpose by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. NOAA anticipates approximately $15 million may be available over the next three years to maintain selected awards, dependent upon the level of funding made available by Congress. One, two, or three year proposals will be accepted. Award funding options will include: * For one year requests for habitat implementation proposals, NOAA will not accept applications requesting less than $500,

The Cooperative Watershed Management Program (CWMP) contributes to the WaterSMART strategy by providing funding to watershed groups to encourage diverse stakeholders to form local solutions to address their water management needs. Funding is provided on a competitive basis for: Watershed Group Development and Watershed Restoration Planning: In 2012, Reclamation began providing funding for watershed group development, watershed restoration planning, and watershed management project design (Phase I). A watershed group is a self-sustaining, non-regulatory, consensus-based group that is composed of a diverse array of stakeholders, which may include, but is not limited to, private property owners, non-profit organizations, Federal, state, or local agencies, and tribes. As part of Phase I activities, applicants may use funding to develop bylaws, a mission statement, complete stakeholder outreach, develop a watershed restoration plan, and watershed management project design. For Phase I projects, Reclamation will award a successful applicant up to $50,000 per year for a period of up to two years with no non-Federal cost-share required.

The Fund for Wild Nature's board is rooted in biocentrism and believes that native species and healthy ecosystems are too essential to be sacrificed. Wild areas are increasingly rare and under relentless pressure from a variety of threats. Yet these wild areas constitute the main reservoirs of biodiversity, and provide key scientific reference points for our understanding of the planet's wondrous cycles of birth, life, death, and decay. Wild nature, and the native flora and fauna within, also provide priceless ecosystem services, including clean air, water, pollination, and climate regulation, which are vital to life on Earth. Our goal is to fund groups that recognize the inherent value of wild places and work to preserve and protect natural systems. We support efforts that challenge destructive policies and actions: bold groups that often face tough odds and politically and economically powerful opponents. Hope for the future depends upon active, informed, and passionate people who defend wild nature. Our strength is in the groups we fund and the donors that give us the opportunity to invest in wild nature.

The program supports on-the-ground restoration projects and applied science aimed at enhancing the age and structural diversity of forests in the region; improving the quality of habitat in river and stream systems, especially for eastern brook trout, eastern hellbender, and threatened and endangered freshwater mussels and their host species; and restoring the integrity and complexity of streamside forests, especially those providing habitat for Louisiana water thrush and eastern brook trout.

This announcement represents an opportunity to enter into a cooperative agreement with an organization for outdoor education and training while accomplishing maintenance on public lands consisting of park maintenance, vegetation management, prescribed burns, landscaping and similar services. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is seeking organizations that offer challenging education and job-training experience that helps young adults develop the skills they need to lead full and productive lives and offer opportunity for aid with formal post high school education. Statutory Authority: Water Resources Development Act of 2000, Title 33, Part 2339, Section 213(a), Public Law 106-106-541, 114 Stat. 2593, 33 U.S.C. 2339.

This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) advances the H2@Scale concept. The focus of H2@Scale is to enable affordable and reliable large-scale hydrogen generation, transport, storage, and utilization in the United States across multiple sectors. By producing hydrogen when power generation exceeds load, electrolyzers can reduce curtailment of renewables and contribute to grid stability. Hydrogen produced from existing baseload (e.g., nuclear power) assets can also be stored, distributed, and used as a fuel for multiple applications. Such applications include transportation, stationary power, process or building heat, and industrial sectors such as steel manufacturing, ammonia production and petroleum refining. Key challenges to the H2@Scale concept include affordability, reliability, and performance of emerging hydrogen and fuel cell technologies. Topics under this FOA to advance H2@Scale include: Topic 1: Advanced hydrogen storage and infrastructure R&D including novel materials or hydrogen carriers for transporting and storing hydrogen, and materials for hydrogen infrastructure components. Topic 2: Innovative concepts for hydrogen production and utilization including advanced water splitting materials, affordable domestic hydrogen production technologies, co-production of hydrogen for additional sources of revenue, and reversible fuel cell technologies. Topic 3: H2@Scale Pilot - integrated production, storage, and fueling systems including innovative approaches that successfully integrate and optimize the complete system encompassing hydrogen production, storage, distribution, and use.

This is an announcement for issuing a single source financial assistance award to the Massachusetts Department of Fish and Game ¿ Division of Ecological Restoration (MADER). This announcement is for notification purposes only. The intent of the award to be implemented in Falmouth, Massachusetts is to remove two small dams, restore a former commercial cranberry bog to natural wetland and riverine habitats, and replace an undersized and failing stream crossing (culverts) on a heavily traveled road with a larger, safer structure. The proposed project complements the first dam removal on the Coonamessett River that was completed in 2017, and includes the removal of the second dam from the ocean, replacement of the failing John Parker Road/Coonamessett River crossing, and restoration of floodplain wetlands. The existing road crossing consists of three two-foot diameter culverts, two of which have collapsed and no longer function. When complete, the entire project will provide improved public safety and enhanced infrastructure resiliency, while concurrently providing flood protection for the road, improved water quality, and restored fish passage. The dam removal and the replaced stream crossing will provide full access for migratory (alewife, blueback herring, American eel) and resident fish to 2.2 miles of free-flowing river, provide fish access to 158 acres of pond habitat for spawning under a range of flow conditions, restore 4,600 feet of stream channel, and restore 56 acres of wetlands.

This study will allow park managers to identify and focus protection on sustainable areas of the spruce-fir ecosystem, more accurately interpret existing air- and water-quality and ecosystem monitoring data, plan prescribed fires and responses to wildland fires, direct efforts against invasive species, and prepare for flood and landslide events and the impacts on park infrastructure and resources.

The Valles Caldera National Preserve (VALL) is currently undergoing a landscape restoration project, funded under the DOI Resilient Landscapes program, to restore natural fire regimes to the forest and grassland watersheds on the Preserve. Large-scale restoration efforts involve forest thinning to reduce fuel loads, and prescribed and managed fires to further eliminate fuels and allow for natural fire regimes to return to the landscape. Fires can have varying impacts on watershed function, particularly with respect to water quality and discharge amounts and timing. Post-fire flash floods can result if watersheds are burned severely. VALL has been subjected to two recent large-scale uncharacteristic wildfires (the 2011 Las Conchas fire, and the 2013 Thompson Ridge fire), which led to multiple post-fire flash floods and subsequent damage to fisheries and aquatic macro-invertebrate communities on severely-burned watersheds. While fish and invertebrate communities are currently recovering, ongoing restoration efforts using prescribed fires may continue to impact these biological resources. The goal of the proposed work will be to monitor and characterize response and rate of recovery of the aquatic systems subjected to wildfire and restoration activities throughout the VALL.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is focused on providing the essential and highest quality environmental information vital to our Nation's safety, prosperity and resilience. Toward this goal, the agency conducts and supports weather and climate research, oceanic and atmospheric observations, modeling, information management, assessments, interdisciplinary decision-support research, outreach, education, and partnership development. Climate variability and change present society with significant economic, health, safety, and security challenges and opportunities. In meeting these challenges, and as part of NOAA's climate portfolio within the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR), the Climate Program Office (CPO) advances scientific understanding, monitoring, and prediction of climate and its impacts, to enable effective decisions. This funding opportunity focuses on the Climate Variability and Predictability (CVP) Program. The CVP Program supports research that enhances our process-level understanding of the climate system through observation, modeling, analysis, and field studies. This vital knowledge is needed to improve climate models and predictions so that scientists and society can better anticipate the impacts of future climate variability and change. To achieve its mission, the CVP Program invests in NOAA mission-critical research, which is carried out at NOAA and other federal laboratories, NOAA Cooperative Institutes, academic institutions and private sector research entities. The Program also coordinates its sponsored projects with major national and international scientific bodies including the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP) - especially CLIVAR (Climate and Ocean Variability, Predictability and Change) and GEWEX (Global Energy and Water Cycle Exchanges) programs - and the U.S. Global Change Research program (USGCRP). Specific details of this funding opportunity are contained in the Full Announcement Text.

Under its multiple-use and sustained yield mandates, BLM Colorado manages public rangelands for various uses and values, including livestock grazing, recreational opportunities, healthy watersheds, and wildlife habitat. These lands preserve the open spaces that continue to shape the character of the West. Of the 245 million acres of public lands that BLM manages, more than 79 million acres are infested with noxious and invasive weeds. One of the BLM's highest priorities is to promote ecosystem health, and one of the greatest obstacles to achieving this goal is the rapid expansion of weeds across public lands and multiple jurisdictions. These invasive plants can dominate and often cause permanent damage to native plant communities, tax water resources, and restrict traditional land uses, including grazing and agricultural purposes. If not eradicated or controlled, noxious weeds will continue to jeopardize the health of the public lands and will constrain the myriad of activities that occur on public lands. BLM's Invasive and Noxious Plant Management Program works to prevent, detect, inventory, control and monitor weed populations on public lands. Furthermore, BLM Colorado works with partners as often as possible in providing weed education materials for distribution to the public. Both BLM Colorado and the public are affected by invasive vegetation. For more information on how to apply, please visit https://www.grants.gov and download the application, instructions and templates.

EPA is announcing a grant competition to fund two-year Pollution Prevention assistance agreements for projects expected to be performed in each EPA region that provide technical assistance and/or training to businesses/facilities to help them adopt source reduction approaches (also known as "pollution prevention" or "P2"). P2 means reducing or eliminating pollutants from entering any waste stream or otherwise released into the environment prior to recycling, treatment, or disposal. In keeping with the Pollution Prevention Act of 1990, EPA is encouraging P2 because implementing these approaches can result in reductions in toxic pollutants, the use of water, energy and other raw materials, while also lowering business costs. For this current round of grants, EPA is putting additional emphasis on documenting and sharing the P2 best practices and innovations identified and developed through these grants so that others can replicate these approaches and outcomes. If Congress appropriates Fiscal Year (FY) 2018 and 2019 funds for the P2 Program at levels comparable to FY 2017 funding levels, the EPA may award a total of approximately $9.38 million in federal P2 grant funding for these two-year assistance agreements (approximately $4.69 million in FY 2018 and approximately $4.69 million in FY 2019 funds).

Marine science increasingly demonstrates the value of marine protected areas (MPAs) for biodiversity, the improvement of fisheries management, and other important ecosystem services. Many nations have committed to designating 10 percent of their waters as marine protected areas, with some nations committing to 30 percent. To support the designation of MPAs, the Waitt Foundation has issued a Request for Proposals that aims to identify "shovel ready" MPA projects where six to twelve months of additional targeted funding will result in the creation of legally-binding MPAs that have the political and social support necessary for implementation success.

The objective of the Fiscal Year 2018 NOAA Great Lakes Habitat Restoration Grants solicitation is to provide federal financial and technical assistance to habitat restoration projects that both meet NOAA's mission to restore coastal habitats and support the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) (https://www.glri.us/actionplan/pdfs/glri-action-plan-2.pdf) goal to protect and restore habitats to sustain healthy populations of native fish species in the eight U.S. Great Lakes states (New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Minnesota). NOAA delivers funding and technical expertise to restore Great Lakes coastal habitats. These habitats support valuable fisheries and important coastal resources, improve the quality of our water, provide recreational opportunities for the public's use and enjoyment, and increase the resilience of our coastal communities to the effects of changing climatic conditions.

Complete information, including the full Funding Opportunity Announcement, can be found on the EERE Exchange website - https://eere-exchange.energy.gov/ The Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) is issuing, on behalf of the Water Power Technologies Office (WPTO), a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) titled "Marine Energy Foundational Research and Testing Infrastructure." This FOA addresses priorities in the following Topic Areas: Topic Area 1: Foundational Research and Development (R&D) Topic Area 2: Atlantic Marine Energy Center (AMEC) Topic Area 3: Foundational Research Network Facilitator (FRNF) Topic Area 4: Current Energy Technology Testing Infrastructure

In 2011, MEVE staff asked NPS-Water Resources Division (WRD) staff to evaluate site conditions in hopes of restoring the abandoned pond to wetland habitat. The liner has been removed, but 6-12⿝ of bentonite remains on top of the native soil (sandy clay). WRD and park staff installed 10 wells in the abandoned pond in late summer 2011 for purposes of investigating site hydrology and developing and evaluating feasibility of restoration design concepts. The goal of the project is to establish an approximately 1.6 acre wetland system at the abandoned wastewater treatment pond.

In 2004, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) conducted a program evaluation of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) resource protection activities. The OMB found gaps in the monitoring of resource conditions to support management decisions and that the BLM had no reliable mechanism for reporting on the condition of public lands above the local scale. The BLM established an Interdisciplinary Core Team that evaluated assessment processes, resource inventories, and monitoring procedures and developed a comprehensive plan of action that would lay the foundation for a monitoring strategy. Two reports, (1) the Local Workgroup Report for the National Assessment, Inventory, and Monitoring Strategy (BLM 2007) and (2) the Findings and Recommendations for Regional Monitoring for Wildlife and Water with an Emphasis on Energy Development (Falise et al. 2008), were also completed and provided vision toward developing an Assessment, Inventory, and Monitoring (AIM) Strategy. Additional or supplemental data collection for fuels treatments (pre and post treatment), wilderness study area monitoring, and rangeland health indicators provide the information to determine the effectiveness of management actions, and may be shared across BLM offices and interested publics.