Program Goal: Conserve priority species, habitats and ecological processes in landscapes with high biodiversity value in South America. Program Objective: Support projects that address the underlying threats and human elements of biodiversity conservation according to the specific funding criteria for one or more of the following two focal programmatic themes: (i) threatened landscapes, and (ii) threatened species.

The Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), an agency under the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), is announcing availability of Conservation Innovation Grants (CIG) to stimulate the development and adoption of innovative conservation approaches and technologies. Proposals will be accepted from Iowa. NRCS anticipates that the amount available for support of this program in FY 2015 will be up to $800,000. Proposals are requested from eligible governmental or non-governmental organizations or individuals for competitive consideration of grant awards for projects between 1 and 3 years in duration. This notice identifies the objectives, eligibility criteria, and application instructions for CIG projects. Proposals will be screened for completeness and compliance with the provisions of this notice. Incomplete and/or noncompliant proposals will be eliminated from competition, and notification of elimination will be sent to the applicant.

Under FY15 appropriations to the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI), the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) anticipates providing grants to support implementation of Great Lakes State Aquatic Invasive Nuisance Species Management Plans (State Plans), and support for the implementation of a Great Lakes Interstate Aquatic Invasive Species Management Plan (Interstate Plan). Two-year grant awards will be used by states (including for developing the Interstate Plan) for activities that directly relate to the protection and restoration of the Great Lakes and Great Lakes Basin. Priorities for funding will include FY12 GLRI AIS grant expenditure rates, Description of accomplishments that resulted from implementing past grants, and Projections of accomplishments that are enumerated for each of the performance metrics listed in GLRI Action Plan II. Grant proposals will be submitted either through Grants.gov, or via email to the address listed in section VIII of the Notice of Funding Opportunity.

The U.S. Standard Grants Program is a competitive, matching grants program that supports public-private partnerships carrying out projects in the United States that further the goals of the North American Wetlands Conservation Act. These projects must involve only long-term protection, restoration, enhancement and/or establishment of wetlands and associated uplands habitats for the benefit of all wetlands-associated migratory birds. A 1:1 match is required. Research funding is ineligible.

PROGRAM DESCRIPTION 1. Authority This Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Federal Financial Assistance Funding Opportunity is being announced under the following legislative authority: HAZARDOUS FUELS REDUCTION, Wildland Fire Management, Annual Appropriations (2014 Public Law 113-76), Wildland Fire Management, which states in part: That using the amounts designated under this title of this Act, the Secretary of the Interior may enter into procurement contracts, grants, or cooperative agreements, for hazardous fuels reduction activities, and for training and monitoring associated with such hazardous fuels reduction activities, on Federal land, or on adjacent non-Federal land for activities that benefit resources on Federal land: Provided further, That the costs of implementing any cooperative agreement between the Federal Government and any non-Federal entity may be shared, as mutually agreed on by the affected parties: Provided further, That notwithstanding requirements of the Competition in Contracting Act, the Secretary, for purposes of hazardous fuels reduction activities, may obtain maximum practicable competition among: (1) local private, nonprofit, or cooperative entities; (2) Youth Conservation Corps crews or related partnerships with State, local, or non-profit youth groups" . 2. Description of Program and/or Project a. Background: Phoenix District Office (BLM) Fuels Management Staff has targeted the communities of Wickenburg, Aguila, Morristown, Buckeye, Buckeye Valley, Goodyear, Maricopa, Gila Bend, Tonopah, Palo Verde, and Circle City to help in the effort to promote, teach and create defensible space. In accordance with the National Fire Plan and the Presidents Healthy Forest Initiative the efforts under this assistance agreement are intended to reduce the risk of catastrophic fire to wildland urban interface communities, and promote community assistance. The Maricopa County CWPP technical support group is researching uses for the biomass that is being creat

BLM CA has been working with the Amargosa Conservancy for establishing baselines for ground water hydrographs within the region. BLM has installed monitoring wells on public lands within the Amargosa River ACEC. With both BLM and Amargosa Conservancy having the same end results in working with private landowners to conduct much of the restoration on BLM and private lands in the region. BLM will continue to work on joint restoration planning and coordination to continue the monitoring of ground water and control invasive species and restore habitat within the California portion of the Amargosa River watershed. The benefit of having a recipient monitoring resources in addition to the ground water will assist BLM in the development of the Amargosa Wild and Scenic River AWSR management plan especially in data development. A recipient must be able to access all data for this projects that have transpired for the past several years and BLM needs to stay consistent with the same database lines.

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 goal of the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative is to target the most significant environmental problems in the Great Lakes ecosystem by funding and implementing federal projects that address these problems. As part of this initiative, the two bird habitat joint ventures that are in the Great Lakes watershed the Upper Mississippi and Great Lakes Region Joint Venture and the Atlantic Coast Joint Venture will be working with the Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration programs in the Midwest and Northeast Regions of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to competitively fund state and other partner projects for long term habitat restoration, enhancement or protection, for conservation of native Great Lakes fish and wildlife populations, particularly migratory birds. Preference will be given to activities that help meet the habitat goals of the Upper Mississippi River and Great Lakes Region Joint Venture Implementation Plan or the Lower Great Lakes St. Lawrence Plain (BCR 13) Bird Conservation Region Plan, other relevant bird conservation plans, and State Wildlife Action Plans.

The invasion of Dreissena spp. (zebra mussels, ZM; quagga mussels, QM) caused dramatic ecological effects on the Great Lakes ecosystems, which include changes in fish abundance, extirpation of native mussels and profound changes in benthic invertebrates. Until now most dreissenid control measures have focused on reducing mussel settlement in commercially important raw water plumbing; yet, this provides little benefit to ecosystem restoration which is affected by the dreissenid abundance in the natural environment. However, preliminary research in our laboratories has demonstrated that algae produce chemicals that can stimulate or inhibit dreissenid spawning. The stimulatory chemicals may be the normal triggers of spawning that signal when conditions are amenable to larval development; whereas the inhibitory algal chemicals may be protective or toxic signals that prevent predation by dreissenid mussel adults and larvae. Thus, instead of focusing on toxic non-specific chemicals to kill mussels, as are used in water treatment facilities and power stations, we propose to identify and deploy algal chemicals, which are potentially species specific (and therefore more environmentally benign) natural products to regulate dreissenid mussel reproduction to reduce mussel populations at ecosystem scales.

To create new partnerships to support USAID/Brazil's Environmental priorities in the areas of biodiversity conservation; protection of indigenous lands and natural resources; and applied biodiversity science, technology and innovation.

Created by Congress in 1984, NFWF directs public conservation dollars to the most pressing environmental needs and matches those investments with private funds. NFWFÿfds method is simple and effective: to work with a full complement of individuals, foundations, government agencies, non-profits, and corporations to identify and fund targeted conservation challenges throughout the nation where a focused investment is likely to result in a conservation success.

The National Park Service, Route 66 Corridor Preservation Program is dedicated to preserving the diverse history of U.S. Highway 66. The program provides financial assistance in the form of competitive cost-share grants for buildings, structures, road segments, and cultural landscpes along the length of the Route 66 corridor, covering, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California. Cost-share grants are also available for planning, research, and educational initiatives related to the preservation of Route 66. The legislation enabling this program is provided through the Route 66 Corridor Preservation Act of 1999 (Public Law 106-45; 111-11, Section 7304), which is administered by the National Park Service.

This is a continuation of previous Agreement L10AC16454 botanical studies by the California Native Plant Society (CNPS) on BLM-managed public lands, including the Carrizo Plain National Monument (CPNM). In the past CNPS has provided vegetation maps for the CPNM and the establishment and monitoring of permanent vegetation plots in compliance with California protocol.

This Funding Announcement is not a request for applications. This announcement is to provide public notice of the National Park Service, intention to fund the following project activities without competition. North Cascades Institute (NCI) is a nationally regarded nonprofit environmental organization maintained in the State of Washington, and is dedicated to increasing understanding and appreciation of the natural and cultural landscapes of the Pacific Northwest. The Institute's mission is to conserve and restore Northwest environments through education. The Institute was created for the specific purpose of providing programs of public education and involvement in conservation, natural science, history and related fields of study, in order to foster and enhance understanding and appreciation of the North Cascades bioregion. NCI has been a valued partner of North Cascades National Park Complex (NOCA) since 1986. The two agencies have a solid track record of cooperatively developing successful, cost-effective programs that meet both park and Institute educational and budgetary goals. NCI is considered to be the lead educational partner of NOCA, providing over $2.6 million in integrated education programming during the 29-year relationship. NCI operates the residential North Cascades Environmental Learning Center, an 11.6 million dollar facility which is imbedded within NOCA as required by a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) agreement with Seattle City Light, operator of three hydroelectric dams within NOCA. The Learning Center is one of the required mitigation elements for Seattle City Light's federal FERC license for continued operation of three hydroelectric reservoirs on the Skagit River. The NPS and the Institute are mutually interested and desire to cooperate in conducting interpretive activities, public education, and training related to the understanding, protection, and management of the natural and cultural resources of (1) the North Cascades ecosys

The USFWS is seeking proposals on behalf of the Aleutian and Bering Sea Islands Landscape Conservation Cooperative hereafter shown as ABSI LCC. The Mission of the ABSI LCC is to promote coordination, dissemination, and development of applied science to inform conservation of natural and cultural resources in the face of climate change and other landscape scale stressors. This Notice of Funding Availability has multiple Topics. For each the following topics we envision research efforts will primary consist of syntheses and modelling based on existing data and/or climate projections but we are also interested in possible proposals involving field research if leveraging of that existing work sufficiently addresses one or more of our topics. The following four topic areas have been identified by the ABSI Steering Committee as key information needs for managers and communities in the ABSI region relative to climate change: Topic 1: We are interested in an evaluation of how climate change might disrupt trophic function important for key prey species of importance to marine mammals. We are specifically interested in an exploration of shifts in timing and spatial distribution of primary and secondary productivity in areas important to marine mammal species. Topic 2: We want to understand how climate change might facilitate the expansion of parasites, diseases, or other pathogens in marine species important to human communities within the ABSI region. We are interested in syntheses, modelling, projections, etc. that specifically identify climatic thresholds (e.g., ocean temperatures or sea ice extent) that define the ranges of pathogens and the potential for those ranges to change or expand given future projected conditions. We are particularly interested in projects in this topic area that focus on pathogens that affect marine species important to subsistence harvest practices and human health in the region. Topic 3: We want to understand the potential negative effects of c

Control, reduce the spread of, and prevent the further invasion and establishment of noxious weeds and pests.

From coral reefs and lowland rainforests to pine savannas, grasslands and high mountain forest, Central America is home to some of the richest forest and marine ecosystems on earth. Although the region contains less than one percent of the world's land surface, because of the variety of its habitats and its role as a bridge between North and South America, it possesses a disproportionate share about 7 percent of our planet's biodiversity. Unfortunately, despite tremendous progress over the last two decades, Central America remains one of the most threatened biodiversity hotspots due to one of the highest land conversion and deforestation rates in both Latin America and the world.

This Request for Applications (RFA) solicits applications from eligible entities for a cooperative agreement to be awarded pursuant to the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative Action Plan II (http://glri.us/actionplan/pdfs/glri-action-plan-2.pdf). Applications are requested for a project to complete chemical analysis in support of the Great Lakes Fish Monitoring and Surveillance Program. This RFA is the first Great Lakes Restoration Initiative ("GLRI" or "Initiative) for FY2015.

Study of Golden Eagle dietary responses, to conserve, enhance, and better understand the ecology and habitats of migratory bird species.

The National Marine Fisheries Service (hereinafter, "NMFS") is responsible for the stewardship, conservation, and management of pinniped species in Alaska, including the Steller sea lion, Northern fur seal, ringed seal, bearded seal, spotted seal, ribbon seal, and harbor seal. Two of these pinnipeds are currently listed under the Endangered Species Act: the endangered western Distinct Population Segment (DPS) of Steller sea lions and the threatened Arctic subspecies of ringed seals (a third species, the Beringia DPS of bearded seals, was also listed as threatened but the listing was vacated by the U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska). NMFS has the responsibility to foster the recovery of these ESA-listed species and research is necessary to support our recovery programs for these species. Non-ESA-listed pinniped species or populations in Alaska are listed as strategic stocks under the Marine Mammal Protection Act, and/or are important as a subsistence resource to Alaska Natives and co-managed by NMFS and Alaska Native co-management partners. Research is also an important component to co-management of these animals. Beginning in fiscal year (hereinafter, "FY") 2015, certain priority pinniped research in Alaska will be administered through a competitively-funded, merit-based grants program. This program concerns only Alaskan pinnipeds for which NMFS bears responsibility; proposals focusing on marine mammals under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will not be considered for funding under this grant program. This document describes how to prepare and submit proposals for funding in FY 2015 and how NMFS will determine which proposals will be funded.