OARS funding Environmental Sustainability

The US Fish and Wildlife Service, Region 7 intends to award a single source financial assistance agreement as authorized by 505 DM 2.14 (B) to Tanana Valley Watershed Association. This notice is not a request for proposals and the Government does not intend to accept proposals. The goal of this agreement is to develop HUC 8 watershed plans, based upon the 2008 Final Rule watershed approach, to maintain and improve the quality and quantity of aquatic resources within the HUC 6 Tanana River Watershed, starting with the Chena River Watershed and then followed by the other watersheds in order of their importance to Chinook salmon, their percentage of permitted impacts, and emerging and anticipated threats to their aquatic resources. Each plan will identify key areas within the watershed where strategically selected compensatory mitigation sites could be developed to restore, establish, enhance and preserve Chinook salmon and other aquatic resources.

The SBIR program, as established by law, is intended to meet the following goals: stimulate technological innovation in the private sector; strengthen the role of small business in meeting Federal research or research and development (R/R&D) needs; increase the commercial application of Federally-supported research results; foster and encourage participation by socially and economically disadvantaged small business concerns and women-owned business concerns in the SBIR program; and improve the return on investment from Federally-funded research for economic and social benefits to the Nation.

This project will build upon a wildlife conservation partnership established between 6 ⿿sister parks⿝ and other reserves in Arizona and Sonora and Baja California, Mexico that share similar ecological communities and resources. Montane springs occur in all the parks but their hydrology and biological value are poorly understood. We will seek to better understand the dynamics, groundwater connections, and threats to springs, while engaging with our international partners to address critical conservation issues through workshops, field work, and water chemistry analysis.

The projects funded through BRDI-a joint USDA and DOE program-will help develop economically and environmentally sustainable sources of renewable biomass, increase the availability of renewable fuels and biobased products, and diversify our energy portfolio. Both DOE and USDA have been given statutory authorities to support the development of a biomass-based industry in the United States, under the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 (FCEA) and the Energy Policy Act of 2005. USDA and DOE will make up to $9 million available through BRDI in Fiscal Year (FY) 2017. Applicants will be permitted to address any or all of the following three legislatively mandated technical areas: (A) feedstocks development, (B) biofuels and biobased products development, and (C) biofuels development analysis. In support of these goals, USDA and DOE are soliciting applications from all interested parties, including for-profit entities, universities, nonprofits, and national laboratories.

The projects funded through BRDI-a joint USDA and DOE program-will help develop economically and environmentally sustainable sources of renewable biomass, increase the availability of renewable fuels and biobased products, and diversify our energy portfolio. Both DOE and USDA have been given statutory authorities to support the development of a biomass-based industry in the United States, under the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 (FCEA) and the Energy Policy Act of 2005.

One-year grants of up to $5,000 will be awarded for environmental projects situated in Northern California, the Central Valley, and the Sierra Nevada, including the entire California-Oregon Klamath River watershed and the watersheds that arise in the Sierras and terminate in Nevada's terminal lakes. The foundation's definition of Northern California extends from the Oregon border in the north down to and ending at the San Luis Obispo, Ventura, Los Angeles, and San Bernardino county lines in the south.

The U.S. Department of the Interiorâ¿¿s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) began acquiring and using aerial photography annually for western Oregon in 1978. BLM uses photography extensively for planning, monitoring, and evaluating the conditions on the ground in its mission to sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of the public lands within Oregon and Washington for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations.

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.

This project will be conducted in two phases as funds become available. Overall, the entire project will educate an array of audiences to the effects of climate change in two of Alaskas National Parks and Preserves in an interactive online fashion as told by those who have experienced or observed changes over time. It will capture through oral interviews the effects of climate change in both parks, providing opportunity for audiences to draw comparisons to two distinct regions of Alaska. Where applicable, interviews will pay particular attention to: vegetation succession; retreating glaciers; vertical advance of tree lines; changes to coastal lagoons and formation of sea ice; shoreline erosion; permafrost melt; and shifts in phenology.

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Great Lakes Science Center is offering a funding opportunity for research to improve understanding of fish community variation in rivers of Ontario, Canada relative to multi-scale landscape characteristics. Natural resource managers in Canada are interested to understand how fish communities respond to human activities in catchments across a range of natural landscape contexts. To address this need, data collected in four river basins spanning a range of geologic, temperature, agriculture, urban, dam, and downstream connectivity characteristics will be investigated. Specifically, the research will investigate the relative importance of different scales of influence (e.g., local vs. valley section vs. catchment) on variation in fish community composition and structure.

This research is critical for informing management agencies within Alaska and elsewhere as to biodiversity trajectories within a warming high latitude climate regime. Considerable preliminary data exist based on previous funded research efforts attesting to hybridization dynamics occurring between closely related ermine (Mustela erminea) lineages occupying boreal and Arctic biomes in western Alaska and eastern Canada, as well as more ancient hybridization dynamics associated with Beringian and North Pacific ermine lineages. As well, prior classical genetic research has uncovered signatures of past and recent hybridization between the two North American marten species, Martes americana and Martes caurina, on islands of the Alexander Archipelago of southeast Alaska and elsewhere along the North Pacific Coast.

The USGS is offering a funding opportunity to a CESU partner for research in Alaskan carbon dioxide and methane stock and flux rates within aquatic ecosystems. This funding will support a graduate student and other resources and materials needed to verify biogeochemistry models, simulate land and aquatic ecosystem changes, and develop research methods, and conduct regional simulations of greenhouse gas emissions. Research Objectives: 1) In the context of the onset of dynamic changes in land and freshwater aquatic ecosystems areas, structures, and functions, how the CO2 and CH4 budgets of Alaskan freshwater ecosystems could change and what may be the primary drivers of the changes? 2) How would the potential change in CO2 and CH4 budgets relate to surface hydrology such as increased wetness and types of the wetlands and water bodies (such as thermokarst lakes).

U.S. Geological Surveyâ¿¿s (USGS) Great Lakes Science Center is offering a funding opportunity for research on â¿¿Analysis of Piscivore Diets in Lake Huron. This research will provide insight about the forage fishes used by top predator in Lake Huron. These types of contemporary information are necessary given the continued decline of most forage species over the past few years, and the need to understand how these fish are using the limited prey base in Lake Huron. Information gleaned from these studies will be used to guide sportfish management in the study areas and across the Great Lakes.

EERE's Advanced Manufacturing Office (AMO) partners with industry, small business, universities, and other stakeholders to identify and invest in emerging technologies with the potential to create high-quality domestic manufacturing jobs and enhance the global competitiveness of the United States. Through this Request for Information, EERE, on behalf of AMO, seeks feedback on technologies with the potential for early stage research and development (R&D) that if successfully advanced could impact the cost-effective and energy efficient availability of clean water processed from a variety of sources such as surface water, ground water, brackish water, seawater, wastewater and produced water for a range of applications including municipal drinking water, agricultural uses, and industrial needs.

This cooperative partnership will allow the BLM and the recipient to more efficiently and with greater cost effectiveness, make their individual contributions in science-based monitoring and management of air resources and exchange data through a joint work effort. The recipient is committed to outreach and service to the citizens of Wyoming. The independent nature of recipient will enable honest and transparent engagement with citizens concerned with air quality impacts. Collected data will directly relate to informational needs related to the CD-C Record of Decision or other airshed management issues that the BLM must address. If this program is supported, it will enable the recipient to perform fundamental education and outreach activities. Outreach objectives are a core part of the program and ensure that the recipientâ¿¿s research is open to all and not just for research or regulatory purposes. This is important as it is designed to include the public and their need for independent and relevant information.

The BLM WY would like to continue supporting the Cultural Resources Inventorying Project, which is intended to serve broad national interests through class III cultural resource inventories and archeological site data collection on BLM administered land. Inventories shall take place in field offices including, but not limited to, Casper, Lander, and Worland. Counties respectively include Freemont and Sweetwater; Converse, Goshen, Natrona and Platte; and BigHorn, Hot Springs, and Washakie. BLM WY seeks to foster a collaborative relationship with a partner possessing archeological expertise to conduct these inventories and analysis of field data.

This program promotes cooperative partnerships and provides public outreach, public awareness, resource investigation and protection, on the ground knowledge of the development and implementation of natural resource programs and services. This funding opportunity will provided much needed critical management of public lands resource. With the technical support of a partnership organization, project level activities such as on the ground monitoring/ investigations for over 189,000 acres of recreation resource, 577,504 acres of Wilderness Study Areas and an estimated 7 million acres of wilderness characteristic inventory will provide BLM with needed data to better service to the public need. The BLM needs to meet our ongoing inventorying for recreational/ wilderness data shortage, visitor use data, GIS support and public outreach.

Design and implement stream restoration measures to restore these streams to their natural state. These measures could include installing erosion control measures, re-grading and replanting native and non-invasive species to restore the natural shallow water habitat and slow the flow of water through the stream. Specifically, the work shall create shallow non-tidal wetland habitat which uses native non-invasive plant species to reduce further erosion and a decrease in water quality. Native plantings shall primarily be used to establish erosion controls due to ground disturbance that will be inherent within this project.

BLM Utah is looking to enter into a partnership with a recipient to obtain valuable data regarding raptor use in areas that are of high value to potential future development through documentation of current nest status on old nest data, gain new nest locations and identify high raptor use areas. Information from this partnership would be used by the BLM to make informed management decisions. The project would focus on re-locating old raptor nests and identifying new nest locations. Information obtained through this project would provide valuable information to inform BLM decisions and siting of infrastructure related projects. The BLM would gain valuable data regarding raptor use in areas that are of high value to potential future development for oil and gas, solar, wind, geothermal energy resources, transmission, as well as recreation.

Provide educational, environmental and cultural programs to encourage appreciation of park resources and the preservation district.