Coastal and Marine Habitat Restoration Projects: 2009 Stimulus Money
NOAA Coastal and Marine Habitat Restoration Project Grants
AGENCY:National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.
ACTION:Notice of funding availability under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
SUMMARY:NOAA delivers funding and technical expertise to restore coastal and marine 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 storms and sea level rise. 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 under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Applications should be submitted for any project that is to be considered for this funding, even for those projects put forth to the Federal Government as examples by internal and external restoration partners or submitted as applications to other NOAA competitions. Competition will ensure that the most beneficial restoration projects are selected to realize significant ecological gains (with emphasis on projects that are regionally or nationally significant species and ecosystems), fuel America’s near–term economy, and ensure that projects are truly ‘‘shovel–ready.’’ Proposals selected for funding through this solicitation will be implemented through a grant or cooperative agreement, with awards dependent upon the amount of funds made available to NOAA for this purpose by Congress. NOAA anticipates that up to $170 million may be available for coastal and marine habitat restoration; typical awards are expected to range between $1.5 million to $10 million. Funds will be administered by NOAA’s Office of Habitat Conservation.
DATES:Applications must be postmarked, provided to a delivery service, or received by www.grants.gov
by 11:59 PM EDT on April 6, 2009. Use of U.S. mail or another delivery service must be documented with a receipt. No facsimile or electronic mail applications will be accepted.
ADDRESSES:Electronic applications are strongly encouraged and are available at http://www.grants.gov. Grants.gov requires applicants to register with the system prior to submitting an application for the first time. This registration process can take over a week and involves multiple steps. In order to allow sufficient time for this process, prospective applicants should register as soon as they decide to apply, even if not yet ready to submit an application. If an applicant is having difficulty downloading the application forms from Grants.gov, contact Grants.gov customer support at 1–800–518–4726 or support@grants.gov. If an applicant is having difficulty with Grants.gov, the applicant should contact Craig Woolcott at Craig.Woolcott@noaa.gov, or by phone at 301–713–0174, or by mail at NOAA Fisheries, Office of Habitat Conservation (F/HC3), 1315 East West Highway, Silver Spring, MD 20910.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:Craig Woolcott or Melanie Gange at (301) 713–0174, or by e–mail at Craig.Woolcott@noaa.gov
or Melanie.Gange@noaa.gov. Prospective applicants are invited to contact NOAA staff before submitting an application to discuss whether their project ideas are within the scope of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act’s objectives and NOAA’s mission and goals.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:The principal objective of these NOAA Coastal and Marine Habitat Restoration Project Grants is to provide Federal financial and technical assistance to ‘‘ready-to-go’’ (shovel–ready) projects that meet NOAA’s mission to restore marine and coastal habitats and that will result in near–immediate stimulation of local United States (U.S.) economies through the creation or retention of restoration–related jobs for work in U.S. jurisdictions. NOAA seeks to support projects that will result in on–the–ground restoration of marine and coastal habitat (including Great Lakes habitat) that are aligned with the objectives of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Restoration for the purposes of this solicitation will be broadly inclusive. Restoration includes, but is not limited to, activities that contribute to the return of degraded or altered marine, estuarine, coastal, and freshwater (diadromous fish) habitats to a close approximation of their function prior to disturbance. Habitat restoration activities that produce ecologically significant habitat features to create buffers or ‘‘green infrastructure’’ that serve to protect coastal communities from sea level rise, coastal storms and flooding, or that provide adaptation to climate change will also be considered. The program priorities for this opportunity primarily support NOAA’s ‘‘Ecosystems’’ mission support goal of ‘‘Protect, Restore, and Manage Use of Coastal and Ocean Resources through Ecosystem–Based Management.’’ NOAA will emphasize the selection of mid–scale, shovel–ready restoration projects that will (1) yield significant ecological benefits with emphasis on regionally or nationally significant species and ecosystems, and (2) stimulate local economies through the creation or retention of restoration– related jobs for work in U.S. jurisdictions. Mid–scale projects are anticipated to be those with a total project cost (NOAA award plus any match or leverage) over $1.5 million. Shovel–ready projects are expected to be those where feasibility studies and/or other baseline information required for a design are available, where required consultations and permits, if not in–hand, are either in progress or there is reasonable assurance provided that they can be attained quickly, and where NEPA analysis and any environmental permits and authorizations are finished or can be expeditiously completed, so that projects can be implemented shortly after funding is made available (see NEPA details below, and in Section VI.B.2 of the FFO).
High priority will be given to applications for projects that:
- Have the greatest potential to achieve ecological benefits and maximize jobs creation/preservation;
- Can begin within the first 90 days of the award start date;
- Can be completed within 12–18 months;
- Have the greatest potential to be sustainable and provide lasting benefits of regional or national significance;
- Identify specific goals and outcomes, with appropriate ecological and economic performance metrics;
- Propose sufficient, cost–effective monitoring appropriate to the scope and scale of the project to evaluate a project’s benefits;
- Are consistent with NOAA species recovery planning efforts if located in areas where recovery planning efforts for Endangered Species Act listed species are underway;
- Request funds primarily to implement physical, on–the–ground coastal habitat restoration (as opposed to funds for general program support, overhead and travel).
Because the purpose of these funds is to quickly stimulate local U.S. economies through habitat restoration, applications for projects lacking opportunity to generate employment through restoration implementation or provide long–term economic benefits will not compete well and are discouraged.
The following are exemplary of the types of coastal and marine habitats and projects that will receive priority for restoration funding consideration:
- Diadromous fish habitat, particularly projects that remove in–stream migration barriers or create/restore habitats limiting productivity;
- Shellfish habitat restoration/creation, for the broad ecological benefits and ecosystem services they provide;
- Coral reefs, through projects that address land–based sources of pollution, recovery from disturbance or disease, or that promote coral recruitment and/or recovery;
- Coastal wetlands, through shoreline restoration or hydrological reconnection;
- Projects that seek to restore coastal and marine habitat to recover threatened or endangered species or for species of concern;
- Projects that provide protection for communities and infrastructure through habitat restoration to improve coastal resiliency to storms and coastal flooding;
- Projects that improve the potential for coastal habitat to respond to climate change through restoration or protection of transition zones that provide room for habitat migration with sea level rise;
- Projects that seek to address the problem of marine debris accumulation in coastal and marine habitats;
- Projects that support conservation corps type activities to provide employment, education and training through restoration of coastal and marine habitat; and
- Restoration of Great Lakes habitats within Areas of Concern addressing beneficial use impairments to loss of fish and wildlife habitat and/or degradation of benthos.
Safety is a critical consideration for restoration project implementation. If an application is selected, the grantee must have a written safety plan for all project–related activities, including management of volunteers (if applicable). The safety plan should consider safety at the site during and after project construction, and take into account potential safety concerns with regard to the current and future use of the site.
Electronic Access:
The full text of the Federal Funding Opportunity (FFO) announcement for this program can be accessed via the Grants.gov web site at http:/www.grants.gov
(FFO number: NOAA–NMFS–HCPO–2009–2001709).
Links Referenced
- Notice of funding availability under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
- http://www.grants.gov/search/search.do;jsessionid=ChVpJ2hp7yrTYBvg1Gk4nQRLGRwyKTj2t5lbvxz8ZGQSFrqbfg29!810371426
- www.grants.gov
- http://www.grants.gov/
Location
http://www.vcnva.org/anx/index.cfm/1,305,848,0,html
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