Deadline: 15-Jun-21
The Alaska Sustainable Salmon Fund (AKSSF), a statewide program managed by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G), is calling for proposals to protect, restore, and conserve Pacific salmon and steel head populations and their habitats.
Objectives
- Habitat Conservation:
- Projects proposed in the Habitat Conservation category must directly attain long-term conservation of salmon habitat; secondary activities and objectives (e.g., planning, prioritizing, and ancillary surveys or data collection) are not allowed as standalone projects, but they are allowed as project components if they are necessary to successfully complete the project. Extra scrutiny will be given to projects wherein secondary activities comprise a large portion of the budget. Preference will be given to projects in areas with a high potential for habitat degradation that benefit salmon populations utilized for subsistence, or that conserve salmon habitat prioritized in climate impact studies.
- Submit nominations to the Catalog of Waters Important for the Spawning, Rearing or Migration of Anatropous Fishes
- Conserve salmon habitat by land acquisition, easement, or other mechanism
- Projects proposed in the Habitat Conservation category must directly attain long-term conservation of salmon habitat; secondary activities and objectives (e.g., planning, prioritizing, and ancillary surveys or data collection) are not allowed as standalone projects, but they are allowed as project components if they are necessary to successfully complete the project. Extra scrutiny will be given to projects wherein secondary activities comprise a large portion of the budget. Preference will be given to projects in areas with a high potential for habitat degradation that benefit salmon populations utilized for subsistence, or that conserve salmon habitat prioritized in climate impact studies.
- Habitat Restoration:
- With the exception of habitat assessments to prioritize fish passage restoration projects, projects proposed under the Habitat Restoration category must result in on-the-ground restoration of salmon habitat (i.e., they must directly restore fish passage; eradicate, suppress, or contain invasive species; or restore in stream habitat). Secondary activities (e.g., planning, prioritization, engineering/design work, developing or testing methods, ancillary data collection, outreach, and monitoring) are not allowed as standalone projects, but they are allowed as project components. Extra scrutiny will be given to projects wherein secondary activities other than effectiveness monitoring comprise a large portion of the budget.
- Preference will be given to projects that benefit salmon populations utilized for subsistence, that restore salmon habitat prioritized in climate impact studies, or that restore habitat characteristics identified in climate impact studies as important for resiliency (e.g., restoring vegetative shading to moderate water temperatures).
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- Restore fish passage on water bodies utilized by salmon (or conduct habitat assessments to prioritize fish passage restoration projects)
- Eradicate, suppress, or contain invasive species that are known to be detrimental to salmon
- Note: Preference will be given to eradication projects.
- Central Region note: Species of primary concern are northern pike (Esox lucius), reed canary grass (Phalaris arundinacea), and water weed (Elodea spp.).
- Southeast Region note: Species of primary concern are reed canary grass (Phalaris arundinacea), Japanese knot weed (Polygonum cuspidatum), and water weed (Elodea spp.).
- Restore in stream habitat through bank stabilization, vegetation, or restoration of natural channel structure, morphology, or connectivity
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- Monitoring and Assessment
- Projects funded under the Monitoring and Assessment category must be necessary for the exercise of subsistence fishing or contribute to sustaining salmon populations utilized for subsistence. Applicants must articulate how the project meets this criterion and one or more of the following conditions:
- Amounts Reasonably Necessary for Subsistence are not being met (or are at risk of not being met)
- The fishery has considerable participation by subsistence users
- Harvests in the subsistence fishery have been reduced (or are likely to be reduced) due to an apparent decline in salmon abundance
- Secondary activities (e.g., developing new methods including genetic tools/markers/baselines, conducting retrospective analyses, collecting ancillary data, or conducting outreach activities) are not allowed as standalone projects, but they are allowed as project components if they are necessary to successfully complete the project. Extra scrutiny will be given to projects wherein secondary activities comprise a large portion of the budget. Preference will be given to projects occurring in systems prioritized in climate impact studies.
- Estimate escapement of salmon populations utilized for subsistence
- Estimate abundance of juvenile salmon in populations utilized for subsistence
- Estimate harvest or other sources of mortality of salmon populations utilized for subsistence
- Investigate causes of declines of Chinook salmon populations utilized for subsistence
- Projects funded under the Monitoring and Assessment category must be necessary for the exercise of subsistence fishing or contribute to sustaining salmon populations utilized for subsistence. Applicants must articulate how the project meets this criterion and one or more of the following conditions:
- Habitat Resiliency
- The intent of this objective is to enable AKSSF to be more strategic about project selection relative to recent and projected changes in climate and environmental conditions with a focus on identifying areas or systems that are expected to be more resilient to these changes. For example, a project could focus on identification of high-value habitats such as cold-water tributaries for conservation or restoration work. Although the objective language is not prescriptive in terms of methods or approaches, projects must provide a substantial and direct benefit for AKSSF project selection within two years of project completion.
- Projects proposed under this category must ensure that all data products such as geospatial models are open access and publicly available. For projects that develop a regional or statewide framework, preference will be given to interdisciplinary approaches that incorporate individuals with expertise in salmon ecology, subsistence salmon fisheries, hydrology, population genetics, and climate science. Preference will be given to projects that are inclusive of salmon populations utilized for subsistence.
- Conduct climate impact assessments to guide the selection of future AKSSF projects
Funding Information
ADF&G anticipates having approximately $3.8 million available; the final amount will not be known until after the CFP opens.
Funding will be allocated by NOAA between the following three project categories:
- Habitat conservation or restoration projects in areas utilized by subsistence stocks ($1,500,000 in anticipated funding)
- Habitat conservation, restoration, or resiliency assessment projects in areas that may or may not be utilized by subsistence stocks ($1,000,000 in anticipated funding)
- Monitoring and assessment of populations utilized for subsistence projects ($1,300,000 in anticipated funding)
Eligibility Criteria
- All types of entities (including nonprofit organizations, commercial organizations, universities, government organizations, and individuals) are welcome to apply.
- All applicants must have a data universal number system (DUNS) identifier, which is a unique 9-digit number provided by Dun & Bradstreet (D&B).
Responsiveness Criteria
To be responsive to this CFP, the proposal must meet the following criteria:
- Be relevant to achieving one or more of the AKSSF objectives and associated guidance found in the 2021 AKSSF objectives document
- Request a minimum of $30,000 in AKSSF funds (not including match)
- Include sufficient match in the Budget Spreadsheet
- Submit a single completed Proposal Form, SOW, and Budget Spreadsheet per project (the Proposal Form may not exceed 30 pages in length, including references (proposals over 30 pages will be truncated), and should be written in Times New Roman, 12 point font, with at 2021 AKSSF Call for Proposals Instructions Page 3 of 8 least 1” margins)
- Submit a signed 2021 AKSSF Applicant Certification Form for each entity contributing an investigator to the project (including one for each ADF&G division or section that contributes an investigator)
- Submit a signed AKSSF Third Party Match Contributor Form for any third party match contributors (i.e., entities not contributing an investigator to the project) needed to meet minimum match requirements
- Submit a 2021 AKSSF Federal Grant Management Capabilities Survey and associated documents required therein for all entities proposed to receive funding (except State of Alaska and federal entities)
- Submit a Federal Authority Form for any federal agency requesting funding
- Be compliant with current or previous AKSSF projects (ADF&G reserves the right to reject proposals from entities that are out of compliance with current or previous AKSSF projects; this may include entities that failed to submit timely invoices, performance metrics, semiannual reports, or environmental data sharing links)
For more information, visit http://www.akssf.org/CFP/
