Deadline: 5-Apr-22
The Department of Commerce is inviting applications for the 2022 NMFS West Coast Region (WCR) Education and Outreach Program to recognize the essential role that education and outreach projects and educational partnerships play in the conservation of WCR endangered and threatened species, marine mammals and Species in the Spotlight, which is a NMFS initiative, designating nine specific species that are among the most at risk of extinction in the near future.
This competition seeks to support projects that educate, engage and inspire the community to play a role in the conservation of WCR marine resources.
Themes
Applications must address one of the four program themes listed below:
- Enhance public awareness of Southern Resident Killer Whale (SRKW) status and the threats they face, and educate individuals, students, and organizations on actions they can take to contribute to conservation and support recovery.
- Oversee rockfish conservation efforts in the Salish Sea that:
- conduct action-based education and outreach programs with fishing communities, organizations, and citizen scientists to increase awareness of, and response to, threats to rockfish, their habitats, and the Salish Sea ecosystem;
- offer training for citizen science scuba diving programs that report sightings of rockfish, especially young-of-the-year (YOY) fish, through meetings or web-based tools;
- provide technical support for data collection, processing, review, and sharing from rockfish and submerged aquatic vegetation (e.g., kelp, eelgrass) monitoring efforts with educational institutions and the public.
- Enhance public awareness of abalone status and recovery through the development of engaging and relevant displays, outreach materials, and K-adult education programs.
- Run an internship program to place undergraduate and graduate students selected annually, who are working toward a degree in the sciences, with NMFS policy makers, scientists, and stakeholder communities to increase public engagement and to inspire individual behavior changes to conserve and protect WCR marine resources.
Funding Information
- Project proposals requesting less than $5,000 or greater than $100,000 in federal funding will not be accepted or reviewed.
- Total funding anticipated to be available for Fiscal Year 2022 is approximately $540,000. The number of awards anticipated is between 1 and 8 multi-year awards for FY 2022. Proposals must be between $5,000 and $25,000 per project year. If a multi-year project is proposed, funding can be no more than $25,000 per project year, with no more than $100,000 in federal funding requested for the entire award. Applications are limited to (1) one application per applicant and must identify the Theme you are applying under.
- The project budget period is recommended to be 12 months in duration. Awards may be multi-year with a maximum duration of (4) four years.
Eligibility Criteria
- Eligible applicants are individuals, institutions of higher education, nonprofits, state, local and Indian tribal governments.
- Federal agencies and their employees, as well as Federal instrumentalities (including employees and members), are not eligible to apply.
- Projects under this competition must be conducted within the WCR states of Washington, Oregon, California, or Idaho.
For more information, visit https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/view-opportunity.html?oppId=337828