[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 209 (Monday, October 31, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 62299-62302]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 05-21617]



[[Page 62299]]

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

[Docket No. 051019272-5272-01; I.D. 092905B]


Open Rivers Initiative Barrier Removal Project Grants

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.

ACTION: Notice of availability of financial assistance.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: The NOAA Open Rivers Initiative (ORI) provides funding to 
catalyze the implementation of locally-driven barrier removal projects 
that remove dams and other barriers, in order to benefit living marine 
resources, particularly diadromous fish. Projects funded through ORI 
grants will have strong on-the-ground habitat restoration components 
that foster economic, educational, and social benefits for citizens and 
their communities in addition to long-term ecological habitat 
improvements for NOAA trust resources. The role of NOAA in this 
initiative is to provide funding and technical assistance for barrier 
removal projects. Proposals selected for funding through this 
solicitation will be implemented through a cooperative agreement. 
Funding of up to $6,000,000 is expected to be available for the ORI 
Project Grants competition in FY 2007. The NOAA Restoration Center (RC) 
within the Office of Habitat Conservation will administer this grants 
initiative, and anticipates that typical awards will range from $50,000 
to $250,000 per project. Although a select few may exceed this range, 
project proposals requesting over $1,000,000 will not be accepted or 
reviewed. To help expedite the implementation of on-the-ground 
components of barrier removal projects in 2007, up to $1,000,000 may be 
made available in 2006 from a related NOAA grants program to support 
feasibility, engineering, and/or design elements of a small number of 
projects where the same application also seeks funding for on-the-
ground removal activities.

DATES: Applications must be postmarked or submitted no later than 11:59 
PM EST on January 13, 2006.

ADDRESSES: Applications should be submitted via www.grants.gov. If 
applicants do not have access to the internet, applications must be 
mailed to: NOAA Fisheries, Office of Habitat Conservation, Restoration 
Division (F/HC3), 1315 East West Highway, Silver Spring, MD 20910-3282. 
ATTN: Open Rivers Initiative Project Applications. No facsimile or 
electronic mail applications will be accepted. Electronic Access to the 
full funding announcement for this program is available via the 
Grants.gov Web site: http://www.grants.gov. The announcement will also 
be available at the NOAA Web site http://www.ofa.noaa.gov/%7Eamd/SOLINDEX.HTML or by contacting the program official identified below. 
All application requirements contained in the full funding announcement 
must be adhered to in submitted proposals.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Robin Bruckner, (301) 713-0174, or by 
e-mail at [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Summary

    The principal objectives of the ORI are to provide Federal 
financial and technical assistance to locally-driven removals of dams 
and other barriers to enhance watershed health, to foster sustainable 
fish populations, and to improve community vitality and economic 
growth. This will help restore living marine and coastal resources and 
their habitats and promote stewardship and a conservation ethic for 
NOAA trust resources, particularly diadromous fish. The ORI focus is on 
implementing projects that will directly benefit diadromous species 
such as salmon, sturgeon, shad, river herring, striped bass, and 
American eel.
    Successful applications will be those that:
     Demonstrate collaboration among entities such as public 
and nonprofit organizations, citizen and watershed groups, industry, 
corporations and businesses, youth conservation corps, students, 
landowners, academia, and local, state, tribal governments and Federal 
agencies to cooperatively implement barrier removal projects;
     Document community benefits related to: increased business 
opportunities, removal of potential liability, reduced flood impacts, 
and/or improved opportunities for recreation, park use, or other 
tangible community benefits; and
     Are able to: achieve a net gain in diadromous fish-
accessible stream miles, increase the number of barrier removals in a 
particular watershed, document education and outreach or volunteer 
hours involved, and maximize project partnerships.
    Project partners may contribute funding, land, technical 
assistance, workforce support or other in-kind services; promote grass-
roots participation in the improvement of locally important living 
marine resources; and engender local stewardship and monitoring 
activities to sustain and evaluate the performance of the barrier 
removal. Previous locally-driven barrier removal projects supported by 
NOAA have been successful because they had significant local backing, 
depended upon citizens' hands-on involvement, and drew community 
support through strategic outreach and education.

Electronic Access

    Information on barrier removal proposals funded to date under the 
NOAA Community-based Restoration Program can be found on the World Wide 
Web at: http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/habitat/restoration. As has been the 
case since October 1, 2004, applicants can access the full funding 
announcement and download and submit electronic grant applications for 
NOAA Financial Assistance at the grants.gov web site: http://www.grants.gov. Applicants responding to the ORI are strongly 
encouraged to submit applications through the grants.gov web site (see 
ADDRESSESS).

Initiative Priorities

    Initiative priorities are focused on the removal of fish passage 
barriers within historic or present diadromous fish habitat to achieve 
a net gain in diadromous fish-accessible stream miles and fish 
population recovery. Priority consideration will be given to those 
proposals that: include fish population health benefits; are expected 
to have environmentally-compatible economic benefits resulting from the 
barrier removal; will have synergistic results due to related fish 
passage or restoration activities upstream or downstream; will improve 
watershed health with measurable outcomes; and will result in community 
revitalization and stewardship. Priority will also be given to those 
proposals that maximize the number of stream miles for which access is 
restored, and/or maximize the potential for the recovery of fish 
populations. Removal of complete barriers to fish passage will be given 
priority consideration, as will proposals for which the bulk of funding 
will support on-the-ground implementation activities. Proposals that 
address partial barriers will also be considered for funding, but may 
receive lower priority. In limited circumstances, the initiative will 
consider remedies such as fish ladders that are dependent on proper 
stream flows, operation, and maintenance to ensure free passage. 
Proposals that request funds for

[[Page 62300]]

feasibility, engineering and/or design in addition to construction 
elements may be considered to receive partial funding in 2006 on a 
limited basis so that construction elements can move forward in a 
timely fashion with funding made available in 2007. This initiative 
does not fund feasibility studies, removal, partial removal, or 
replacement of barriers owned by the Federal government or dams 
licensed by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). Such 
proposals will be disqualified.
    Restoration of access may include, but is not limited to: complete 
dam removal; notching or breaching of dams; removal of barriers such as 
culverts that completely or partially block fish passage and 
replacement with bridges, fish passable culverts or tide gates; removal 
of temporary or seasonal dams that block fish migration; or removal of 
other barriers to diadromous fish passage. Restoration activities may 
include upstream and/or downstream passage of diadromous fish.
    The ORI will emphasize the selection of barrier removal projects 
that demonstrate a coordinated effort to maximize quality diadromous 
fish habitat within a watershed. Proposals should assess the state of 
fish barriers/fish access in the watershed to receive greater 
consideration than those that demonstrate little knowledge of other 
barriers in the system.
    Projects that restore habitats found to be socio-economically 
important within their region with regard to such issues as commercial 
(e.g., fisheries) and recreational use and/or aesthetic and stewardship 
values will be favored. This may include projects that result in 
beneficial uses of newly available land previously inundated by a 
reservoir. Projects that document community benefits related to 
increased business opportunities, removal of potential liability, and/
or improved opportunities for recreation, park use, or other tangible 
community benefits will be given priority. However, this initiative 
does not fund urban redevelopment components.
    While the focus of this initiative is to provide funding and 
technical expertise to support on-the-ground implementation of barrier 
removal projects that involve significant community support, NOAA 
recognizes that accomplishing barrier removal is a multi-faceted effort 
involving feasibility studies, project design, engineering services, 
permitting, construction, legal considerations, oversight, pre- and 
post-removal monitoring, and education and outreach. Applicants may 
therefore apply for funding to support a combination of these 
activities in addition to the barrier removal itself. NOAA anticipates 
that up to $1,000,000 may be made available from a related grants 
program to support the feasibility, engineering, and/or design elements 
of a proposal in 2006 so that the removal activities can proceed with 
additional funding awarded through ORI to successful applicants in 2007 
using a multi-year award process. Although barrier removals themselves 
are often not suitable for volunteer involvement, projects should 
involve an outreach and/or volunteer component tied to the overall 
barrier removal goals and activities to receive greater consideration. 
Additionally, projects must have pre- and post-project monitoring 
components.
    Implementation of on-the-ground barrier removal projects must have 
clearly identified goals (broad in scope) and specific, measurable 
objectives. Evaluating these objectives must involve monitoring during 
the project period of at least one structural and one functional 
parameter, as supported by Title I of the Estuaries and Clean Waters 
Act of 2000, to ensure a basic level of assessment of project success. 
Monitoring must be conducted in a timely fashion with a frequency and 
length of time appropriate for each parameter in the context of the 
project objectives and type. Examples of structural and functional 
monitoring parameters for barrier removal project types are available 
on the World Wide Web at http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/habitat/restoration, 
and assistance in refining the objectives and/or selecting appropriate 
parameters is available from NOAA staff working with the ORI (see FOR 
FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT).
    NOAA will consider funding more than one project under a single 
award, however all projects should be sufficiently developed as per the 
guidelines and information requirements listed in this document for an 
application to be competitive, and all projects should be able to be 
completed within the award period specified below.

Funding Availability

    This solicitation announces that funding of up to $6,000,000 is 
expected to be available for ORI Project Grants in FY 2007. NOAA 
anticipates that typical project awards will range from $50,000 to 
$250,000. Applications requesting less than $30,000 or more than 
$1,000,000 from ORI will not be accepted under this solicitation. To 
help expedite the implementation of on-the-ground components of barrier 
removal projects in 2007, up to $1,000,000 may be available in 2006 
from a related NOAA grant program to support feasibility, engineering, 
and/or design elements of a small number of projects where the same 
application also seeks funding for on-the-ground removal activities. 
NOAA does not guarantee that sufficient funds will be available to make 
awards for all proposals. The number of awards to be made as a result 
of this solicitation will depend on the number of eligible applications 
received, the amount of funds requested for initiating barrier removal 
projects by the applicants, the merit and ranking of the proposals, and 
the amount of funds made available to the ORI by Congress.
    NOAA anticipates that between 30 and 50 awards will be made as a 
result of this solicitation. The exact amount of funds that may be 
awarded will be determined in pre-award negotiations between the 
applicant and NOAA representatives. Publication of this document does 
not obligate NOAA to award any specific project or obligate all or any 
parts of any available funds.

Authority

    The Secretary of Commerce is authorized under the Fish and Wildlife 
Coordination Act, 16 U.S.C. 661, as amended by the Reorganization Plan 
No. 4 of 1970, to provide grants or cooperative agreements for dam and 
barrier removal activities to restore fisheries habitat.

Catalogue of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA)

    11.463, Habitat Conservation

Eligibility

    Eligible applicants are institutions of higher education, other 
non-profits, industry and commercial (for profit) organizations, 
organizations under the jurisdiction of foreign governments, 
international organizations, and state, local and Indian tribal 
governments whose projects have the potential to benefit NOAA trust 
resources. Applications from Federal agencies or employees of Federal 
agencies will not be considered. Federal agencies are strongly 
encouraged to work with states, non-governmental organizations, 
national service clubs or youth corps organizations and others that are 
eligible to apply.
    The Department of Commerce/National Oceanic and Atmospheric 
Administration (DOC/NOAA) is strongly committed to broadening the 
participation of historically black colleges and universities, 
Hispanic-serving institutions, tribal colleges and universities, and 
institutions that work in under served areas. The ORI

[[Page 62301]]

encourages proposals from or involving any of the above institutions.

Cost Sharing or Matching Requirements

    A major goal of the ORI will be to provide seed money for projects 
that leverage funds and other contributions from a broad public and 
private sector to implement locally important barrier removals to 
benefit living marine and coastal resources. To this end, applicants 
are encouraged to demonstrate a minimum 1:1 non-Federal match for ORI 
funds requested to conduct the proposed project. NOAA strongly 
encourages applicants to leverage as much investment as possible. 
Applicants with less than 1:1 match will not be disqualified, however, 
applicants should note that cost sharing is an element considered in 
Evaluation Criterion 4: ``Project Costs.''
    Match to NOAA funds can come from a variety of public and private 
sources and can include in-kind goods and services and volunteer labor. 
Federal funds are not considered matching funds. Applicants are 
permitted to combine contributions from additional non-Federal partners 
in order to meet the 1:1 match expected, as long as such contributions 
are not being used to match any other funds. Applicants are also 
permitted to apply federally negotiated indirect costs in excess of 
Federal share limits.
    Applicants whose proposals are selected for funding will be bound 
by the percentage of cost sharing reflected in the award document 
signed by the NOAA Grants Officer. Successful applicants should be 
prepared to carefully document matching contributions, including the 
overall number of volunteers and in-kind participation hours devoted to 
individual barrier removal projects. Letters of commitment for any 
secured resources that will be used as match for an award under this 
solicitation should be submitted as an attachment to the application. 
Applicants should consider the timing of potential match and awards to 
reflect the fact that the majority of funds will not be available until 
fiscal year 2007. Match must be applied to the project during the award 
period.

Intergovernmental Review

    Applications under this initiative are subject to the provisions of 
Executive Order 12372, ``Intergovernmental Review of Federal 
Programs.'' Applicants are required to complete item 16 on SF-424 
regarding clearance by the State Single Point of Contact (SPOC) 
established as a result of the Executive Order. To find out about and 
comply with a State's process under Executive Order 12372, the names, 
addresses and phone numbers of participating SPOC's are available on 
the internet at: http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/grants/spoc.html.

Evaluation and Selection

    Reviewers will assign scores to proposals ranging from 0 to 100 
points based on the following five standard NOAA evaluation criteria 
and respective weights specified below.
1. Importance and Applicability of Proposal (30 points)
    This criterion ascertains whether there is intrinsic value in the 
proposed work and/or relevance to NOAA, Federal, regional, state or 
local activities.
2. Technical/Scientific Merit (30 points)
    This criterion assesses whether the approach is technically sound 
and/or innovative, if the methods are appropriate, and whether there 
are clear project goals and objectives.
3. Overall Qualifications of Applicants (10 points)
    This criterion ascertains whether the applicant possesses the 
necessary education, experience, demonstrated commitment, training, 
facilities, and administrative resources to accomplish the project.
4. Project Costs (15 points)
    This criterion evaluates the project's budget to determine if it is 
realistic and commensurate with the project needs and time-frame.
5. Outreach, Education and Community Involvement (15 points)
    NOAA assesses whether the project provides a focused and effective 
education and outreach strategy regarding NOAA's mission.
    Applications will be screened by NOAA staff to determine if they 
are eligible, complete and in accordance with instructions detailed in 
the standard NOAA Grants Application Package. Applications that present 
narrative information in the same order as the evaluation criteria set 
out above are likely to be more competitive, as reviewers will be more 
easily able to identify information that directly translates to 
scoring. Eligible barrier removal proposals will undergo a technical 
review, ranking, and selection process. As appropriate during this 
process, the NOAA Restoration Center will solicit individual technical 
evaluations of each project proposed and may request evaluations from 
other NOAA offices, the Regional Fishery Management Councils, other 
Federal and state agencies, such as state coastal management agencies 
and state fish and wildlife agencies, and private and public sector 
barrier removal experts who have knowledge of a specific applicant or 
project. Proposals also will be reviewed by NOAA regional and 
headquarters staff to determine how well they meet the stated aims of 
the ORI, and how well the proposal meets the goals of the NOAA Office 
of Habitat Conservation (OHC) and the NOAA Habitat Program as these 
goals are incorporated into the evaluation criteria.
    Applications for barrier removal projects will be evaluated by at 
least three individual technical reviewers, including those mentioned 
in the above paragraph, according to the criteria and weights listed in 
this solicitation and described in detail in the Federal Funding 
Opportunity. The reviewers will independently evaluate each application 
and provide a score. Composite project scores, a rank order of 
applications, and reviewer comments and will be presented to the 
Director of the NOAA Restoration Center (Director). The Director, in 
consultation with OHC staff, will select the proposals to be 
recommended to the Grants Management Division (GMD) for funding and 
will determine the amount of funds available for each approved 
proposal. The proposals shall be recommended in rank order unless the 
proposal is justified to be selected out of rank order based upon one 
or more of the following factors:
    1. The availability of funding;
    2. The balance/distribution of funds: (a) geographically, (b) by 
type of institutions, (c) by type of partners, (d) by research areas, 
and (e) by project types;
    3. Duplication of other projects funded or considered for funding 
by NOAA and/or other Federal agencies;
    4. Initiative priorities and policy factors as set out in the full 
funding opportunity available on grants.gov;
    5. The applicant's prior award performance;
    6. Partnerships and/or participation of targeted groups; and
    7. Adequacy of information necessary for NOAA staff to make a NEPA 
determination and draft necessary documentation before funding 
recommendations are acted upon by GMD.
    Hence, awards may not necessarily be made to the highest scoring 
proposals. Unsuccessful applicants will be notified that their proposal 
was not among those recommended for funding. Unsuccessful applications 
submitted in hard copy will be kept on file until the close of the 
following fiscal year then destroyed.
    Successful applicants generally will be identified approximately 
90-120

[[Page 62302]]

days after the close of this solicitation on January 13, 2006. The 
earliest date for receipt of most awards will be approximately 60 days 
after the 2007 fiscal year appropriation is enacted, when all NOAA/
applicant final negotiations and NEPA analysis and documentation 
supporting cooperative agreement activities have been completed. 
Applicants should consider this selection and processing time in 
developing requested start dates for proposed barrier removal 
activities; NOAA suggests reasonable start dates of winter/spring 2007.

National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)

    NOAA must analyze the potential environmental impacts, as required 
by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), for applicant projects 
or proposals which are seeking NOAA federal funding opportunities. 
Detailed information on NOAA compliance with NEPA can be found at the 
following NOAA NEPA website: http://www.nepa.noaa.gov/, including our 
NOAA Administrative Order 216-6 for NEPA, http://www.nepa.noaa.gov/NAO216_6_TOC.pdf, and the Council on Environmental Quality 
implementation regulations, http://ceq.eh.doe.gov/nepa/regs/ceq/toc_ceq.htm).
    Consequently, as part of an applicant's package, and under their 
description of their program activities, applicants are required to 
provide detailed information on the activities to be conducted, 
locations, sites, species and habitat to be affected, possible 
construction activities, and any environmental concerns that may exist 
(e.g., the use and disposal of hazardous or toxic chemicals, 
introduction of non-indigenous species, impacts to endangered and 
threatened species, aquaculture projects, and impacts to coral reef 
systems).
    In addition to providing specific information that will serve as 
the basis for any required impact analyses, applicants may also be 
requested to assist NOAA in drafting of an environmental assessment, if 
NOAA determines an assessment is required. Applicants will also be 
required to cooperate with NOAA in identifying and implementing 
feasible measures to reduce or avoid any identified adverse 
environmental impacts of their proposal. The failure to do so shall be 
grounds for the denial of an application.

Pre-Award Notification Requirements for Grants and Cooperative 
Agreements

    The Department of Commerce Pre-Award Notification Requirements for 
Grants and Cooperative Agreements contained in the Federal Register 
notice of December 30, 2004 (69 FR 78389) are applicable to this 
solicitation.

Limitation of Liability

    In no event will NOAA or the Department of Commerce be responsible 
for proposal preparation costs if this initiative fails to receive 
funding or is cancelled because of other agency priorities. Publication 
of this announcement does not oblige NOAA to award any specific project 
or to obligate any available funds. Recipients and sub-recipients are 
subject to all Federal laws, agency policies, regulations and 
procedures applicable to Federal financial assistance awards.

Paperwork Reduction Act

    This notification involves collection-of-information requirements 
subject to the Paperwork Reduction Act. The use of Standard Forms 424, 
424A, 424B, and SF-LLL and CD-346 has been approved by the Office of 
Management and Budget (OMB) under OMB control numbers 0348-0043, 0348-
0044, 0348-0040, 0348-0046 and 0605-0001 respectively. Notwithstanding 
any other provision of law, no person is required to respond to, nor 
shall any person be subject to a penalty for failure to comply with, a 
collection of information subject to the requirements of the PRA unless 
that collection of information displays a currently valid OMB control 
number.

Executive Order 12866

    It has been determined that this notice is not significant for 
purposes of Executive Order 12866.

Executive Order 13132 (Federalism)

    It has been determined that this notice does not contain policies 
with Federalism implications as that term is defined in Executive Order 
13132.

Administrative Procedure Act/Regulatory Flexibility Act

    Prior notice and an opportunity for public comment are not required 
by the Administrative Procedure Act or any other law for rules 
concerning public property, loans, grants, benefits, and contracts (5 
U.S.C. 553(a)(2)). Because notice and opportunity for comment are not 
required pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 553 or any other law, the analytical 
requirements of the Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 601 et seq.) 
are inapplicable. Therefore, a regulatory flexibility analysis has not 
been prepared.

    Dated: October 26, 2005.
William T. Hogarth,
Assistant Administrator for Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries 
Service.
[FR Doc. 05-21617 Filed 10-26-05; 1:26 pm]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-S