1.

This $109,053 cooperative agreement awarded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) under the Plant and Animal Disease, Pest Control, and Animal Care program (CFDA 10.025) will fund continued infrastructure development and support for a Tribal Pest Survey Specialist position. The primary activities to be performed include serving as the main point of contact for CAPS program surveys on tribal lands in Wisconsin, participating in APHIS and Wisconsin Tribal Conservation Advisory Council (WTCAC) meetings, distributing outreach materials, and coordinating survey work with tribal foresters and agriculture programs. The intended outcomes are to increase tribal participation, enhance cooperation across jurisdictions, identify high-risk pests, and improve response planning. This award aims to benefit tribal communities, farmers, foresters, and the general public by protecting natural and agricultural ecosystems in Wisconsin. Administrative and financial reporting services will be subcontracted to Innovative Funding LLC for this cooperative agreement, which has an award date of Aug 1, 2024 and an ultimate completion date of Jun 24, 2025.

Purpose

Continued infrastructure development and support for the tribal pest survey specialist are key elements in the 2024 wisconsin tribal caps request and will greatly augment the abilities of the tribal nations in the state to play a role in protecting natural and agricultural ecosystems. Adequate staff and equipment are required to meet potential threats to local agriculture and natural resources. This position provides continuity of surveillance and data collection, allowing a significant reduction in the economic costs of addressing plant pests and diseases. 2.

Activities

A. Serve as the primary point of contact for caps program surveys through wtcac on tribal lands in wisconsin. Identify survey locations, equipment/supply needs, training, and database reporting requirements necessary to implement survey work plans. Assist in plant pest/disease response activities and planning. B. Participate in PPQ team meetings, wtcac meetings, wtcac sub-committee meetings, and invasive species and forest health committee meetings. Communicate with other sscs/psss to assist in the promotion of regional surveys to enhance uniformity in survey methodologies. C. Distribute public outreach materials to the tribes and work with wtcac seasonal staff to develop additional materials as they pertain to the individual tribal communities and wtcac. Wtcac will also work closely with PPQ team and tribes to fulfill outreach and education requests from tribes. D. Coordinate with tribal foresters and agriculture programs for future survey work and needs. Continue to seek out partnerships as appropriate, for the tribes and the program to fulfill both wtcac and aphis-PPQ's goals. 3. Deliverables and expected outcomes: a. Increasing the number of tribes participating in the program to include all eleven federally recognized tribes in wisconsin. B. Cooperation with other agencies across all levels of jurisdiction and responsibility to integrate detection, response, and public outreach/education activities, including participation in plant board and caps meetings. C. Determining pest targets early on helps the PSS and state surveyors to choose the highest-risk pests locally, prioritizing resources used for local survey needs. This allows tribes in wisconsin to evaluate current pest risks and report new pest threats to add to the national caps priority list. D. Identifying pests with regulatory or trade significance that may affect tribes and the state. E. Identifying any caps pests with a demonstrated pathway of entry and improving response planning, including resource cataloging, identifying training needs, and conducting such pest response exercises as may be feasible. 4.

Intended beneficiaries

Tribal communities, farmers, orchards, timber industry, foresters, arborists, plant nursery industry, landscapers, firewood producers, hunters/campers/other outdoors recreationists, and members of the general public. This will serve all residents of wisconsin and visitors to the state who benefit from our natural landscape resources. 5. Subrecipient activities, if known or specified at the time of award: administrative and financial reporting services will be contracted to innovative funding LLC for 148 hours at $75/HR.