This cooperative agreement is provided to roger williams university (RWU) to support implementation of the narragansett BAY estuary program comprehensive conservation and management plan (ccmp),…

This cooperative agreement is provided to roger williams university (RWU) to support implementation of the narragansett BAY estuary program comprehensive conservation and management plan (ccmp), developed by a partnership of federal, state, and local representatives of the public. The goal of this award and the narragansett BAY estuary program (nbep) is to restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the estuary and support its sustainable human uses through tasks outlined in annual workplans and its partners. Activities:the cooperative agreement supports activities to submit at least two proposals for outside funding; manage subawards and contracts under both base funding and those under the bipartisan infrastructure law funding; complete vision 2032, narragansett BAY estuary program's comprehensive conservation and management plan revision; complete research, engagement, and finance plans; create up to five science updates and three GIS/web-based tools; host an annual science event; draft newsletters and outreach publications; issue a request for proposals for small education and outreach subawards; provide a subaward to support a data analyst at rhode island department of environmental management; and support a subaward to rhode island natural history survey to create a biodiversity database.subrecipient:subaward activities under this award are: outreach and ED small grants: $57,573 to fund partners' programs and events that connect new people to local environmental issues and provide ready opportunities to celebrate successes and take action to address problems moving forward. This may be done via an RFP or direct subawards. Up to 10 awards $5,000-$15,000 each. Ecological data analyst: $75,000 a subaward through the atlantic states marine fisheries commission to ridem to cover three-quarters of a new contract ecological data analyst (modeler, biometrician, statistician) dedicated to providing these services. The ecological data analyst will include, but not limited to: - advancing the historical, currently used narragansett BAY atlantic menhaden management area model used to estimate fine scale abundance and distribution of this species, - developing data limited stock assessment models for atlantic horseshoe crabs in rhode island waters, - construct a stock assessment model for northern quahog, - use available river herring long-term relative abundance data to quantify ecological and economic benefits from prospective river passage enhancement, and understand what is driving current population levels. - use narragansett BAY time series data to discern which environmental condition have contributed to the BAY's ecosystem change over time. - conduct landscape-level analysis of bird atlas data. Biodiversity database initial development: $100,000 subawarded to RI natural history survey to match existing private funding to develop a beta RI biodiversity database (called BORIIS2 or otherwise). The existing boriis/2 work will be leveraged as appropriate, data captured, cleaned, and input, and the tool tested to guide creation of queries and reports, assess user experience, and inform more final development steps. Rinhs will also coordinate with neighboring states and consider existing national biodiversity tools to maximize continuity and ease future collaboration. The goal is a beta database that creates a curated index of best available biodiversity data that is usable by rinhs staff and at least select restoration partners and is ready for final development. The extent of RI biota included and degree of functionality and public accessibility of the beta version will be determined based on total available funding and included in the final subaward agreement between RWU and rinhs. With a foundational tool in place, upgrades to include modeling (like that built into MA's biomap), integration of data from public OBS