Comment by kristin ransom - NOAA federal: do not change this title - this is a GMD requirement

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) awarded $588,236 in federal funding to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Office of Coastal Management on October 1, 2025, under the Coastal Zone Management Estuarine Research Reserves program (CFDA 11.420). The grant funds planning and design services to expand the Old Woman Creek National Estuarine Research Reserve (OWC NERR) visitor center facility in Huron, Ohio. The primary deliverable is comprehensive engineering and design plans for expanding the visitor center building footprint to accommodate core educational and training classrooms, which will increase facility capacity from 30 to 100 individuals.

The secondary design planning components include specifications for additional restroom facilities, a catering kitchen to support education and training programs, transient office space for early career professionals, new offices for education and training staff, and an expanded parking area using permeable pavers. These planning and design services address capacity constraints resulting from the OWC NERR's outgrown educational and training programs. The project period extends from the October 1, 2025 award date through September 30, 2026, with final deliverables expected to provide the foundation for subsequent construction activities to enhance the reserve's educational infrastructure and programming capacity.

The national oceanic and atmospheric administration (NOAA) is providing $500,000 in federal funding to the state of ohio through the national estuarine research reserve system (nerrs) land acquisition and construction program for fiscal year 2025 (NOAA-NOS-OCM-2025-29258). This funding will build the ability of the old woman creek national estuarine research reserve within the ohio department of natural resources to support engineering and design planning to expand the OWC nerr visitor center building footprint to increase the capacity of the reserves core educational and training facilities. The primary goal of this PAC planning and design proposal is to obtain engineering and design plans to expand the OWC nerr visitor center building footprint to construct a new core education and training classrooms, which will increase the maximum capacity from the current 30 individuals to 100 individuals. The secondary goal is to explore the potential for incorporating the following components through a renovation of existing space and construction of new space into the design plans: additional restroom facilities to accommodate increased programming capacity. Catering kitchen to support education and training programming. Transient office space for early career professionals and new offices for education and training staff. Expansion to the existing parking area to allow for additional parking spaces using permeable pavers. This expansion is essential as owcs education and training programs have outgrown the current facilities.