Coos Bay Youth Restoration and Recreation.doc

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Notice of Funding Opportunity Number:

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Project Title: OR/WA Coos Bay Youth Restoration and Recreation Maximum Available Funding in FY22: $125,000 Project Background Information: The Coos Bay District of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) manages 315,000 acres of public lands on the southern Oregon Coast. The sites where the work would occur are near the Oregon coastal communities of Reedsport, Coos Bay/North Bend, Bandon, and Port Orford. The land base includes mostly timber lands managed for timber production and restoration, but also includes approximately 10 miles of Pacific coastline, 17 recreation sites and 35 miles of trails. Youth crews are vital to the District’s successful ability to complete priority restoration projects at key sites like Bastendorff Beach, the New River Area of Critical Enivornmental Concern, and the North Spit, as maintenance work on the District’s recreation sites and trails to ensure public access and a positive visitor experience.

Project Objective: BLM, Coos Bay District, Oregon has an opportunity to introduce youth to careers in the BLM under a wide range of resource specialists and for them to help the District accomplish priority habitat restoration and recreation maintenance work that benefit public lands. BLM specialists in botany, forestry, hydrology, fisheries, and recreation will guide the youth crews in completing the work, as well as providing insights into resource management and career opportunities.

Specifically, the youth crews will assist with restoring habitat at two BLM Areas of Critical Environmental Concern and ocean front property at Bastendorff Beach that are being actively managed to preserve species diversity. The specific work includes noxious weed removal in threatened Western Snowy Plover, Pink Sand Verbena, and silvery phacelia habitat. In addition, youth crews will be maintaining and improving several of the District’s recreation sites, including completing pre-season site maintenance to ready the sites for summer visitors and on-going trail maintenance.

Finally, this project aims to leverage a local partnership between a non-profit youth organization and the BLM to create service corps conservation jobs.

Work Schedule: Youth crews will generally work Monday – Thursday, generally 7:30 AM to 5PM, for 10-15 weeks, with flexable start/end dates in April/October.

Qualification Requirements: This opportunity is suitable for organizations that have experience recruiting for and managing youth work crews. Members of the youth work crews must be able to work in outdoor conditions and have the basic skills and abilities to complete routine restoration and maintenance work, such as weed pulling, painting, trash pick-up, data collection, etc.

Housing: Agency cannot provide housing. Camping locations for field crews are available at no charge.

Vehicle Needs: The applicant is required to provide transportation for the youth crew members to and from the work location. This transportation must be able to handle gravel, dirt, and the occasional primitive road conditions.

Other Project Considerations:

Food: The applicant is required to supply youth crew members with all food and living supplies.

All Supplies: The applicant is required to provide the youth crews basic living supplies and work tools. The BLM may be able to supplement crews with basic work tools on a limited basis.

Training Requirements: The applicant is required to provide youth crew members with the appropriate training to complete the work outlined in this opportunity, including, but no limited to, basic tool use and operation, first aid, and crew lead training.

Travel: Travel between the youth crew camping location and project site may be required, but is generally no more than 10 miles each way.

Duties: The successful youth corps applicant will assist the Coos Bay Distritct with the following specific projects:

· Remove downed trees and storm debris, paint restroom building, and maintain campsites at the 40-site Loon Lake Campground.

· Remove weeds from four acres of garden and brush/spread mulch on 0.5 mile of trail at the historic Hindale Garden.

· Remove invasive species from the stream bank and maintain campsites at Edson Creek Campground.

· Maintain and brush three to five miles of mountain bike and hiking trails on the Blue Ridge Trail System.

· Remove noxious weeds to maintain 20-30 acres of open dune habitat for pink sand verbena, silver phacelia and western snowy plover at the North Spit Area of Critical Environmental Concern, as well as help the District botanist complete basic data collection on the presence of the threatened plant species.

· Remove noxious weeds from 20-30 acres of coastal prairie and open dune habitat for western snowy plover and western lily at the New River Area of Critical Environmental Concern.

This work is expected to occur over approximately 15 weeks in the spring, summer, and fall. BLM specialists will meet with crews in the field on the first day of a new project week to ensure a good start to individual projects. Crews will often be working in remote locations without cell service, and in weather conditions common on the coast, including frequent rain and wind.

Project expected outcomes include the employment 100-150 youth who will also gain knowledge on natural resource management and careers while completing maintenance on three to six miles of trail, maintenance of 40-50 campsites, and restoration of 20-60 acres of coastal dune and prairie habitat.

BLM’s Involvement: There will be substantive BLM programmatic involvement by BLM professionals that will work with the crews weekly to ensure project objectives are known and complete, as well as providing information to crew members on the purpose of the work, relation to BLM management objectives, and career opportunities. The BLM will have the right to intervene by modifying the project work, if project is not staying on schedule, technical issues arise, etc.

BLM Program Contact:

Field PO Name: Megan Harper

Field PO Phone Number: 541-751-4353

Field PO Email: m1harper@blm.gov

Applicants are encouraged to refer to the full program announcement number L22AS***** posted on Grants.gov for all program requirements and applicable terms and conditions. Recipients selected for awards will be required to adhere to those requirements should an award be made.

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