NPSNOIP20AC00057 - Notice of Intent To Award.pdf

NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE: NOTICE OF INTENT TO AWARD

This announcement is not a request for applications.

This announcement is to provide public notice of the National Park Service’s intention to award financial assistance for the following project activities. Refer to Section 2. Grants.gov Posting Determination.

ABSTRACT

Grants.gov Opportunity Number Project Title Recipient Anticipated Federal Funding Non-Federal Cost Share Total Anticipated Award Amount

Award Instrument

Anticipated Period of Performance

Legal Authority

CFDA # and Title

Single Source Justification Criteria

National Park Service Point of Contact

PROJECT GOALS AND OBJECTIVES

STATEMENT OF PUBLIC PURPOSE

Section 1. Project Summary

Task Agreement Cooperative Agreement

Grant Agreement

STATEMENT OF WORK SUMMARY

RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE PARTIES

A. The recipient shall be responsible for the following items under this agreement:

B. The NPS Responsibilities:

A task agreement is proposed;

A cooperative agreement is proposed;

therefore substantial involvement by NPS is anticipated during the period of performance of this agreement. In support of this agreement NPS will:

A grant agreement is proposed, therefore no substantial involvement on the part of the NPS is anticipated for the successful completion of the statement of work. It is anticipated that involvement will be limited to actions related to monitoring project performance and technical assistance at the request of the recipient.

Section 3. Single Source Justification

NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

SINGLE SOURCE POLICY REQUIREMENTS

National Park Service Policy FAP&P 1443-2015-06 requires a written justification which explains why competition is not practicable. The justification must address one of the following criteria.

In order for an assistance award to be made without competition, the award must satisfy one or more of the following criteria:

(1) Unsolicited Proposal – The proposed award is the result of an unsolicited assistance application which represents a unique or innovative idea, method, or approach which is not the subject of a current or planned contract or assistance award, but which is deemed advantageous to the program objectives. The unsolicited proposal must demonstrate an innovative capability or concept not currently available to the government, and prepared without Government involvement. ;

(2) Continuation – The activity to be funded is necessary to the satisfactory completion of, or is a continuation of, an activity presently being funded, for which competition would have a significant adverse effect on the continuity or completion of the activity;

(3) Legislative intent – The language in the applicable authorizing legislation or legislative history clearly indicates Congress’ intent to restrict the award to a particular recipient of purpose;

(4) Unique Qualifications – The applicant is uniquely qualified to perform the activity based upon a variety of demonstrable factors such as location, property ownership, voluntary support capacity, technical expertise, or other such unique qualifications. Successful past performance, familiarity with existing requirements, capabilities that can be obtained or matched by a competitor, or a positive reputation, are not considered to be unique qualifications.

(5) Emergencies – Program/award where there is insufficient time available (due to a compelling and unusual urgency, or substantial danger to health or safety) for adequate competitive procedures to be followed.

NPS did not solicit full and open competition for this award based the following criteria:

Task Agreement issued under previously competed or single source master cooperative agreement per Section 2 above. Single Source Justification not applicable.

Continuation

Unique Qualifications

Unsolicited Proposal

Legislative Intent

Explanation of the proposed recipient’s qualifications or the criteria of the proposed project which requires use of the single source criteria cited.

Section 2. Grants.gov Posting Determination

Emergency

The National Park Service intends to award a task agreement under a previously competed or single source justified award.

The National Park Service intends to award a single source justified cooperative agreement. Refer to Section 3 Single Source Justification.

The National Park Service intends to award a single source justified grant agreement. Refer to Section 3 Single Source Justification.

Section 4. Department of the Interior Secretary’s Priorities

This award will support the following DOI Secretary priority(ies):

Other Key Initiatives:

Employment of veterans.

Supporting DOI Infrastructure needs.

Creating jobs in the American economy.

Access to outdoor recreation opportunities.

Priority 1: Creating a conservation stewardship legacy second only to Teddy Roosevelt Utilize science to identify best practices to manage land and water resources and adapt to changes in the environment.

Examine land use planning process and land use designations that govern public use and access.

Revise and streamline the environmental and regulatory review process while maintaining environmental standards.

Review DOI water storage, transportation, and distribution systems to identify opportunities to resolve conflicts and expand capacity.

Foster relationships with conservation organizations advocating for balanced stewardship and use of public lands.

Identify and implement initiatives to expand access to DOI lands for hunting and fishing.

Shift the balance towards providing greater public access to public lands over restrictions to access.

Priority 2: Utilizing our natural resources Ensure American energy is available to meet our security and economic needs.

Ensure access to mineral resources, especially the critical and rare earth minerals.

Refocus timber programs to embrace the entire 'healthy forests' lifecycle.

Manage competition for grazing resources.

Priority 3: Restoring trust with local communities Be a better neighbor with those closest to our resources by improving dialogue and relationships with persons and entities bordering our lands.

Expand the lines of communication with Governors, state natural resource offices, Fish and Wildlife offices, water authorities, county commissioners, Tribes, and local communities.

Priority 4: Ensuring sovereignty means something Support tribal self-determination, self-governance, and sovereignty.

Solidify mutual interests between the U.S. and the freely associated states and territories.

Priority 5: Generating additional revenues to support DOI & National interests Ensure that the public receives the full market value for the natural resources produced on Federal lands.

Ensure that fees or costs levied for DOI services are reasonable and targeted to achieve cost recovery.

Consider the impact of DOI decisions on economic development and job creation.

Priority 6: Protecting our people and the border Actively support efforts to secure our southern border.

Ensure DOI law enforcement staffing addresses public safety risks anticipated on DOI land.

Promote a "public service" demeanor within our law enforcement community.

Priority 7: Striking a regulatory balance

Reduce the administrative and regulatory burden imposed on U.S.

industry and the public.

Ensure that Endangered Species Act decisions are based on strong science and thorough analysis.

Priority 8: Modernizing our infrastructure Support the White House Public/Private Partnership Initiative to modernize U.S. infrastructure.

Remove impediments to infrastructure development and facilitate private sector efforts to construct infrastructure projects serving American needs.

Prioritize DOI infrastructure needs to highlight:

1. Construction of infrastructure;

2. Cyclical maintenance;

3. Deferred maintenance.

Senior executives are expected to provide leadership in achieving goals of the President and the Secretary.

The Management Team is expected to:

1. Ensure cost-effective operations and quality service to the public;

2. Facilitate organizational cooperation and conflict resolution;

3. Ensure the workplace environment is conducive to employee productivity and safety;

4. Hold individuals accountable for actions that violate DOI policies and requirements.

Priority 10: Achieving our goals and leading our team forward

The proposed project does not support any of the DOI Secretary priorities, but the project is being funded for the following reasons:

Priority 9: Reorganizing for the next 100 years

Improve alignment and integration of the DOI organizational structure. Redistribute organizational resources (people and funding) to enhance mission achievement and improved public service.

Improve organizational alignment with Executive Branch counterparts with major land management assets or influence.

4) Collect a third year of data – scat samples (for genetics) and occupancy models to effectively analyze these data in a robust design framework (3 years of sampling needed to fulfill the robust design framework identified in objectives 1 & 4).

2. Monitor and provide Federal oversight of activities performed under this Agreement. Monitoring and oversight includes review and approval of financial status and performance reports, payment requests, and tasks identified below. At the Recipient’s request, NPS may also provide technical assistance to the Recipient in support of the objectives of this Agreement.

3. Provide one biological science technician to assist with the collection of samples between August and September of 2020.

4. Provide scat samples and camera trap data already being collected in other, on-going NPS work, as soon as it is available, to assist in ensuring the goals and objectives outlined in Article IV are achieved.

5. Provide limited logistical support to assist both NPS and UW-MAD technicians and researchers in accomplishing field related tasks and duties.

2. Appoint Dr. Johnathan Pauli, Associate Professor, as the principal investigator for administering this work.

3. Hire a graduate student to collect, analyze and produce products (publications, reports, social media and oral presentations) associated with the work outlined in Article IV.

4. Complete DNA-based analyses for population size and vital rates of martens and foxes on Isle Royale. Scat samples will be collected on hiking trails from the end of August to early October in 2020. Each trail will be hiked every 4 days (7 times) and all potential marten and fox samples will be collected and location will be recorded with a handheld GPS rover. Collected scats will be swabbed for DNA extraction. Samples will be genotyped using a multiplex of eighteen previously developed microsatellite markers developed for martens (Pauli et al. 2015; Manlick et al. 2019) and red foxes (Black et al. in press). Determine sex of individuals with the SRY gene (Campbell et al. 2010) or b. To estimate abundance and survivorship employ a robust design model with genotyping error (Lukacs and Burnham, 2005). Individual capture histories from genotypes should be used to construct models that estimate 95% CIs for abundance (N̂) and genotyping error (1-α) at each primary sampling period, apparent survival (Ŝ), temporary immigration (γ’), and temporary emigration (γ”) between primary periods, and conditional capture (p̂) and recapture (ĉ) probabilities during secondary periods. Rank competing models using Akaike’s Information Criterion corrected for small sample size (AICC) (Burnham and Anderson 2002).

5. Describe the foraging ecology of martens and foxes on Isle Royale by using collected scats identified to marten or fox and examining their contents for food items. Diets can be estimated as percent occurrence of food items and niche overlap calculated with Pianka’s Index (1973). Hair traps (Pauli et al. 2008) placed conveniently off of hiking trails separated by a minimum distance of 500 m can be used to minimize psuedoreplication. Traps shall be checked every 7-10 days 8 times and all “captured” hair collected. Hair will be prepared following previously developed techniques (Pauli et al. 2009), and analyzed for carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) using a mass spectrometer. Employ a Bayesian multi-source mixing models to estimate the relative proportions of prey in marten and fox diets (Ceia et al. 2012; Parnell et al. 2010). These estimates of diet by species with camera trap data will be coupled with information already being collected by Isle Royale Park staff at wolf kill-sites. Document the species and frequency of mesocarvniore use of remaining carrion and explore individual behaviors and giving up densities at kill-sites.

6. Complete Occupancy modeling to quantify distribution, colonization and extinction of foxes and martens. To test the spatial association of martens and foxes (MacKenzie et al. 2004), employ a multi-species occupancy model (Waddle et al. 2010; Manlick et al. 2017). Similar to the above design, this model assumes the population is open between primary sampling periods (K) but static within secondary sampling periods (L). Trail surveys (K=3, L=7) will constitute separate analyses and will estimate probability of occupancy (ψ), detection (p), colonization (γ), and local extinction (ϵ) independently for each sampling technique. Develop candidate models to test site-level covariates (i.e., habitat characteristics and wolf presence) that influence marten and fox occupancy. Site-specific occupancy probabilities for martens and foxes can then be used in a structural equation model to assess mechanistic processes that give rise to patterns of fox and marten occurrence (Joseph et al. 2016).

7. Use Dr. Pauli’s genetic and isotopic lab to prepare and analyze samples as described above