OWOW RFA FY21.pdf

Federal Agency Name: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Water, Office of Wetlands, Oceans and Watersheds

Funding Opportunity Title: Fiscal Year (FY) 2021 Building Partner Capacity and Promoting Resiliency and Equity under Clean Water Act Wetlands, Nonpoint Source, Monitoring, Assessment and Listing Programs

Announcement Type: Request for Applications (RFA)

Funding Opportunity Number: EPA-OW-OWOW-21-02

Assistance Listing Number: 66.436

Dates:

Application Submission All applications must be received by electronic submission through Grants.gov by 11:59 P.M.

ET August 10, 2021. Late applications will not be considered for funding.

Question Submission Questions about this RFA must be submitted in writing via e-mail and must be received by the Agency Contact identified in Section VII before July 30, 2021 Written responses will be posted on EPA’s website at Building Partner Capacity and Promoting Resilience and Equity under the Clean Water Act.

COVID-19 Update:

EPA is providing flexibilities to applicants experiencing challenges related to COVID-19. Please see the Flexibilities Available to Organizations Impacted by COVID-19 clause in Section IV of EPA’s Solicitation Clauses.

Note to Applicants:

Following EPA’s evaluation of applications, all applicants will be notified regarding their status.

If you name subawardees/subgrantees and/or contractor(s) in your application to assist you with the proposed project, pay careful attention to the information in the CONTRACTS AND SUBAWARDS provision found at https://www.epa.gov/grants/epa-solicitation-clauses.

SUMMARY: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is soliciting applications from eligible applicants to provide support for training and related activities to build the capacity of agricultural partners, state, territorial and tribal officials and nongovernmental stakeholders in activities to be carried out to support the goals of the Clean Water Act (CWA) Section 303(d) Program, the Nonpoint Source (CWA Section 319) Program, the Wetlands Program, the CWA 401 Program, and the Water Quality Monitoring Program. Awardees will assess and assist state, territorial and tribal officials, nongovernmental stakeholders, and other stakeholders through knowledge exchange and capacity building.

https://www.epa.gov/wetlands/building-partner-capacity-and-promoting-resilience-and-equity-under-clean-water-act https://www.epa.gov/wetlands/building-partner-capacity-and-promoting-resilience-and-equity-under-clean-water-act https://www.epa.gov/grants/epa-solicitation-clauses https://www.epa.gov/grants/epa-solicitation-clauses

Awards made under this announcement will support EPA’s Fiscal Year (FY) 2018 – FY 2022 Strategic Plan for the following goal and objective: Goal 1- Core Mission: Deliver real results to provide Americans with clean air, land, and water, and ensure chemical safety; Objective 1.2 - Provide for Clean and Safe Water: Ensure waters are clean through improved water infrastructure and, in partnership with states and tribes, sustainably manage programs to support drinking water, aquatic ecosystems, and recreational, economic, and subsistence activities.

Information on the EPA Strategic Plan is available at www.epa.gov/planandbudget/strategicplan.

States, local governments, federally recognized Indian Tribes, intertribal consortia, interstate, territories, possessions of the U.S. (including the District of Columbia), public and private universities and colleges, hospitals, laboratories and public or private non-profit institutions are eligible to apply. Individuals and for-profit organizations are not eligible to apply. Non-profit organizations described in Section 501(c)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code that engage in lobbying activities as defined in Section 3 of the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 are not eligible to apply. As discussed in Section I.D, funding for assistance agreements awarded under this announcement is provided under the authority of Section 104(b)(3) of the CWA.

The total amount of expected federal funding available under this announcement is approximately $7,300,000, depending on Agency funding levels and other applicable considerations. It is anticipated that up to 17 awards will be made under this announcement to be funded incrementally. The following are the expected total of awards for each of the 11 National Priority Areas:

• Two to four awards for the Nonpoint Source Agricultural Conservation Benefit Assessment and Partner Training (National Priority Area I) will be incrementally funded for a range of $110,000 to $200,000 per award with a four-year project period.

• One award to advance the state of professional training for watershed planners and coordinators and further increase the effectiveness of resources invested in managing nonpoint sources (National Priority Area II) will be incrementally funded for a total of $250,000, with a four-year project period.

• One award for training and related activities to advance integration of Clean Water Act programs with Natural Hazard Mitigation Planning and Implementation and promote resiliency against climate events (National Priority Area III) will be incrementally funded for a total of $450,000 with a six-year project period.

• One award to plan, prepare and conduct three State and Tribal Nonpoint Source Program Training Workshops on a biennial basis to provide a forum for sharing best practices, including approaches for leveraging innovative financing to accelerate management of nonpoint sources (National Priority Area IV) will be incrementally funded for a total of $275,000 with a six-year project period.

• One award to plan, prepare, and conduct 12 to 18 (two to three per year) Wetland Program Training Workshops to support capacity building on wetland regulatory approaches, monitoring and assessment, restoration and protection, climate adaptation and mitigation, water quality standards, and equity/environmental justice1 (National

1 EPA defines “environmental justice” as the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin or income with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies. Fair treatment means that no one group of people, including racial, https://www.epa.gov/planandbudget/strategicplan

Priority Area V) will be incrementally funded for a total of $900,000 with a six-year project period.

• One award to plan, prepare and conduct Training Workshops alternating between Fish Monitoring/Advisory Programs and Recreational Waters/Beach Monitoring Programs (National Priority Area VI) will be incrementally funded for a total of $600,000 with a six-year project period.

• One award to plan, prepare, and conduct three biennial CWA Tribal Wetland and Water Quality Assessment and Management Training Workshops and 24 to 30 regional Tribal Wetland Program Training Workshops (National Priority Area VII) will be incrementally funded for a total of $990,000 with a six-year project period.

• One award to plan, prepare, and conduct five to ten State and Tribal Aquatic Resource Monitoring Technical Training Workshops on aquatic resource (i.e., rivers/streams, lakes, coastal waters, and wetlands) specific issues and up to three national State and Tribal Aquatic Resource Monitoring Technical Training Workshops covering all aquatic resource types to increase capability of states and tribes to more effectively assess water quality and communicate technical information at the national, regional, and state scale (National Priority Area VIII) will be incrementally funded for a total of $800,000 with a five-year project period.

• One award to plan, prepare, and conduct five annual CWA Section 303(d) National Listing and TMDL Training Workshops (National Priority Area IX) will be incrementally funded for a total of $925,000 with a five-year project period.

• One to four awards for providing training and related activities to advance CWA Section 303(d) Program Implementation (National Priority Area X) will be incrementally funded for a total of $200,000 per award with a five-year project period.

• One award to plan, prepare, and conduct up to six cross-program (CWA Sections 303(c), 303(d) and 402) training workshops for state, tribal or territorial governmental professionals (National Priority Area XI) to advance effective and integrated implementation of CWA programs will be incrementally funded for a total of $480,000 with a six-year project period.

I. FUNDING OPPORTUNITY DESCRIPTION

A. BACKGROUND

EPA is soliciting applications from eligible applicants to provide support for training and related activities to build the capacity of agricultural partners, state, territorial and tribal officials and nongovernmental stakeholders in activities to be carried out to support the goals of the CWA ethnic, or socioeconomic groups, should bear a disproportionate share of the negative environmental consequences resulting from industrial, municipal, and commercial operations or the execution of federal, state, local, and tribal environmental programs and policies. Meaningful involvement means that: (1) potentially affected community residents have an appropriate opportunity to participate in decisions about a proposed activity that will affect their environment and/or health; (2) the public’s contribution can influence the regulatory agency’s decision; (3) the concerns of all participants involved will be considered in the decision-making process; and (4) the decision-makers seek out and facilitate the involvement of those potentially affected.

Section 303(d) Program, the Nonpoint Source (CWA Section 319) Program, the Wetlands Program, the Section 401 Program, and the Water Quality Monitoring Program.

Funding provided under this announcement supports the following goal and objective of EPA’s Strategic plan for FY 2018 – FY 2022: Goal 1- Core Mission: Deliver real results to provide Americans with clean air, land, and water, and ensure chemical safety; Objective 1.2 - Provide for Clean and Safe Water: Ensure waters are clean through improved water infrastructure and, in partnership with states and tribes, sustainably manage programs to support drinking water, aquatic ecosystems, and recreational, economic, and subsistence activities. Information on the EPA Strategic Plan is available at www.epa.gov/planandbudget/strategicplan.

B. NATIONAL PRIORITY AREAS

Each application submitted under this announcement must address one, and only one, of the eleven National Priority Areas described below. Applicants may submit more than one complete application package under this announcement as long as each application is separately submitted and addresses only one National Priority Area. The cover page of each application package must clearly indicate the National Priority Area addressed in the application. If an applicant submits an application that addresses more than one National Priority Area, it will be deemed ineligible and will not be reviewed.

National Priority Area I: Nonpoint Source Agricultural Conservation Benefit Assessment and Partner Training Under this National Priority Area the goals are to improve water quality through agricultural conservation by: (1) synthesizing the scientific and technical information to understand the water quality and co-benefits of conservation activities on agricultural lands; (2) advancing efficient identification of critical source areas with emerging data tools; (3) coordinating with state Nonpoint Source programs to demonstrate scale-up approaches to nutrient reduction such as through performance-based metrics of conservation, creative financing for shared agricultural conservation equipment, and other means; (4) advance the understanding of the additional ecosystem and resiliency benefits resulting from conservation activities such as carbon sequestration, habitat restoration, and water storage and management; and (5) fostering knowledge transfer regarding these benefits. Funds awarded under this National Priority Area are anticipated to support state program management in partnership with agricultural organizations and agricultural consortia and will promote and support collaboration with farmers that demonstrate success with measurable, multi-faceted results. Ultimately, it is expected that projects will result in a broader understanding of a variety of benefits where conservation is applied to the most critical/vulnerable places, accelerated adoption of nutrient management scale-up approaches, equitable allocation of benefits from agricultural conservation implementation, and enhanced communication of these benefits to watershed and farmer leaders to spur further adoption.

The project components described below provide some detail about the roles and responsibilities that a successful applicant may be expected to assume. The description below is not comprehensive, and applicants are encouraged to identify additional project components that may not be included in this announcement, but that may contribute to overall project success.

https://www.epa.gov/planandbudget/strategicplan

• Develop studies and training tools that describe quantitative assessments of the benefits of conservation applied to critical/vulnerable areas on agricultural working lands and communicate results to networks of practitioners to inform future farming decisions.

These benefits should include how conservation systems improve water quality, provide direct and indirect benefits to the farmer, and meet community goals for water quantity management, environmental justice, habitat restoration, carbon storage, adaptation to resilience and climate events, and ancillary improvements of yields and farming costs.

• Develop appropriate communication strategies and share the outputs of the report or compendium with varied networks, including farmers, watershed level decision-makers, and interest groups that can reach a wide-ranging audience in and around the agriculture landscape, including absentee landowners, and community water treatment and drinking water facilities, or underserved communities or populations.

• Conduct training to enable watershed and farmer leaders that are educating and motivating others to engage in conservation that delivers cost-effective benefits at the watershed scale and utilizes conservation principles that successfully improve water quality, water management, and the protection, enhancement, resilience to climate events, or restoration of habitats and ecosystems.

• Develop tools to facilitate local, state, and regional engagement for both watershed planners and farmer-advisor leadership, and agricultural consultants, through existing leadership training and ongoing support to establish, strengthen, and continue shared leadership and understanding of the benefits and fair allocation of benefits of agricultural conservation.

Applicants should describe their approach to provide the overall leadership for the forum, select workshop locations, secure workshop facilities (e.g., meeting rooms, accommodations, audio-visual equipment, etc.), develop workshop agendas and materials, select the speakers, and facilitate the workshop. Applicants should include in their description how they propose to deliver in-person training workshops under normal circumstances and how they will deliver the trainings if in-person training is not possible due to impacts related to COVID-19 (e.g., under quarantine situations, if social distancing is required in your locale). Alternative training workshops due to the impacts of COVID-19 may include switching from in-person formats to online only or reducing the number of participants in each training to allow participants to be located six feet apart from each other. EPA will support the training workshop by providing programmatic assistance, program promotion, and review of agendas and materials. The successful applicant will use its logo on any materials it provides. EPA will use its logo on any materials it provides.

In their application, applicants should describe the approach to addressing this National Priority Area. The application should include a description of the roles and responsibilities of the applicant in carrying out the project elements. The application should also include a description of the applicant’s plan for active transfer of project results, methods, and/or effective strategies to state, tribal, local agencies and/or other interested stakeholders so that the others can build their programs. In their application, applicants should demonstrate their experience working with and convening agricultural partners and watershed networks.

Applications will be evaluated based on the criteria in Section V including how well and thoroughly the National Priority Area is addressed. EPA anticipates funding two to four cooperative agreements under this National Priority Area for a total amount of available funding under the National Priority Area of $800,000. It is anticipated that the project period for the award will be four years, and the total funding amount may range between $110,000 and $200,000 per award. It is anticipated that the award will be incrementally funded up to $50,000 per year depending on Agency priorities, availability of funds, and satisfactory performance of the recipient.

National Priority Area II: Advance the State of Professional Training for Watershed Planners and Coordinators Under this National Priority Area the goal is to: (1) conduct a study/research to understand and summarize the current state of watershed training curricula in the country; (2) convene a workgroup of subject matter experts on watershed planning to evaluate the existing curricula and technical resources for watershed planning; and (3) use the findings from the workshop and information gained through subsequent engagement with the workgroup to create a nationally-consistent set of training curricula, which will serve as the foundational training elements for watershed planning and management.

This core set of national watershed training curricula should assist watershed coordinators and planners at the state and local level in meeting their training needs. The training curricula should provide new and experienced watershed planners/managers with an understanding of essential elements of watershed science, and should aim to provide trainees with the tools, resources, and skills necessary to begin or enhance their work. The curricula should fill gaps present in current trainings and strive to provide new and existing professionals with an enhanced understanding and a more-holistic view on watershed planning and management.

The watershed approach is a coordinating framework to organize public and private sector efforts to identify, prioritize, and implement activities to address water-related problems for both surface and ground water. Watershed planning is very often a complex process, and each watershed presents unique challenges based on community/stakeholder engagement, finance, environment, and complex pollutant transport processes. Many watershed organizations have a limited number of employees and lack sufficient capacity to facilitate a holistic approach that draws on technical principles for program administration, community engagement, and environmental stewardship. As a result, new watershed managers are often faced with a daunting amount of material and relatively few opportunities to pursue training in and/or orientation to the watershed planning process. An updated set of tools, information, and training curriculum will provide added value to watershed practitioners working at the local level to reduce nonpoint source pollution.

The project components described below provide some detail on roles and responsibilities the successful applicant may be expected to assume. The description below does not attempt to be comprehensive. Applicants are encouraged to identify additional project components that may not be included in this announcement, but that may contribute to overall project success in their application.

1) A compilation of existing watershed planning and watershed coordinator trainings.

In their applications, applicants should outline the steps they will take to plan, prepare, and conduct the study/research to compile a list of existing watershed trainings and how they would identify best practice elements of each training program. Several organizations have developed training materials and training programs of varying lengths, each with unique curricula that participants then use in their work in watershed planning and implementation. The applicant could, for example, compile the various training approaches, identify any gaps in knowledge and training, and evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of current approaches in training.

2) A workgroup and workshop/forum evaluating approaches to watershed training.

Convene a group of subject matter experts to review the state of current watershed training, and watershed technical resources. The workgroup objective could be to identify key components and effective approaches to help train watershed coordinators developing and implementing plans in their community. In addition to providing substantive content and principles for the training curricula, the workgroup could develop a range of potential delivery methods that could be made available to most effectively engage the target audience (e.g., regionally oriented in-person trainings, webinar-based modules). The panel could also identify other actions beyond training that could be taken to support the learning needs and effectiveness of watershed practitioners.

Applicants may propose to use a portion of the assistance funds to defray transportation and subsistence expenses for non-federal attendees to attend the workshop/forum. The applicant is solely responsible for determining a methodology for selecting and funding reimbursement requests for non-federal attendees and providing a report on how participating non-federal attendees benefited from the training workshops. EPA will not participate in the selection or approval of non-federal attendees who receive travel assistance.

Applicants should describe their approach to provide the overall leadership for the workshop/forum, select workshop locations, secure workshop facilities (e.g., meeting rooms, accommodations, audio-visual equipment, etc.), develop workshop agendas and materials, select the speakers, and facilitate the workshop. Applicants should include in their description how they propose to deliver in-person training workshops under normal circumstances and how they will deliver the trainings if in-person training is not possible due to impacts related to COVID-19 (e.g., under quarantine situations, if social distancing is required in your locale). Alternative training workshops due to the impacts of COVID- 19 may include switching from in-person formats to online only or reducing the number of participants in each training to allow participants to be located six feet apart from each other. EPA will support the workshops by providing programmatic assistance, promoting the workshop, and review of workshop agendas and materials. The successful applicant will use its logos on any materials it provides; EPA will use its logos on any materials it provides.

3) Develop a proposed curriculum and recommendations for watershed training.

Applicants could follow up the workshop with a workgroup to create a final report that will include the core elements of a training module for watershed planning. The target audience for the watershed training materials would primarily include local watershed coordinators and state, tribal or territorial program personnel implementing nonpoint source management programs. The final report could also include delivery mechanisms and approaches that might best reach the target audience.

In their application, applicants should describe the approach to addressing this National Priority Area. The application should include a description of the roles and responsibilities of the applicant in carrying out the project elements. The application should also include a description of the applicant’s plan for active transfer of project results, methods, and/or effective strategies to state, tribal, local agencies, and/or other interested stakeholders so that the others can build their programs. In their applications, applicants should demonstrate their experience working with or organizing meetings for the collaborative development of technical and civic engagement tools.

Applications will be evaluated based on the criteria in Section V including how well and thoroughly the National Priority Area is addressed. EPA anticipates funding one cooperative agreement under this National Priority Area for a total available funding of $250,000, depending on the amount requested and the overall size and scope of the project. It is anticipated that the project period for this award will be up to four years and the award will be incrementally funded up to $62,500 per year depending on Agency priorities, availability of funds and satisfactory performance of the recipient.

National Priority Area III: Training and Related Activities to Advance Integration of Clean Water Act programs with Natural Hazard Mitigation Planning and Implementation The overall goals of the training and related activities for this National Priority Area are: (1) to advance the development of water quality protection/restoration programs by enhancing the ability of governmental and non-governmental stakeholders to integrate natural hazard mitigation planning and water resources protection planning and projects; (2) to foster communication and coordination between tribal, local and state water quality program managers with state, tribal and local natural hazard mitigation planners working under the authority of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Department of Homeland Security (FEMA), CFR Title 44, specifically State and Local Hazard Mitigation Plans; and (3) to share lessons learned with a broader group of stakeholders by disseminating reports, fact sheets, training materials, web-based resources, papers or presentations featuring the integration of natural hazard mitigation planning and water resource protection programs; (4) to provide materials for an online platform on plan integration training, outreach and dialogue.

There are many linkages between water quality concerns and natural hazards from climate change and other events. For example, green infrastructure practices that reduce polluted stormwater runoff can also reduce the impact of localized flooding, and onsite agricultural soil health and/or drainage water management practices can provide a hedge against future droughts.

Such benefits should be fairly allocated to any/all populations, including poor or underserved communities. Despite these and other co-benefits, to date there has been little coordination between the planning processes and projects that protect water resources/quality with the planning framework for mitigating natural hazards. When state and local water quality programs are implemented with the knowledge and participation of natural hazard mitigation planning activities such as those conducted under FEMA programs, mutual co-benefits occur. Examples of CWA programs implemented by states and tribes include:

• Under Section 319 of the CWA, states, territories and tribes receive grant funding for a wide variety of activities to manage their Nonpoint Source programs including technical assistance, financial assistance, education, training, technology transfer, demonstration projects and monitoring to assess the success of specific nonpoint source implementation projects.

• Under Section 303(d) of the CWA, states, territories, and authorized tribes are required to develop lists of impaired waters. These are waters for which technology-based regulations and other required controls are not stringent enough to meet the water quality standards set by the states. The CWA requires that states establish priority rankings for waters on the lists and develop Total Maximum Daily Loads to define pollution limits for these waters.

• The Wetland Program works to enhance the capabilities of states, tribes, and others to develop and implement wetland management programs. EPA has summarized these common core elements, actions, and activities in the Core Elements of an Effective State and Tribal Wetlands Program Framework, also called the Core Elements Framework which can be found at: http://water.epa.gov/grants_funding/wetlands/estp.cfm.

These and other programs to protect water resources may also serve to mitigate costs and impacts from hazards such as nuisance flooding, drought or drinking water impairment, landslide, wildfire, dust storms, and many other natural hazards.

To meet the goals noted above for this National Priority Area, EPA is soliciting applications for training and related activities that support the ability of state and tribal water quality management programs to integrate natural hazard mitigation planning with their water resource programs.

Project components described below provide some detail on roles and responsibilities the successful applicant may be expected to assume. The description below does not attempt to be comprehensive. Applicants are encouraged to identify additional project components that may not be included in this announcement, but that may contribute to overall project success in their applications.

Examples of potential training and related projects include, but are not limited to the following:

• Training workshops (either at the national or regional level) among state, tribal and local water quality program managers, floodplain managers, natural hazard mitigation planners and personnel, and non-governmental stakeholders to learn about innovative and effective approaches for integrating water quality program planning with natural hazard mitigation planning. Training Workshops could be either separate workshops or part of an existing conference. The target audience is expected to include primarily state and tribal water quality program managers and state/federal/local Hazard Mitigation program staff, and non-governmental practitioners. Topics should be of national or regional significance related to program integration;

• Studies or assessments of the best approaches for integration for improved outcomes to protect and restore impaired waters and reduce losses from natural hazards;

http://www.epa.gov/owow/tmdl/glossary.html#section303d http://www.epa.gov/owow/tmdl/glossary.html#303dthreatenedimpairedwaters http://www.epa.gov/owow/tmdl/glossary.html#waterqualitystandards http://www.epa.gov/owow/tmdl/glossary.html#waterqualitystandards http://www.epa.gov/owow/tmdl/glossary.html#totalmaxdailyload http://water.epa.gov/grants_funding/wetlands/estp.cfm

• Technical information exchange, including online websites and forums, among water resource management and natural hazard mitigation practitioners to keep them apprised of current issues and developments related to program integration through conference calls, reports and studies, webinars, newsletters, social media and other appropriate mechanisms. Topics should be of national significance related to implementing CWA programs and their role in natural hazard mitigation and increasing the resilience of communities.

In their applications, applicants should outline the steps they will take to plan, prepare, and provide for training and related activities that support enabling state, tribal and local water quality and hazard mitigation officials and staff to integrate water quality and hazard mitigation planning to improve outcomes and leverage funding sources, both federal and non-federal. The applications should also describe the applicant’s approach for consulting with a diverse group of government and non-governmental stakeholders involved in water-quality/water-resources programs and hazard mitigation programs to determine topics and approaches for training and related materials. Additionally, to further accelerate dissemination of information arising from the training workshop and related activities proposed under this National Priority Area, applications should include a description of how the applicant will transfer the results of the training workshop and related activities to federal, state, tribal and local governmental agencies and other stakeholders and the public. In their applications, applicants should demonstrate their experience working with and convening government and non-governmental practitioners in CWA programs, as well as natural hazard mitigation programs managed by FEMA and relevant program areas in other federal agencies.

Training Workshops proposed under this National Priority Area should be in or near major U.S.

cities accessible to transportation to most effectively accommodate the travel needs of participants. Training Workshops do not need to be stand alone, but can be held in conjunction with other trainings, workshops, or similar events already planned by other organizations. The successful applicant will provide the overall leadership for the training workshop, identify appropriate timeframes, select training workshop locations, secure training workshop facilities, develop training agendas and materials, and select speakers. Applicants should include in their description how they propose to deliver in person training workshops under normal circumstances and how they will deliver the trainings if in-person training is not possible due to impacts related to COVID-19 (e.g., under quarantine situations, if social distancing is required in your locale). Alternative training workshops due to the impacts of COVID-19 may include switching from in-person formats to online only or reducing the number of participants in each training to allow participants to be located six feet apart from each other. EPA will support the training workshop by programmatic assistance, training workshop promotion, and review of training agendas and materials. The successful applicant will use its logo on any training materials it provides. EPA will use its logo on any training materials it provides.

Applicants may propose to use a portion of the assistance funds to defray transportation and subsistence expenses for non-federal attendees to attend proposed training workshops. The applicant is solely responsible for determining a methodology for selecting and funding reimbursement requests and providing a report on how participating non-federal attendees benefited from the training workshops. EPA will not participate in the selection or approval of individuals who receive travel assistance.

Applications will be evaluated based on the criteria in Section V including how well and thoroughly the National Priority Area is addressed. EPA anticipates funding one cooperative assistance agreement under this National Priority Area for a total available funding of approximately $450,000, depending on the amount requested and the overall size and scope of the project(s). It is anticipated that the project period for the award will be six years, and that the award will be incrementally funded at approximately $75,000 per year, depending on Agency priorities, availability of funds, and satisfactory performance of the recipient.

National Priority Area IV: State and Tribal Nonpoint Source Program Training Workshops Under this National Priority Area, the goal is to conduct training workshops to ensure that nonpoint source program practitioners understand current issues and advancements in the national Nonpoint Source Program and to provide technical training on nonpoint source management practices. The national Nonpoint Source Program is authorized under Section 319 of the CWA and is focused on supporting state and tribal nonpoint source management programs. Territories also receive Section 319 grant funds and implement nonpoint source programs. This National Priority Area description uses ‘State and Tribal’ to refer collectively to all these entities.

EPA is soliciting applications from eligible applicants to plan, prepare, and conduct three biennial State and Tribal Nonpoint Source Program Training Workshops. It is anticipated that each biennial workshop will be up to four days. The project components described below provide some detail on roles and responsibilities the successful applicant may be expected to assume in order to establish and manage the State and Tribal Nonpoint Source Program Training Workshops. The description below does not attempt to be comprehensive. Applicants are encouraged to identify additional workshop training topic areas and/or project components that may not be included in this announcement, but that may contribute to overall project success in their applications.

It is anticipated that the training workshops will be held on a biennial basis (e.g., one in CY 2022, one in CY 2024, and one in CY 2026). The target audience for the State and Tribal Nonpoint Source Program Training Workshops is primarily state, territorial and tribal nonpoint source program personnel and may also include local and regional officials, other federal agency personnel, stakeholders, and national experts. An estimated 200 participants are expected to attend each training workshop; approximately 60% state (representatives of up to 50 states), 5% tribal, 5% territorial, 10% non-state/non-federal and 20% federal (mostly EPA but also U.S.

Department of Agriculture (USDA) representatives, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) representatives, etc.) In general, it is anticipated that state, tribal and territorial attendees will fund their own travel expenses. Applicants may propose to use a portion of the assistance funds to promote participation by defraying transportation and subsistence expenses for non-federal attendees and/or speakers to attend the training workshops. The applicant is solely responsible for determining a methodology for selecting and funding reimbursement requests and providing a report on how participating non-federal attendees benefited from the training workshops. EPA will not participate in the selection or approval of individuals who receive travel assistance.

The overall goals of the State and Tribal Nonpoint Source Program Training Workshops are: (1) to ensure participants understand current issues (including environmental justice and climate change) and advancements in the national and state/tribal Nonpoint Source Program; (2) to foster close coordination among nonpoint source program practitioners and partners by bringing together state, tribal, territorial, federal and other interested stakeholders involved with program activities under section 319 of the CWA; and (3) to provide technical training on nonpoint source management practices.

The training workshops should focus on new developments in state/tribal/territorial nonpoint source programs, best management practices, innovative approaches for the nonpoint source program, and/or improvements in state and federal coordination in implementing the national nonpoint source program. The training workshops should also address technical and programmatic issues impacting the nonpoint source program, such as the balance of restoration and protection activities, coordination with other water quality programs such as the CWA Section 303(d) and source water protection programs, and coordination with other programs that have the potential to enhance outcomes of nonpoint source programs such as with USDA conservation and FEMA Natural Hazard Mitigation programs. Other workshop topics applicants might consider in designing the training workshops include programmatic alignment with the Nonpoint Source Program and Grants Guidelines for States and Territories (http://water.epa.gov/polwaste/nps/upload/319-guidelines-fy14.pdf), watershed-based planning, and state NPS management program updates and priorities among other programmatic issues that may arise.

In their applications, applicants should outline the steps they will take to plan, prepare, and conduct the training workshops and describe the roles and responsibilities of the applicant in carrying out the training workshops. The application should describe the approach for consulting with states, territories, tribes, and other interested stakeholders to determine the training workshop priorities. The application should also include a description of how the applicant will transfer the results of the training workshops to state, territorial, tribal and other interested stakeholders. In their application, applicants should demonstrate their experience working with and convening state, territorial, tribal and federal agencies responsible for implementing nonpoint source and/or water quality management programs.

The training workshops should be located in or near major U.S. cities accessible to transportation to most effectively accommodate travel needs of participants. The successful applicant will provide the overall leadership for the training workshops, select workshop locations, secure workshop facilities (meeting rooms, accommodations, audio-visual equipment, etc.), develop workshop agendas and materials, and select the speakers. Applicants should include in their description how they propose to deliver in person training workshops under normal circumstances and how they will deliver the trainings if in-person training is not possible due to impacts related to COVID-19 (e.g., under quarantine situations, if social distancing is required in your locale). Alternative training workshops due to the impacts of COVID-19 may include switching from in-person formats to online only or reducing the number of participants in each training to allow participants to be located six feet apart from each other. EPA will support the http://water.epa.gov/polwaste/nps/upload/319-guidelines-fy14.pdf workshops by providing technical and programmatic assistance, workshop promotion, and review of workshop agendas and materials. The successful applicant will use its logos on any materials it provides; EPA will use it logos on any materials it provides.

Applications will be evaluated based on the criteria in Section V including how well and thoroughly the National Priority Area is addressed. EPA anticipates funding one cooperative agreement under this this National Priority Area for a total available funding of approximately $275,000 (about $91,000 per workshop), depending on the amount requested and the overall size and scope of the project. It is anticipated that the project period for the award will be six years and that the award will be incrementally funded up to $46,000 per year, depending on Agency priorities, availability of funds, and satisfactory performance of the recipient.

National Priority Area V: Wetland Program Training Workshops Under this National Priority Area, the goal is to conduct training workshops to enhance the capabilities of states, tribes (federally recognized and non-federally recognized tribes), and others to develop and implement wetland protection and restoration programs. Experience with many state and tribal wetland programs has distilled a set of core elements, actions, and activities that together comprise a comprehensive wetland program. EPA has summarized these common core elements, actions, and activities in the Core Elements of an Effective State and Tribal Wetlands Program Framework, also called the Core Elements Framework (CEF). EPA’s CEF can be found at: http://water.epa.gov/grants_funding/wetlands/estp.cfm. The CEF describes in greater detail each of the four core elements that comprise a comprehensive state/tribal wetland program. These four core elements are: monitoring and assessment; voluntary restoration and protection; regulatory approaches, including CWA 401 certification and CWA 404(g) assumption; and wetland-specific water quality standards.

EPA is soliciting applications from eligible applicants to plan, prepare, and conduct two to three Wetlands Program Training Workshops per year, for a total of 12-18 workshops per award. It is anticipated that the Wetlands Program Training Workshops could address a variety of topics related to the wetland CEF to advance state/tribal/local government wetland program development or refinement. The project components described below provide some detail on roles and responsibilities the successful applicant may be expected to assume in order to establish and manage the Wetland Program Training Workshops. The description below does not attempt to be comprehensive. Applicants are encouraged to identify additional workshop training topic areas and/or project components that may not be included in this announcement, but that may contribute to overall project success in their applications.

The target audience for the Wetland Program Training Workshops is primarily state and tribal wetland program personnel including natural resource, wildlife, transportation, floodplain and agriculture staff and may also include local and regional officials, stakeholders, and national experts. An estimated 25-100 participants are expected to attend each technical training workshop depending on the specific topic(s) covered; approximately 60% state, 15% tribal, 5% other non-federal (e.g., university, non-profit, etc.) and 20% federal.

Applicants may propose to use a portion of the assistance funds to defray transportation and subsistence expenses for non-federal attendees to attend the training workshops. The applicant is solely responsible for determining a methodology for selecting and funding reimbursement http://water.epa.gov/grants_funding/wetlands/estp.cfm requests and providing a report on how participating non-federal attendees benefited from the training workshops. EPA will not participate in the selection or approval of individuals who receive travel assistance.

The overall goals of the Wetland Program Training Workshops are to support training to: (1) help states/territories/tribes/local governments examine wetland related challenges (e.g., wetland loss of acreage or function, public perception of the value of wetland, and management of wetland resources); (2) help states/territories/tribes/local governments examine how wetland programs can address climate adaptation, mitigation and resilience; (3) help wetland programs address impacts to environmental justice, underserved, or tribal communities; (4) help states/territories/tribes determine wetland and/or Section 404 program development needs (i.e., Monitoring and Assessment, Voluntary Restoration/Protection, Regulatory Approaches, and Wetland-Specific Water Quality Standards); and/or (5) help states/territories/tribes/local governments develop solutions to wetland related challenges by creatively applying the full array of available planning, technical, outreach/education, and financial tools.

In their applications, applicants should outline the steps they will take to plan, prepare, and conduct Wetland Program Training Workshops and describe the roles and responsibilities of the applicant in carrying out the training workshops. The application should describe the approach for consulting with states, tribes, local governments, and other interested stakeholders to determine the training workshop priorities. The application should also include a description of how the applicant will transfer results of the training workshops to state, tribal, local governmental agencies and other interested stakeholders. In their applications, applicants should demonstrate their experience working with state and tribal wetland programs.

The training workshops should be located in or near major U.S. cities accessible to transportation to most effectively accommodate travel needs of participants. Applicants should demonstrate their intent to coordinate, where possible, the workshops with existing meetings to increase interaction among state, tribal wetland experts and other organizations and to reduce the travel burden on non-federal attendees. For example, the applicant is encouraged to combine the training workshops with other meetings, provided that the applicant can demonstrate that the appropriate audiences will still be served by doing so.

The successful applicant will provide the overall leadership for the training workshops, select workshop locations, secure workshop facilities (meeting rooms, accommodations, audio-visual equipment, etc.), develop workshop agendas and materials, and select the speakers. Applicants should include in their description how they propose to deliver in person training workshops under normal circumstances and how they will deliver the trainings if in-person training is not possible due to impacts related to COVID-19 (e.g., under quarantine situations, if social distancing is required in your locale). Alternative training workshops due to the impacts of COVID-19 may include switching from in-person formats to online only or reducing the number of participants in each training to allow participants to be located six feet apart from each other.

EPA will support the workshops by providing technical and programmatic assistance, workshop promotion, and review of workshop agendas and materials. The successful applicant will use its logos on any materials it provides; EPA will use it logos on any materials it provides.

Applications will be evaluated based on the criteria in Section V including how well and thoroughly the National Priority Area is addressed. EPA anticipates funding one cooperative agreement under this this National Priority Area for a total available funding of approximately $900,000, depending on the amount requested and the overall size and scope of the project.