P19AS00621 (P19AC01249).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;

(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. A single source on the basis of continuation must demonstrate that competition would result in a substantial duplicate cost to the government that cannot be recovered through competition;

(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;

(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.

415-623-2262 or william_nash@nps.gov

Additionally, this project fulfills a high priority management objective identified in the Sequoia-Kings Canyon National Parks Resource Stewardship Strategy to “track status of sugar pine… and analyze population demographics”. Sugar pine seeds serve as important food sources for many wildlife species, including black bears, Douglas squirrels, and white-headed woodpeckers. Also, dead tree snags provide habitat for many cavity nesting birds, including the California spotted owl. A loss of sugar pine trees in mixed conifer forests would have cascading effects on wildlife and could lead to increased conflicts between people and bears due to the loss of their primary food source, thus causing bears to shift home ranges closer to people. Finally, the project will provide exceptional opportunities for students to learn about the environment by spending time working on “real world” and hands-on experience outside of the classroom on public lands such as national parks alongside federal employees of the USGS and NPS.

Overview: The study will synthesize available forest inventory and monitoring data for sugar pine in the Sierra Nevada to gain a broad-scale assessment of sugar pine population structure and demographic trends. The study will use available plot data from multiple sources including NPS Inventory & Monitoring Networks and Fire Effects Monitoring Program, US Geological Survey Western Ecological Research Centers, the US Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis Program, and other data described in scientific journal publications to estimate sugar pine population size and stand structure. Where data are available, this study will estimate growth, recruitment, mortality, wpbr infection rate (% of infected individual trees), fire damage, and mountain pine beetle attack rates. The results will be expressed at the site-level and aggregated by management unit. Data analyses will employ well-established methods to model change in population size and structure through time. The products, including a NPS technical report or peer reviewed journal publication and associated data summaries will complement existing NPS Inventory & Monitoring data of other white pine species in the Sierra Nevada. The analysis approaches we will use and the products we will create are not novel and have been applied in prior studies of other tree species and communities in the Sierra Nevada. We are applying well-established techniques to sugar pine data that has not been previously analyzed at the landscape scale. Specific questions that will be addressed are:

• What are the trends in structural attributes of sugar pine stands across the region (e.g., abundance and size distribution) over the last 30 – 40 years?

• For selected sugar pine populations, what are recent changes in recruitment, mortality, and growth?

• Are there detectable temporal or geographic patterns in the environmental drivers of change (e.g., fire, wpbr, beetles, or climate)?

Information from this project will help inform managers on what strategy or combination of strategies would be most effective for managing current sugar pine populations and provide estimates of population trends and demographic benchmarks to maintain sustainable sugar pine populations in the future. The information will help managers designate specific areas within the parks and surrounding landscapes where management actions can be most effective.

2. Provide spatial and tabular data collected by USGS and NPS to the PI.

3. Provide comments on draft report or journal articles to the PI.

4. Upload deliverables including metadata to the NPS DataStore and SIEN Network drive.

2. Appoint Dr. John Battles, Professor as Principal Investigator (PI).

3. Produce a technical report summarizing the results of the analysis that will follow the NPS Natural Resource Report format, will be peer-reviewed, and delivered electronically to the Project Manager or PI will submit a manuscript prepared for publication to a peer-reviewed journal.

4. Submit data products resulting from model output, fully documented with I&M compliant metadata to the Project Manager.