Youth Project Abstract Summary SNDO Vegetation Youth Restoration Crews.docx

Office: Southern Nevada District Office Notice of Funding Opportunity Number: L22AS00306 Project Submission Dates and Times: June 16, 2022, 5:00 p.m. (ET)

Project Title: Southern Nevada District Vegetation Restoration Youth Crews Maximum Available Funding in FY22: $150,000 Project Background Information: The Southern Nevada District Office has been working toward the restoration of key vegetation communities for well over a decade. These communities include riparian habitat adjacent to springs and in the Virgin River Watershed, as well as upland habitat in ACECs. These vegetation communities include some of the last remaining nesting habitat for the endangered Southwestern Willow Flycatcher and areas habitat for the threatened Mojave Desert Tortoise. Youth crews have been an important component in the on-going effort to restore the ecological integrity to riparian and upland plant communities that have been severely degraded by invasive plants, unregulated OHV activity, overgrazing and other disturbance agents.

Involving youth crews in this project is important for developing careers in the BLM and helping the District accomplish priority habitat restoration. BLM specialists in botany, forestry, weeds management and wildlife will guide the youth crews in completing the work, as well as providing insights into resource management and career opportunities.

Project Objective: The main project objective is to re-establish native plant dominance on sites that have been overcome by invasive plants and/or have been denuded by disturbance. This is a long-term effort that may take several years in riparian areas, and decades in upland desert areas. However, once the trajectory toward native species dominance is set, natural recovery can be accelerated.

Youth crews will perform a variety of restoration tasks, including: collecting native seed, transporting seedlings from the greenhouse to restoration sites, planting seedlings, installing temporary fencing, cages, and plastic plant tubes to protect seedlings from herbivory, using hand tools to decompact soil, dig holes for planting or creating vertical mulch, and removing invasive tamarisk trees using chain saws.

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

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 Southern Nevada Distritct with the following specific projects:

· Establish approximately 1,000 tree saplings and 1,000 herb/grass transplants in riparian areas masticated by BLM Fuels Program in previous years.

· Improve and maintain one (1) mile of riparian fencing to reduce the herbivory from estray cattle on restoration plantings.

· Restore up to 25 linear disturbance (illegal route) intersections using vertical mulch, soil decompaction, seeding and similar techniques.

· Collection of native plant seed, transportation of container stock and other duties related to restoration of these sites.

This work is expected to occur over approximately 10 weeks of the southern Nevada winter field season from October to April. 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 Mojave Desert.

Project expected outcomes include the employment of approximately 5 youth who will also gain knowledge on natural resource management and careers while completing restoration in sensitive riparian and upland desert 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:

Applicants are encouraged to refer to the full program announcement number L22AS00306 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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