Cooperative Endangered Species Conservation Fund "Section 6"

Non-Traditional "Section 6" Conservation Grant Program

What's Already Happened?

Request for Proposals for the 2007 Cooperative Endangered Species
Conservation Fund

• Habitat Conservation Planning Assistance grants

Introduction

This is the State of Washington announcement of a joint federal-state Request for Proposals for the 2007 Habitat Conservation Planning Assistance grant program under the federal Cooperative Endangered Species Conservation Fund (Fund). This fund is established pursuant to Section 6 of the federal Endangered Species Act, which calls for federal government cooperation with states to conserve threatened and endangered species.

This Request for Proposals, due by 12 o’clock noon on Tuesday, January 16, 2007, seeks parties interested in obtaining grant funds to develop habitat conservation plans (HCPs) in support of a federal incidental take permit.

Requests for Proposals for two other grant programs (HCP Land Acquisition and Recovery Land Acquisition) under the Fund occurred earlier this year. Proposals for those land acquisition grant programs were due in October 2006.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), together with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) and the Washington Department of Natural Resources (DNR), have developed a joint federal-state process for Habitat Conservation Planning Assistance grant proposals in Washington State.

Parties in Washington state interested in applying for these planning grants must follow state guidance provided at this website AND federal guidance provided at http://endangered.fws.gov/grants/section6

Information about the grant programs and the joint federal-state process follows, as listed below. Review all this information carefully!

• Overview
  


• Information & Links
  


• How to Submit a Proposal in Washington State
  


• Information Required in a Proposal in Washington State
  


• Your Proposal (more information required and some tips to improve your proposal)
  

Overview

The following table provides a quick look at the Fund’s grant programs. At this time in Washington State, proposals for the Habitat Conservation Planning Assistance program are being accepted.

Proposals MUST be coordinated with either the Washington Department of Natural Resources or the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife before submission, and sponsored by one of these agencies. The sponsoring agency may request changes to the proposal, or may withhold proposals from competition beyond the state level. DNR or WDFW will administer grant funds, if awarded. If you are not already coordinating your proposal with a state contact listed in the table above, call the USFWS contact.

Planning proposals may be submitted by state agencies, local governments, land trusts, conservation districts, non-profit organizations, tribes, conservation partnerships, industry, and private individuals.

Information & Links

This Washington state announcement contains partial grant information, so you MUST also access the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service website at http://endangered.fws.gov/grants/section6/index.html for the complete USFWS Request for Proposals for the subject grant programs for 2007.

• Points will be given to proposals that benefit species the USFWS has listed as endangered or threatened, or have been designated as proposed or candidate species.
  
  
  • For Westside species and their legal status, see http://www.fws.gov/westwafwo/se/species%20list.pdf
  
  
  • For Eastside species and their legal status, see http://easternwashington.fws.gov/Documents/UCFWO%20listed-candidate%20spp.pdf
  
  
  • For a list of federal recovery plans (for species information), see http://www.fws.gov/westwafwo/se/recovery%20plans%20final1-05.pdf?sort=1
    


• Points will be given to proposals that benefit Washington State-listed species, as well as unlisted species. See http://wdfw.wa.gov/wlm/diversty/soc/concern.htm for Washington State-listed species.
  


• Points will be given for listed salmon. For listed salmon information, see http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/species/fish/
  


• Proposals will be reviewed, scored, and ranked by a joint state-federal process. A prioritized list of proposals for Washington State will then be forwarded for consideration at higher federal review levels. Awards will be determined by USFWS at the national level.
  


• USFWS is expected to announce the 2007 award selection no later than October 1, 2007. Due to the State’s spending authority limitations, availability of awarded funds should be planned for no sooner than December 1, 2007, but potentially as late as July 1, 2008.
  


• If a proposal successfully competes for funding, federal money will be awarded to the proposal proponent through the sponsoring state agency. That state agency (WDFW or DNR) will add a “project coordination cost” (similar to an administrative fee), into your proposal budget before submission. To ensure this is properly done, state agency staff will work on the budget sheet with you. Contact agency staff to obtain the current budget sheet template.
  

How to Submit a Proposal in Washington State

To submit a planning proposal in the State of Washington, for a Cooperative Endangered Species Conservation Fund grant, follow these steps.

Review the Habitat Conservation Planning Assistance grant program’s description, eligibility criteria, and ranking factors at the federal website at http://endangered.fws.gov/grants/section6/index.html

Prepare documents specified under “Information Required in a Proposal in Washington State” at this website. Only Word format can be accepted for text, and budgets may be prepared in Excel.

For each proposal, submit 5 identical paper originals in person or by mail. Also, electronically mail the cover sheet, project statement, and budget sheet to joanne_stellini@fws.gov Do not email maps or photographs.

Proposals must be received by 12 o’clock noon on Tuesday, January 16, 2007.

Proposals may be delivered to the reception desk at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Western Washington office, located on St. Martin’s campus, 510 Desmond Drive SE, Lacey, WA.

OR

Proposals may be mailed to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 510 Desmond Drive SE, #102, Lacey, WA 98503-1263. Attention: Joanne Stellini. (Be sure to allow ample mailing time, postmarks will not be considered.)

Late proposals will not be considered. Proposals will not be accepted by fax.

Information Required in a Proposal in Washington State

Proposals must be on standard size (8.5" x 11") paper, using 12-point font, except as noted below. All items should be readable when reproduced in black and white. All pages should be numbered sequentially. Attachments should contain information integral to your project proposal. Do not include your own cover letter. Pages in excess of the number allowed below will be discarded.

Only the following items should be submitted, in the order listed.

• Cover Sheet (required, 1 page only) [updated format this year, from this website] right click - "save target as" to download


• Project Statement (required, up to 5 pages) [from this website or see federal website] right click - "save target as" to download


• Budget Sheet (required, 1 page only) [updated format this year, from state agency contact]


• Maps (optional, up to 3 pages, do not exceed 11” x 17” size paper)


• Attachments (optional, up to 4 pages, on standard size paper, no font requirement)

Your Proposal (more information required and some tips to improve your proposal)

• Proposals for Habitat Conservation Planning Assistance grants must show, in table format, items listed below and illustrated in the table header below. This information may be used to determine awards if proposals are partially funded. This table may be incorporated into the text of your proposal, or included as an attachment.
  
  
  
  1. Planned task to be accomplished (identify specific activities or tasks that will be undertaken during a specific time period to help develop the HCP).
     
  2. Expected deliverable that will be provided to sponsoring state agency and/or USFWS upon invoicing.
     
  3. Anticipated start and end dates (month/year) during which the task will be completed and the deliverable will be produced.

• Proposals for funding that will continue on-going HCP planning processes should document progress to date, either in the project statement or as an attachment.
  


• Your budget sheet must be accurate and must be coordinated with state contacts listed on the budget sheet. Be sure your budget sheet figures are consistent with figures on your cover sheet and in your narrative. Provide detail about your non-federal match in the Estimated Cost section of the narrative. If your proposal is awarded funds, you may be asked to supply additional budget detail, so be sure costs and cost share/match are supportable.
  


• Have several others proofread your application for mistakes, redundancies, and to ensure that you have addressed each of the ranking factors in your narrative.
  


• There is no need to include Standard Form 424 with your proposal. This will be handled by the appropriate state agency.