OpportunityTitle: FWSR2 Avian Health and Disease Prgrm Project Support: Lead
AdditionalInformationOnEligibility: THIS IS A NOTICE OF INTENT TO AWARD TO A SINGLE SOURCE; THERE IS NO FULL ANNOUNCEMENT ASSOCIATED WITH THIS NOTICE.  This Notice is NOT a request for competitive proposals.  In accordance with Department of the Interior guidance (505 DM 2.14) the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) intends to make a single-source award of $109,450.00 to Stephen F. Austin State University under a cooperative agreement between the recipient and the Service.     This award will support 1) the determination of the role of environmental lead present on National Wildlife Refuges (NWRs) of the Texas Midcoast NWR Complex and Aransas NWR; and 2) an assessment of the use of moist-soil management on the Texas Chenier Plain NWR Complex to reduce waterfowl use of areas with potential hazardous lead concentrations.  It is most cost effective and logistically logical to have Stephen F. Austin State University perform this project because of the recipient&apos;s involvement in cooperating with the Service on a project to isolate potential sources of lead in the environment, determine where and when lead exposure occurs in mottled ducks, and evaluate effects of management practices on lead availability.  Information from these two projects will support management decisions for mottled ducks on NWRs of the Texas Gulf Coast.  A cooperative agreement is appropriate because of the interrelationship between the award project and the project under which Stephen F. Austin State University is already cooperating with the Service, and therefore the need for Service direction or redirection of the work.
Description: This award is part of an investigation into the occurrence, availability, and ecosystem-related stress of lead on National Wildlife Refuges (NWRs) of the Texas Gulf Coast. During the past two decades, lead exposure has remained constantly high for mottled ducks, a nonmigratory waterfowl species dependent on coastal marsh for its entire life cycle, despite the elimination of lead shot for waterfowl harvest since the early 1980s. It is suspected that effects of lead exposure are contributing to the declining population trends of mottled ducks in Texas since the mid 1990s. This award will support 1) determination of the role of environmental lead present on National Wildlife Refuges (NWRs) of the Texas Midcoast NWR Complex and Aransas NWR; and 2) assessment of the use of moist-soil management on the Texas Chenier Plain NWR Complex to reduce waterfowl use of areas with potential hazardous lead concentrations. Information from this project will support management decisions for mottled ducks on NWRs of the Texas Gulf Coast.
GrantorContactEmailDescription: Help Desk
GrantorContactText: Greg Esslinger &lt;br/&gt;Migratory Birds Mngmt Ops Spec &lt;br/&gt;Phone 505-248-6876