OpportunityTitle: Conservation Innovation Grant - CA
Description: EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: NRCS in California requests applications for ConservationInnovation Grants (CIG) to stimulate the development and adoption of innovative conservation approaches and technologies. For fiscal year 2012, up to $375,000 is available for the California statewide CIG competition. Grants to eligible entities and individuals may not exceed a maximum of $75,000. Funds will be awarded through a statewide competitive grants process. Applications are requested from eligible government or nongovernment organizations, eligible private business or individuals for competitive consideration of grant awards for projects between one to a maximum of three years in duration. This notice identifies the objectives for CIG projects, the eligibility criteria for projects and associated instructions needed to apply to CIG.PROPOSAL DUE DATE AND ADDRESSES:DATES: Applications must be received in the NRCS California State Office by 5 p.m.,Pacific Standard Time (PST) on Friday, May 18, 2012..ADDRESSES: Written applications and support materials should be sent to Erik Beardsley, CIG Program Specialist, Natural Resources Conservation Service, 430 G Street, #4164, Davis, CA 95616-4164. Guidelines for electronic submission of CIG grant applications are provided in Part V.A.2; FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Erik Beardsley, CIG Program Specialist, Natural Resources Conservation Service, 430 G Street, #4164, Davis, CA 95616-4164, Phone: (530) 792-5649; facsimile: (530) 792-5790; e-mail: Erik.Beardsley@ca.usda.gov; or Alan Forkey, CIG Program Manager, Natural Resources Conservation Service, 430 G Street, #4164, Davis, CA 95616-4164, Phone: (530) 792-5653; facsimile: (530) 792-5790; e-mail: alan.forkey@ca.usda.gov. Subject: Conservation Innovation Grants RFP or, consult the California NRCS Web site at http://www.ca.nrcs.usda.gov/programs/cig/I. FUNDING OPPORTUNITY DESCRIPTIONA. Legislative AuthorityThe Conservation Innovation Grants (CIG) program was authorized as part of the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) [16 U.S.C. 3839aa-8] under Section 2509 of the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 (Public Law 110-246). The Secretary of Agriculture delegated the authority for the administration of EQIP and CIG to the Chief of the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), who is Vice President of the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC). EQIP is funded and administered by NRCS under the authorities of the CCC.B. OverviewThe purpose of CIG is to stimulate the development and adoption of innovative conservation approaches and technologies, while leveraging the Federal investment in environmental enhancement and protection in conjunction with agricultural production. CIG projects are expected to lead to the transfer of conservation technologies, management systems, and innovative approaches into NRCS policy, technical manuals, standards, guides, and references, or to the private sector. CIG does not fund research projects. Projects intended to test hypotheses do not qualify for a CIG grant. CIG is used to apply or demonstrate previously proven technology. It is a vehicle to stimulate development and adoption of conservation approaches or technologies that have been studied sufficiently to indicate a high likelihood of success, and that are a candidate for eventual technology transfer or institutionalization. CIG promotes sharing of skills, knowledge, technologies, and facilities among communities, governments, and other institutions to ensure that scientific and technological developments are accessible to a wider range of users. CIG funds projects targeting innovative on-the-ground conservation, including pilot projects and field demonstrations.Applications will be evaluated by NRCS staff under the bulleted topics identified by the applicant (see section I.D). Applications will be screened for completeness and compliance with the provisions of this notice. Incomplete applications will be eliminated from competition, and notification of elimination will be mailed to the applicant.NRCS will accept applications for single or multi-year projects, not to exceed 3 years, submitted to NRCS from eligible entities including Federally recognized Indian tribes, State and local units of government, and non-governmental organizations and individuals. Applications are accepted from all 50 States, the Caribbean Area (Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands), and the Pacific Islands Area (Guam, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands).Complete applications received by applicable deadlines will be evaluated by a technical peer review panel based on the Criteria for Application Evaluation identified in the application instructions in section VI.B.The California CIG Program Manager will certify ranking and recommendations from the peer review panels to assure that the applications and evaluations are consistent with program objectives and policy. The California CIG Program Manager will make final recommendations to the California State Conservationist for final selection and funding decisions. Notification of successful selection or non-selection to applicants will be by mail.C. Innovative Conservation Projects or ActivitiesFor the purposes of CIG, the proposed innovative project or activity must encompass the development, field testing, evaluation, implementation, and monitoring of:&#149; Conservation adoption approaches or incentive systems; or&#149; Promising conservation technologies, practices, systems, procedures, or approaches; or&#149; Environmental soundness with goals of environmental protection and natural resource enhancement. To be given priority consideration, the innovative project or activity should:&#149; Make use of a proven technology or a technology that has been studied sufficiently to indicate a high probability for success;&#149; Demonstrate and verify environmental (soil, water, air, plants, energy, and animal) effectiveness, utility, affordability, and usability of conservation technology in the field;&#149; Adapt conservation technologies, practices, systems, procedures, approaches, and incentive systems to improve performance and encourage adoption; &#149; Introduce conservation systems, approaches, and procedures from another geographic area or agricultural sector;&#149; Adapt conservation technology, management, or incentive systems to improve performance; and&#149; Demonstrate transferability of knowledge.D. California ComponentFor FY 2012, California NRCS will consider offering CIG in the following areas: Nutrient Management, Energy Conservation, Soil Health, Wildlife, and CIG Projects Assessment.Proposals that demonstrate the use of innovative technologies and/or approaches to address at least one bulleted topic listed below will be considered. Proposals must identify the most appropriate bulleted topic the innovation/technology is addressing. While NRCS is interested in receiving proposals for each bulleted topic below, special interest is placed on receiving proposals that address topics identified as a &#147;Priority Need.&#148; Additional topics (not listed below) may be considered at the State Conservationist&#146;s discretion. If an additional topic is proposed for the State Conservationist&#146;s consideration, it must be identified as such in the proposal. 1. Nutrient Management &#149; Priority Need: Demonstrate and quantify the optimal combinations of nutrient source, application rate, placement, and application timing (4 Rs), as measured by impact on nutrient use efficiency and yield for one or more of the following: corn, soybeans, wheat, vegetables, hay/pasture, cotton, and/or rice. Demonstrations are encouraged that show how these optimal combinations change for one or more of the following comparisons: irrigated vs. non-irrigated management, tillage vs. reduced tillage systems, manure-amended vs. non manure-amended systems, and/or organic vs. conventional production systems.&#149; Priority Need: Demonstrate application of and procedures for refining the usefulness of the Phosphorus Index for reducing P loss across a range of soil, topographic, climatic, crop, or management conditions.&#149; Priority Need: Demonstrate suite(s) of conservation practices and document the conditions for their optimal use in protecting surface and ground water quality if manure was to be applied to frozen soil. &#149; Demonstrate new and innovative advances in precision farming technologies related to low disturbance fertilizer injection and quantify the effects on nutrient use efficiency, yield, and producer risk.&#149; Demonstrate feed management, or adoption of new or novel feedstuffs or additives, and quantify their impact on manure nutrient content. &#149; Demonstrate active methods which improve on the capture of nitrogen in manure management systems and provide the opportunity to recycle the manure nitrogen in lieu of synthetic fertilizers. Examples may include: use and quantifying effectiveness of zeolite or other nitrogen adsorptive materials; use, effectiveness and economics of &#147;ammonia stripping&#148; technologies for animal manures; technologies that help growers deal with excess manure by means of exports or other value added products that generate income for the grower; and quantifying the impacts of innovative technologies that decrease nitrogen and phosphorus losses from the field (e.g., biofilters, wetland restoration, drainage water management).&#149; Demonstrate and quantify the effectiveness of bundling conservation measures to avoid, control, and trap nutrient losses from the field. &#149; Demonstrate and quantify the effectiveness of Enhanced Efficiency Fertilizer products; including inhibitors, delayed release products, or biological solutions; on yield and nutrient use efficiency.&#149; Demonstrate and quantify the effectiveness of methods to capture dissolved phosphorus from field runoff and subsurface drainage.&#149; Demonstrate the applicability and utility of in-season nitrogen management tools for determining additional nutrient needs for a range of soils, climates and/or cropping systems. &#149; Compile, summarize, and develop appropriate recommendations from the peer-reviewed literature on projects demonstrating and quantifying the application of various management practices, models, and/or other tools for increasing nitrogen use efficiency by crops. &#149; Demonstrate effective outreach programs for delivering technical assistance to small dairies for implementing whole farm strategies to reduce nutrient/sediment losses. &#149; Evaluate the use and cost effectiveness of technologies and/or programs that demonstrate removal of manure nutrients from areas of high concentrations of animal feeding operations to areas where they can be used for the production of agricultural crops, for example: demonstration of the ability to partition nutrients in dry poultry litter through screening; and demonstration of baling, wrapping and transport of poultry litter from high phosphorus concentration areas.&#149; Demonstrate and evaluate effectiveness and economics of innovative alternative systems for managing and handling liquid manure on farms to reduce nutrient losses, for example: use of polymers and/or other chemicals to enhance solid/liquid separation and nutrient partitioning; use of geotextile bags for solid separation and nutrient partitioning of swine and/or dairy waste streams; and optimizing the use of existing separation technologies for separation efficiency and cost effectiveness.&#149; Demonstrate technologies which can improve cost efficiency of transporting manure nutrients from regions of dense populations of animal agriculture operations to areas with low densities of animal operations that have demand for manure nutrients.2. Energy Conservation&#149; Priority Need: Evaluate and demonstrate renewable energy systems (e.g. hydropower, solar, and/or wind) that displace fossil fuel energy and meet on-farm energy needs, while increasing energy efficiency and/or reducing environmental contaminants (e.g. greenhouse gas emissions).&#149; Develop and/or demonstrate innovative implementation systems to achieve greater use of energy audits that address cropland, buildings, and equipment.&#149; Demonstrate the use of immediate feedback devices such as smart meters and their effect on increasing energy conservation and efficiency in the farming sector. &#149; Evaluate and demonstrate energy savings through adaptive management grazing systems that utilize grazing techniques that reduce the need for making and feeding hay, while also using manures and legumes rather than synthetic fertilizers. Deliverables should include energy lifecycle comparison of grazing and haying systems. &#149; Evaluate and demonstrate energy savings through adaptive management cropping systems that utilize crop rotations that include legumes and grasses in long term no-till systems that will increase nutrient cycling through enhanced soil biological activity.&#149; Develop and demonstrate innovative planning and decision aids to assess potential impacts of small on-farm renewable energy systems on wildlife and wildlife habitats and that can be used to identify appropriate sites to avoid or minimize potential adverse impacts.&#149; Demonstrate the feasibility and document the relevant issues associated with using low-head hydropower turbines in surface water sources such as in-stream installations and small dams (e.g. using a flow-through or pumpback configuration).3. Soil Health&#149; Priority Need: Demonstrate and quantify the impacts of cover crops, crop rotations, tillage and/or soil amendments on soil chemical, physical, and/or biological properties and their relationships with nutrient cycling, soil water availability, and plant growth.&#149; Priority Need: Demonstrate and quantify the rate of increase in available soil water holding capacity as a function of soil properties, management practices (e.g. tillage, amendments, crop residue inputs), and/or climate.&#149; Demonstrate innovative seeding methods of cover crops and multiple species cover crop mixes to allow for earlier establishment and increased biomass production.&#149; Demonstrate the effects of grazing management of cover crop mixes on soil chemical, physical and biological properties health and water quality.&#149; Demonstrate and quantify differences in nutrient and available water holding capacity of a soil system resulting from long-term no-till with cover crops compared to systems using tillage or rotational tillage.4. Wildlife&#149; Priority Need: Develop planning and decision aids to assess and maximize wildlife habitat value on land used to grow biofuel crops.&#149; Priority Need: Demonstrate new techniques and/or technologies for monitoring and evaluating wildlife habitat both on site and via remote sensing.&#149; Priority Need: Develop regional, crop-specific guidance providing the vegetative species, landforms, and necessary acreage to support appropriate populations of managed and wild pollinators per unit area of pollinated crops (i.e., describe the components of the landscape).&#149; Demonstrate and quantify the impacts of grazing as a habitat management tool.&#149; Develop and/or demonstrate fish screen, fish passage, and other fish related technology and criteria for native aquatic species of conservation concern.&#149; Demonstrate innovative approaches to restoring and reconnecting bottomland hardwood ecosystems that preserve hydrologic connectivity and aquatic organism passage.&#149; Develop planning guidance for the selection of streambank treatment options based on site conditions, including watershed context, landscape management legacy, and geomorphic potential/trajectory.&#149; Demonstrate effectiveness, cost, and longevity of various types of fence markers to reduce or prevent grouse mortality due to fence collisions.&#149; Demonstrate cost, effectiveness, and durability of alternatives or modifications to wood fence corner posts that provide raptor perches.&#149; Demonstrate technologies to control the spatial positioning and social groupings of cattle without fences.&#149; Develop Sagebrush and Shinnery Oak Management Guidelines to assist planning Brush Management in grouse habitat related to Ecological Sites.&#149; Develop planning and decision aids to assess the value of habitat development projects by estimating sage-grouse population responses to conservation practices.&#149; Develop metrics of measurable habitat improvement that could potentially be traded under a species-banking framework.&#149; Demonstrate the effectiveness and document the economics of alternate pest control methods in agricultural crops to protect pollinators and their habitats (e.g., ground application versus aerial application of pesticides, provision of habitat for &#147;beneficial&#148; insects).&#149; Estimate and document the effects upon pollinator populations and health due to the conversion to biofuel feedstock or agricultural production of lands presently enrolled in CRP or other suitable conservation easement programs.&#149; Demonstrate and quantify the effects of NRCS-recommended pollinator habitat seed/plant mixes on pollinator habitat.&#149; Document the benefits to other wildlife species of improving pollinator habitat.&#149; Demonstrate effective methods of establishing and maintaining the most beneficial pollinator-friendly plant materials for specific regions of the Nation.&#149; Evaluate the following NRCS conservation practice standards using a large diversity of flowering plants in order to quantify and demonstrate the revised practice standard benefits to pollinators: 332-Contour Buffer Strips, 342-Critical Area Planting, 393-Filter Strip, 391-Riparian Forest Buffer, 311-Alley Cropping, 380-Windbreak/Shelterbelt Establishment, and/or 580-Streambank and Shoreline Protection.&#149; Develop strategies to integrate pollinator habitat managemen
GrantorContactEmailDescription: work email
GrantorContactText: Kimberly Pedersen &lt;br/&gt;Grants Management Specialist &lt;br/&gt;Phone 530-792-5678