OpportunityTitle: Synthesis of National Coastal Assessment data for Great Lakes national parks
AdditionalInformationOnEligibility: This is a &quot;Notice of Intent&quot; of a single source task agreement award to the Science Museum of Minnesota, St. Croix Watershed Research Station under the Great Lakes Northern Forest Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit (CESU).  A noncompetitive award to the Science Museum of Minnesota-St. Croix Watershed Research Station (SCWRS) is justified based on the criteria of (2) continuation and (4) unique qualifications.  First, the proposed activity continues a long standing and productive pattern of research by the SCWRS in national parks of the Great Lakes region, including recent and emerging projects focused on Great Lakes nearshore (and shoreline) water quality and ecology at Isle Royale National Park and Apostle Islands, Pictured Rocks, and Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshores.  In all cases the cooperators have delivered high quality products which have proved extremely useful for managing park resources.  Through these and other studies, SCWRS scientists have acquired unique insights into regional ecosystems as well as NPS management needs and interests.  The planned work addressing coastal waters in Great Lakes national parks is a logical continuation and extension of their previous and ongoing studies.  Secondly, the SCWRS and the principal investigators are uniquely qualified to conduct the statistical and ecological work this project entails.  PI has worked with large contemporary and paleo-limnological datasets over a large geographical range of lakes. PI has worked with aquatic systems ranging from large oligotrophic lakes in British Columbia to small pristine alpine lakes throughout North America. PI research has focused on the various pathways in which nutrients are delivered to aquatic ecosystems, studying the impacts of multiple diffuse sources (agricultural, marine-derived, and atmospheric). PI has studied multivariate statistical techniques under a leading biometrist and published large data compilations in top-tier international journals. PI is adept at using the open source software R for statistical purposes.
Description: The purpose of this agreement is to analyze and interpret (fully and statistically) a large coastal dataset generated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)&#239;&#191;&#189;s National Coastal Assessment for the Great Lakes. This Assessment effort was supplemented and made more park-specific through funds from an NPS Great Lakes Restoration Initiative Project (GLRI #89 &#239;&#191;&#189;Comprehensive Marine Assessments&#239;&#191;&#189;). The proposed analysis of these data will provide unprecedented information on coastal conditions within NPS boundaries, but will also place those conditions into a larger Great Lakes context. Specifically, the project aims to 1) summarize coastal conditions on a park-specific basis, 2) determine whether or not coastal conditions in national park units differ from those of surrounding Great Lakes waters, and 3) conduct additional exploratory analysis of coastal datasets, as time permits. The careful analysis of this dataset will provide important insights for Great Lakes parks to consider in addressing coastal management issues, restoration projects, and research needs. It will also provide insights to EPA about Great Lakes reference conditions, as coastal waters near NPS units are likely among those least impacted by upland pollutants and other stressors.
GrantorContactEmailDescription: Help Desk
GrantorContactText: Tonya Bradley &lt;br/&gt;Contract Specialist &lt;br/&gt;Phone 402-661-1656