OpportunityTitle: FY15-16 CRCP State and Territorial Coral Reef Conservation Cooperative Agreements
AdditionalInformationOnEligibility: Eligible applicants are limited to the State, Territorial and Commonwealth natural resource management agencies that were appointed by their respective Governors to serve as the primary point of contact agencies for coral reef conservation activities in each of the jurisdictions of American Samoa, Florida, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.The designated point of contact agency is considered to be the lead applicant on any proposal and is responsible for ensuring that allocated funds are used for the purposes of, and in a manner consistent with, this program, including any Federal funds awarded to an eligible sub-recipient.NOAA employees are not permitted to assist in the preparation of applications or write letters of support for any application. NOAA CRCP staff is available to provide general information on programmatic goals and objectives, ongoing coral reef conservation programs/activities, and regional funding priorities. For proposals that involve collaboration with current NOAA projects or staff, NOAA employees may provide a limited statement verifying the nature and extent of the collaboration and confirming prior coordination activities. Letters of support from NOAA employees are not allowable and will not be included among the materials considered by merit reviewers.  Federal agencies and employees may not receive funding under these awards but may serve as collaborative project partners. If Federal agencies are collaborating, applicants must provide detail on the level of Federal engagement in the application by accounting for contributions such as in-kind services or staff time of Federal employees who would be serving in a review capacity or participating in award tasks, working groups or leadership teams. In any case, Federal travel and salaries are not allowable costs under this competition unless expressly approved in advance by the NOAA Grants Officer, and no Federal in-kind services or staff time can be used as match. All questions about this competition, including application procedures and materials and selection criteria, must be directed to the official Federal Program Officer listed under Section VII. Agency Contacts.In certain instances, when requested by the applicant and agreed upon by NOAA, NOAA may hold back a portion of awarded funds in order to enable the agency to provide specific technical assistance to the recipient in the form of contractual or other services. Such requests will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis with respect to the specific management objectives of the local coral reef program. NOAA will work with recipients to ensure the greatest degree of success in meeting local, state, territorial and national coral reef management needs.
Description: Coral reefs and associated seagrass and mangrove communities are among the most complex and diverse ecosystems on earth. They support important fishing and tourism industries, protect coasts from wave and storm damage, build tropical islands, contain an array of potential pharmaceuticals, and provide local communities with a source of food, materials and traditional activities. As shallow-water, near shore communities, coral reef ecosystems are ecologically linked to adjacent watersheds and are highly vulnerable to human activity. Stresses in the coral reef environment include poor water quality from runoff and inadequate sewage treatment, sedimentation, destructive fishing practices, recreational overuse and misuse, and impacts from climate change, including changes in ocean chemistry. To address these and other threats, Congress passed the Coral Reef Conservation Act of 2000 (Act), which established the NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program (CRCP) and provided guidance for allocation of Federal funding toward efforts to conserve coral reef ecosystems in the U.S. and internationally. As described in the Act, one of the primary functions of the CRCP is to provide financial assistance to external partners for coral reef conservation projects consistent with the Act and CRCP priorities. From 2002 to 2008, CRCP efforts were focused on priorities articulated in A National Coral Reef Action Strategy (http://coris.noaa.gov/activities/actionstrategy), which outlined the efforts needed to better understand coral reef ecosystems and reduce impacts from 13 key threats that had been identified by NOAA in conjunction with the U.S. Coral Reef Task Force. Coral Reef Conservation Program priorities were refined and redirected in 2009 to focus program investments on three of the most pressing threats to coral reefs: land-based sources of pollution, fishing impacts, and climate impacts. The CRCP&#146;s approach for addressing these threats is described in more detail in a number of documents, including: *the CRCP Goals and Objectives 2010-2015 (http://coralreef.noaa.gov/aboutcrcp/strategy/currentgoals/resources/3threats_go.pdf); *the seven Jurisdictional Coral Reef Management Priorities documents (http://coralreef.noaa.gov/aboutcrcp/strategy/reprioritization/managementpriorities);*the Jurisdictional Capacity Assessments, which evaluate each jurisdiction&#146;s ability to implement coral reef conservation measures and identify impediments to effective coral reef conservation and management (http://coralreef.noaa.gov/aboutcrcp/strategy/reprioritization/capacityassessments/); *the CRCP International Strategy (http://coralreef.noaa.gov/aboutcrcp/strategy/currentgoals/resources/intl_strategy.pdf). These documents are relevant to CRCP grant programs, but some may be more or less relevant to particular competitions. Please refer to the Program Priorities in Section I(B) for details on which of the above documents are relevant to this funding announcement.As required under the Act, NOAA published the NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Grant Program (Grant Program) Implementation Guidelines (Guidelines) in Federal Register Vol. 67, No. 76, page 19396, on Friday, April 19, 2002. Based on CRCP efforts to realign the grant programs with updated program priorities, revised Guidelines were published on Thursday, August 12, 2010 in Federal Register Vol. 75, No. 155, pages 48934-48939 and are available at: http://coralreef.noaa.gov/aboutcrcp/workwithus/funding/grants/welcome.html.All applications submitted in response to this Federal Funding Opportunity announcement must be consistent with the requirements stated herein and the CRCP Grant Program Implementation Guidelines. Funding is subject to the availability of Federal appropriations. In FY15, the CRCP intends to initiate new awards in the following 3 funding categories:1. CRCP State and Territorial Coral Reef Conservation Cooperative Agreements2. CRCP Domestic Coral Reef Conservation Grants3. CRCP NGO Partnership Cooperative AgreementsAll of the following information in this funding opportunity pertains only to the CRCP State and Territorial Coral Reef Conservation Cooperative Agreements funding category.
GrantorContactEmailDescription: Work
GrantorContactText: Jenny Waddell, NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program, 1305 East West Highway, SSMC4, 10th floor, Silver Spring, MD, 20910  &lt;br/&gt;Phone 301-713-3155, ext. 150