OpportunityTitle: NERRS Habitat Protection and Restoration Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) Competition
CategoryExplanation: The National Estuarine Research Reserve System (NERRS) consists of estuarine areas of the United States and its territories designated and managed for research and educational purposes (Reserves). Each Reserve within the NERRS is chosen to represent a different biogeographic region and to include a variety of ecosystem types in accordance with the classification scheme of the national program as specified in 15 C.F.R. &#167; 921. By funding designated Reserve agencies and universities to conduct land acquisition and habitat restoration projects that support the NERRS mission, NOAA will strengthen protection of key land and water areas, improve climate resilience, enhance long-term protection of Reserve areas for research and education, and support the habitat protection goals and priorities of the National Coastal Zone Management Act. Funding under this opportunity will enable Reserves to protect and restore ecologically significant habitats, including conserving lands that play a critical role in helping coastal communities become more resilient to storms, flooding, inundation, erosion, tsunamis, sea level rise and lake level changes and other natural hazards affecting the U.S. coastlines.    This Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) supports NOAA&#8217;s efforts to reduce the impacts of climate change. A key pillar is resilience to climate change and its impacts, throughout our communities and ecosystems. Specifically, this NOFO seeks projects that enhance coastal resilience. Coastal areas support the nation&#8217;s largest and often fastest-growing population centers as well as key natural assets. Strengthening coastal resilience means preparing and adapting coastal communities to mitigate the impacts of and more quickly recover after extreme events such as hurricanes, coastal storms, flooding, and sea level rise. Habitat restoration and natural and nature-based infrastructure and solutions are critical to doing so by protecting lives and property; sustaining commercial, recreational, and subsistence fishing; recovering threatened and endangered species; and maintaining and fostering vibrant coastal economies and lifestyles.     This NOFO &#8211; along with the NOFOs for National Coastal Resilience Fund; Transformational Habitat Restoration and Coastal Resilience Grants; Coastal Habitat and Resilience Grants for Underserved Communities; and Coastal Zone Management Habitat Protection and Restoration grants&#8211; aims to fund projects that support the ov
AdditionalInformationOnEligibility: Eligible applicants are NERRS lead state agencies or universities designated to receive NERRS operations funding through a Memorandum of Understanding with NOAA in coastal states and territories including the Pacific, Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean, Atlantic Coast and Great Lakes. Eligible applicants should meet requirements as stated in the NERRS regulations codified at 15 C.F.R. &#167; 921.32 that are available online at http://go.usa.gov/xkGEf. Each applicant may submit no more than three letters of intent for consideration under this competition.    NOAA may, with concurrence of the NERRS lead state agency or university, make a grant directly to an eligible Reserve partner in order to expedite completion of an approved project. For these projects, the NERRS lead state agency or university would submit the Letter of Intent and include a description of which Reserve partner would be the final grant recipient. If the Reserve is invited to submit a final application for this proposal, then the Reserve partner would submit the final application through grants.gov. These final proposals should include a letter of support from the Reserve. In such cases, the Reserve Partner (as the grant recipient) will be responsible for ensuring that allocated funds are used for the approved purposes and in a manner consistent with this program.     Non-governmental organizations may serve as the lead applicant for habitat restoration projects or for habitat restoration engineering, design and planning projects. As noted in section III C.3. Public Benefit, all projects must be located on publicly-owned land, or land where a public entity holds a lease or easement that provides for adequate public control of the property. For these projects, the project application should also include a letter of support from the public entity who holds title or a legal interest on the project site.    Non-governmental organizations are not eligible to hold title to lands acquired with these funds and therefore may not serve as the lead applicant for habitat conservation projects and also should not be listed as a subawardee for the land acquisition portion of the project However, non-governmental organizations may participate as partners with eligible entities in the acquisition, restoration and long-term stewardship of lands through this program, such as: identifying target properties; conducting or assisting in acquisition negotiations to secure properties; conducting restoration activities; and providing stewardship and management of properties in perpetuity, including holding a secondary easement or other stewardship agreement for these lands.    DOC/NOAA supports cultural and gender diversity and is strongly committed to broadening the participation of Minority Service Institutions, including historically black colleges and universities, Hispanic serving institutions, tribal colleges and universities, and Asian American and Pacific Islander serving institutions that work in underserved areas. While this program limits applicants to NERRS lead agencies or universities, DOC/NOAA encourages applicants to include partners and contributors from any of the above groups or institutions.
Description: The purpose of this notice is to solicit grant proposals from National Estuarine Research Reserves (NERRS or Reserves) for coastal habitat restoration; coastal habitat restoration planning, engineering, and design; and land conservation projects that support the goals and intent of the Coastal Zone Management Act (CZMA), the Coastal and Estuarine Land Conservation Program (CELCP), and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, Public Law 117-58. For the purposes of this funding opportunity, coastal habitat conservation is defined as the acquisition of fee simple interest in real property or conservation easements.NOAA anticipates that approximately $16 million will be competitively awarded to Reserves&#8217; designated state lead agency or university. For habitat restoration engineering, design and planning, it is anticipated that projects will range from approximately $200,000-$350,000. For habitat restoration, it is anticipated that projects will range from approximately $2 million to $4 million. For land conservation, it is anticipated that projects will range from approximately $500,000 to $1.5 million. Applicants may propose projects with a Federal funding request less than or more than these amounts, up to $4 million.The NOAA Office for Coastal Management (OCM) encourages applicants and awardees to support the principles of equity and inclusion when writing their proposals and performing their work. Promoting equity and inclusion through community engagement, co-development, and partnership improves creativity, productivity, and the vitality of the coastal management community that OCM supports.
GrantorContactEmailDescription: E-mail
GrantorContactText: Office for Coastal Management