Mapping Lichen Cover and Biomass in the Western Caribou Arctic Herd Home Range
NOTICE OF INTENT TO AWARD This Funding Announcement is not a request for applications. This announcement is to provide public notice of the National Park Serviceâ₏™s intention to fund the following project activities without full and open competition. ABSTRACT Funding Announcement Number P15AS01022 Project Title Mapping Lichen Cover and Biomass in the Western Caribou Arctic Herd Home Range Recipient University of Maine-Fort Kent Principle Investigator / Program Manager Peter Neitlich Acting Chief of Natural Resources/Ecologist National Park Service 41A Wandling Road Winthrop, WA 98862 (509) 996-3917 Peter_Neitlich@nps.gov Total Anticipated Award Amount $31,119.16 Cost Share $29,000 New Award or Continuation? New Award Anticipated Period of Performance July 1, 2015-September 30, 2017 Award Instrument Cooperative Agreement Statutory Authority 54 USC 101702(b) Agreements Concerning Cooperative Research and Training on NPS Resources CFDA # and Title 15.945 Cooperative Research and Training Programs â₏“ Resources of the National Park System, Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Units Network Single Source Justification Criteria Cited (4) Unique Qualifications NPS ATR Point of Contact Peter Neitlich Acting Chief of Natural Resources/Ecologist National Park Service 41A Wandling Road Winthrop, WA 98862 (509) 996-3917 Peter_Neitlich@nps.gov OVERVIEW The Western Arctic Caribou Herd (WACH) population has declined precipitously over recent years. As lichens are the primary winter forage for caribou, habitat changes resulting in lower lichen abundance may play an important role. Across boreal and arctic zones, lichen cover is expected to decrease due to increased fire frequency and extent and shrub encroachment, which are both in part attributed to increasing average summer temperatures. Assessing the role of lichen abundance in caribou habitat selection is a critical first step towards understanding whether the WACH population decline is linked to forage reductions. The Northwest Arctic Borough (NAB) includes residents from twelve local communities that depend heavily for their sustenance on the subsistence hunting of caribou from this herd. NAB received funding from Shell to study subsistence resources in the vicinity of Shellâ₏™s outer continental shelf oil development leases, and decided upon caribou and their habitat as one of their focal research topics. NPS agreed to help NAB locate researchers to investigate caribou winter range forage conditions. Since NPSâ₏™s Arctic Network (ARCN) has vegetation data to lend to the effort and is mandated to protect subsistence opportunity and resources for local communities in its units, NPS is partnering with NAB in this project and will serve as co-Principal Investigators (PIâ₏™s). NAB has funded the PIâ₏™s with $29,308 to contribute to this project that is key to local residents. Quantifying lichen cover and biomass with sufficient precision to analyze caribou movements has often been limited by inadequate ground vegetation measurements to be able to model lichen cover using satellite imagery. With ARCN ground data, lichen cover can be mapped at sufficient precision across large enough spatial scales to try to connect caribou movement to lichen cover. In the past 15 years, vegetation monitoring in the Arctic Network (ARCN) of the National Park system has generated several large vegetation monitoring datasets. The PIâ₏™s propose to utilize these data in conjunction with Landsat and high-resolution imagery to model and map lichen cover and biomass. These lichen maps would then be used to test the role of winter forage resources in habitat selection by caribou in the WACH. STATEMENT OF JOINT OBJECTIVES/PROJECT MANAGEMENT PLAN The proposed cooperator and NPS hope to conduct joint research on behalf of the residents of the Northwest Arctic Borough to develop a caribou winter range lichen habitat map over the range of the Western Arctic Caribou Herd. This map will assist all stakeholders (federal and state government, local government, tribes, local residents) in cooperative management objectives for the herd. RECIPIENT INVOLVEMENT The recipient will: 1. Produce at least one lichen cover and biomass map covering the WAH home range. 2. Generate at least one peer reviewed journal submission and a longer NPS-NRTR addressing broader range of issues and containing appendices of interest. 3. Present work at least one scientific conference and at 2 local community meetings of NABâ₏™s choosing. 4. Provide annual progress reports for funding agencies. NATIONAL PARK SERVICE INVOLVEMENT The NPS will: 1. Serve as co-PIâ₏™s in the project, assisting with the writing and editing of all publications. 2. Provide ARCN vegetation data, appropriate data summarization and analysis to support the creation of lichen landcover and biomass maps. 3. Facilitate PI and co-PI presentation of results at local community meetings including local lodging, logistics, introductions and meeting arrangements SINGLE-SOURCE JUSTIFICATION DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR SINGLE SOURCE POLICY REQUIREMENTS Department of the Interior Policy (505 DM 2) requires a written justification which explains why competition is not practicable for each single-source award. The justification must address one or more of the following criteria as well as discussion of the program legislative history, unique capabilities of the proposed recipient, and cost-sharing contribution offered by the proposed recipient, as applicable. In order for an assistance award to be made without competition, the award must satisfy one or more of the following criteria: (1) Unsolicited Proposal â₏“ The proposed award is the result of an unsolicited assistance application which represents a unique or innovative idea, method, or approach which is not the subject of a current or planned contract or assistance award, but which is deemed advantageous to the program objectives; (2) Continuation â₏“ The activity to be funded is necessary to the satisfactory completion of, or is a continuation of an activity presently being funded, and for which competition would have a significant adverse effect on the continuity or completion of the activity; (3) Legislative intent â₏“ The language in the applicable authorizing legislation or legislative history clearly indicates Congressâ₏™ intent to restrict the award to a particular recipient of purpose; (4) Unique Qualifications â₏“ The applicant is uniquely qualified to perform the activity based upon a variety of demonstrable factors such as location, property ownership, voluntary support capacity, cost-sharing ability if applicable, technical expertise, or other such unique qualifications; (5) Emergencies â₏“ Program/award where there is insufficient time available (due to a compelling and unusual urgency, or substantial danger to health or safety) for adequate competitive procedures to be followed. The National Park Service did not solicit full and open competition for this award based the following criteria: (4) Unique Qualifications Single Source Justification Description: Dr. Peter Nelson of the University of Maine-Fort Kent is uniquely qualified to conduct this project for 4 reasons. First, as a Ph.D. student, Dr. Nelson designed the ARCN study and collected the ground-based data that forms the basis of the remote sensing effort to be conducted. Second, he recently published the only known paper of its type using exactly these methods to conduct an identical study in Denali National Park. Third, he secured funding for matching funds from the Northwest Arctic Borough that will permit a much larger, focused study. Fourth, the other PI that Peter Nelson plans to contract with is the other PI of ARCN ground-based studies, Dr. Emily Holt. While other university partners may be able to develop Dr. Nelson's methods, none yet have done so. Moreover, none would be able to replicate his methods with the amount of funding available, both because he is so familiar with the ground-based methods he designed and conducted, and has already invested the research time into developing the remote sensing methods needed to link satellite data to lichen ground data. The budget only covers a modest amount of salary support for the two cooperators. The fact that they are so familiar with the ARCN lichen data sets means a substantial cost savings for the government in that a different potential cooperator would have to invest a large amount of time becoming familiar with the methods, the data sets, analysis and appropriate uses of the data. The 3 months total of project support is very small for a project of this size and is only possible because of the matching funds by Northwest Arctic Borough.
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