The objective of the NOAA’s Restoring Tribal Priority Fish Passage through Barrier Removal Funding Opportunity is to provide federal financial and technical assistance to Indian tribes and organizations that represent Indian tribes through formal legal agreements (e.g., tribal commissions, tribal consortia, tribal conservation districts, and tribal cooperatives) to remove barriers to fish passage.
Donor Name: Department of Commerce
State: Selected States
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 11/08/2023
Size of the Grant: $500,000 to $5 million
Grant Duration: 3 years
Details:
Funding will be used for fish passage that rebuilds productive and sustainable fisheries, contributes to the recovery and conservation of threatened and endangered species, enhances watershed health, promotes resilient ecosystems and communities, and increases tribal capacity to participate in fish passage barrier removal efforts while improving tribal commercial, recreational, subsistence and cultural practice opportunities. This funding opportunity announcement is authorized under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) Public Law 117- 58) and the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA, Public Law 117-169)
Proposals submitted under this funding opportunity should describe how the proposed fish passage will meet one or more of the following objectives:
- Contribute to the recovery of threatened and endangered species listed under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) (hereafter, Listed Species), including species identified by NMFS as “Species in the Spotlight
- Sustain or help rebuild fish stocks managed under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act. (hereafter, Managed Species), which includes benefits to Essential Fish Habitat (EFH) for recreationally and commercially important species and their prey
- Improve passage to support native fish species of the Great Lakes;
- Enhance the sustainability of saltwater recreational fisheries by restoring habitat that supports the National Saltwater Recreational Fisheries Policy and Implementation Plans.
- Enhance community resilience, including to extreme weather and climate hazards, by removing or improving aging infrastructure, and meaningfully engage with or provide benefits to tribal communities. Projects that use natural channel design and low impact development often result in co-benefits such as protection from flooding and extreme weather events, reduced erosion, and creation of public spaces; or
- Support hydroelectric license surrender to remove dams that are no longer economically viable or provide significant public benefits yet remain in service or are abandoned due to cost and uncertainties regarding their decommissioning and removal.
Priorities
Applicants should address at least one of the following program priorities, which are the basis for the Importance and Applicability evaluation criteria:
- Achieving measurable and lasting benefits for migratory fish populations. NOAA prioritizes proposed work that will achieve measurable, sustainable, and lasting benefits for migratory fish populations. Proposals that focus on removal of barriers will receive higher priority (e.g., dam removals will receive higher priority than installation of structures that require operations and maintenance, such as fish ladders).
- Enhancing community resilience to extreme weather and climate hazards and providing other co-benefits. Applicants should describe how the proposed fish passage will benefit human populations within or near the project site(s), and how these actions will reduce vulnerability to the extreme weather and climate hazards that are most threatening to the local communities. Applicants may also describe how the proposed work will enhance the ability to plan and prepare for adverse effects of extreme weather events or climate hazards or provide additional co-benefits to the community (e.g., economic vitality, increased access to natural resources).
- Fostering tribally important barrier removal efforts that benefit migratory fish. This solicitation will fund restoration of habitats that improve migratory fish populations important to tribes, including usual and accustomed areas, habitat important for enhancing tribal treaty reserved fishing rights or native subsistence fishing, and tribal trust fishing opportunities. Applicants should refer to tribal knowledge, watershed plans, resilience plans, or other fishery-related strategic planning, conservation, or management documents to show the tribal importance of the proposed work.
- Increasing tribal organization fish passage capacity to support tribes in their role as managers and stewards of tribal trust resources for cultural, spiritual, economic, subsistence, and recreational purposes. Proposals may include activities that build tribal capacity (such as supporting tribal staff positions) to work on the fish passage project development process, including reviewing project locations, reviewing design plans, conducting field assessments, leading fish passage projects guided by tribal knowledge, and/or managing multi-faceted fish passage project design and construction.
Funding Information
NOAA anticipates up to $85 million will be available under this opportunity. NOAA will not accept proposals with a federal funding request of less than $300,000 or more than $12 million for the entire award. NOAA anticipates typical federal funding awards will range from $500,000 to $5 million. NOAA expects that any single fish passage project that is awarded the maximum allowed requested (up to $12 million) will have significant ecological impact, detailed and credible cost estimates and clear justifications, and construction readiness.
Project/Award Period
NOAA encourages and anticipates a period of performance for most awards of up to three years, with the potential for up to five years if necessary.
Eligibility Criteria
- Eligible applicants are Indian tribes and organizations that represent Indian tribes through formal legal agreements (e.g., tribal commissions, tribal consortia, tribal conservation districts, and tribal cooperatives).“Indian tribe” or “Indian Tribe” means any Indian tribe, band, nation, or other organized group or community, including any Alaska Native village or regional or village corporation as defined in or established pursuant to the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, which is recognized as eligible for the special programs and services provided by the United States to Indians because of their status as Indians.’
- Organizations that represent Indian tribes through formal legal agreements are encouraged to provide a clear description and supporting documentation (e.g., letters of support, Memoranda of Understandings) in the application, demonstrating a relationship between the tribe(s) and organization.
- An institution of higher education, non-profit organization, commercial (for profit) organization, U.S. territory, or state or local government, and organizations that identify as Indian tribes but do not meet the definition of “Indian tribe” above, which may include state recognized tribes, can partner with Indian tribes and organizations that represent Indian tribes through formal legal agreements, but are not eligible to submit an application directly. A partnership may involve proposed subawards, contracts, informal collaboration, or other engagement.
- Applications from federal agencies or employees of federal agencies will not be considered. Federal agencies interested in this program are strongly encouraged to work with applicants who are eligible to apply.
- Applicants must propose work in areas that benefit United States migratory fish as defined in the Program Objective. Eligible applicants for Great Lakes projects must propose work within one of the eight U.S. Great Lakes states (New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Minnesota) within the Great Lakes basin.
For more information, visit Grants.gov.
