Opportunity 93250-8-0130

The summary for the Opportunity 93250-8-0130 grant is detailed below. This summary states who is eligible for the grant, how much grant money will be awarded, current and past deadlines, Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) numbers, and a sampling of similar government grants. Verify the accuracy of the data FederalGrants.com provides by visiting the webpage noted in the Link to Full Announcement section or by contacting the appropriate person listed as the Grant Announcement Contact. If any section is incomplete, please visit the website for the Fish and Wildlife Service, which is the U.S. government agency offering this grant.

Opportunity 93250-8-0130: This agreement between the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation (TPWF) is entered into to support organization and execution of a three-day Monarch Butterfly Monitoring Workshop for approximately 30 participants to be held in the Austin, Texas area in spring 2009. The overall goal of the workshop is to facilitate the cooperation of the Service, TPWF, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD), and other partner organizations in developing a coordinated monarch butterfly monitoring program in the central migration flyway area of Texas and surrounding states. The monitoring program is an implementation action of the North American Monarch Conservation Plan [Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC), June 2008] and the Monarch Butterfly Sister Protected Area Network, a project of the Canada/Mexico/US Trilateral Committee for Wildlife and Ecosystem Conservation and Management. The monitoring program will build upon existing volunteer and citizen science programs associated with the National Wildlife Refuge System (NWRS) and TPWD's Texas Monarch Watch to expand the monarch monitoring network in Texas and surrounding states. The workshop is needed to educate a cadre of land managers, nature center personnel, and citizen scientists in Texas and surrounding states about monarch biology, life cycle, and conservation needs, and train them in the monitoring protocols outlined in the handbook. The cadre of trained managers, biologists, and naturalists will then be available to train citizen scientists and volunteers, and implement monitoring and environmental education programs throughout the monitoring network.Justification for Single Source Determination: In accordance with Department of the Interior guidance (505 DM 2.14) the USFWS provides notice of its intent to make a single-source award in the amount of $15,000 via a Cooperative Agreement with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation. Competition is not practicable for this project for two reasons: (1) the workshop to be funded is necessary to satisfactorily complete an effort to set up a monitoring program in Texas and competition would have a significant adverse effect on the continuity of the project and (2) because of applicant's Unique Qualifications. TPWF will assist the Service and Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) in organizing and executing the Spring 2009 Monarch Butterfly Monitoring. TPWF will coordinate with the Service and TPWD to identify meeting facilities and lodging; develop the agenda; describe locations and logistics for the field work/demonstration activities; disseminate invitations and promote attendance; and develop a list and acquire training materials for the workshop. TPWD has an established citizen science monarch monitoring program called Monarch Watch and a long history of partnering with conservation organizations and federal agencies on monarch conservation initiatives. TPWD has committed to participating in the SPA Network and approximately 40 Texas State Parks have been identified as candidates. The Austin, Texas workshop represents a second step in the implementation of the NAMCP monitoring program and the SPA Network project. The Austin Texas workshop will be designed based on the lessons learned from a pilot workshop scheduled for October 27-29, 2008 in Saltillo, Coahuila, Mexico. The Refuge System is funding the participation of Service and TPWD biologists at the Saltillo workshop who will then serve as trainers and facilitators at the Austin workshop. TPWF, a 501 (c) (3) nonprofit organization, is the designated private funding partner of the TPWD and uniquely qualified and strategically located to provide the necessary organizational and logistical support for the Service/TPWD monitoring workshop. Competition would have a significant adverse effect on the completion of this workshop.