Alaska National Park Service Subsistence Advisory Council Funding for Yukon-Charley River National Preserve Subsistence Harvest Survey

ABSTRACT
Funding Announcement P16AS00031
Project Title Yukon-Charley River National Preserve Subsistence Harvest Survey
Recipient Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Division of Subsistence
Total Anticipated Award Amount FY16 $108,612
Cost Share NA
Anticipated Length of Agreement 3 years
Anticipated Period of Performance 2016-2019
Award Instrument NPS Subsistence Advisory Council funding
Statutory Authority 16 USC 3119, ANILCA
CFDA # and Title 15.946, Cultural Resources Management
Single Source Justification Criteria Cited Required per ANILCA legislation
Point of Contact Erica Cordeiro Erica_Cordeiro@nps.gov

OVERVIEW
The Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve Subsistence Harvest Survey project will provide up-to-date information on subsistence resource use by residents living in the communities of Central, Circle, Eagle, and Eagle Village through a comprehensive subsistence harvest survey, resulting data, and preparation of a report. The specific objective is to conduct a subsistence harvest assessment of the residents of these four communities. The project will be conducted by specialists from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Division of Subsistence, in collaboration with National Park Service staff. The collected information will help to inform Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve, State of Alaska, and Federal Subsistence Board decisions regarding resource management. The project will be conducted in three phases, and this Task Agreement provides funding for Phase I, data collection in Central and Circle, Alaska. Contingent upon successful completion of the data collection and available funding, this Task Agreement may be modified to add funding to support data collection in Eagle/Eagle Village and technical report preparation.

STATEMENT OF JOINT OBJECTIVES/PROJECT MANAGEMENT PLAN

Investigators from ADF&G and NPS staff will collaborate to conduct a subsistence harvest assessment of the residents of Central, Circle, Eagle, and Eagle Village, Alaska contingent on community approval. This project will be conducted in two phases. The Phase I objectives are to survey all of the households that agree to participate in Central and Circle, Alaska (approximately 93 households) and to code and review the survey data. Phase II objectives are to survey all of the households that agree to participate in Eagle and Eagle Village, and to code and review the survey data. The Phase III objectives are to produce a draft technical report, have the participating communities review the draft report, and to finalize the technical report.

This project involves the following activities:
a. After collaboration on the development of the questionnaire, ADF&G will administer a survey to all households each community, documenting householdsâ¿¿ subsistence harvests, production and distribution networks, and economic activities. The survey will be administered in-person by teams consisting of a researcher (typically ADF&G staff) and a local research assistant. In addition to completing the standardized survey instrument, households will also be asked to map harvest locations, search areas, or both for harvested resources. Finally, ADF&G staff will conduct ethnographic interviews with a sample of households to provide context for the survey data.
b. ADF&G will code the harvest survey responses, prepare data for analysis, and provide the NPS with integrated SPSS files of the survey results. The ADF&G will conduct preliminary analysis of SPSS data, including comparisons of demography, income and harvest levels over time and complete cross-sectional analysis on the influence of household composition, income, employment, ethnicity and so forth on harvest and distributional patterns; and will enter the data in the ADF&G Community Subsistence Information System.
ADF&G will write a technical report that presents a preliminary analysis of the harvest survey and includes the social, economic, and regional contexts for the community findings.

RECIPIENT INVOLVEMENT

The ADF&G will hold meetings to introduce the project to the study communities of Central, Circle, Eagle, Eagle Village and associated tribal councils. They will contract local research assistants to assist with conducting the surveys. ADF&G will then provide the local researchers with training in survey methodology and administration, and create the survey form and maps for data collection. ADF&G subsistence resource specialists and the local research assistants will then conduct the harvest survey and ethnographic research in Central, Circle, Eagle, and Eagle Village in cooperation with NPS. ADF&G project personnel and other researchers will then code the survey forms, enter survey data into a SPSS database, and conduct preliminary analyses, including producing descriptive statistics on the survey data. The primary products from Phase I: household surveys conducted in Central and Circle and coding and reviewing of the survey data. Phase II: household surveys conducted in Eagle/Eagle Village and coding and reviewing of the survey data. Preliminary analyses from Central and Circle surveys Phase III: Preliminary analyses from Eagle and Eagle Village surveys and SPSS files with the survey results and data from the surveys entered into the Community Subsistence Information System. The completed subsistence harvest surveys (to be stored at ADF&G).
NATIONAL PARK SERVICE INVOLVEMENT

Substantial involvement on the part of the National Park Service is anticipated for the successful completion of the objectives to be funded by this award. In particular, the National Park Service will be responsible for the following: collaborating with the cooperator on survey development, obtaining OMB approval for the survey, and conducting harvest survey interviews in collaboration with ADF&G. NPS regional ethnographers will review the survey instrument, participate in data analysis, and review and comment on the draft final report. NPS will also work with the tribal council staff to ensure that the community has an opportunity to review and comment on the draft final report.

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.

NPS did not solicit full and open competition for this award based the following criteria:
(4) Unique Qualifications â¿¿ ADF&G has 30 years of experience conducting subsistence surveys in Alaskan communities and processing the resulting data. The ADF&G Division of Subsistence has successful experience in collecting information of this type in communities within rural Alaska and has a support structure in place to collect and analyze these data and to publish the results. It also maintains a statewide database with results of such surveys. ADF&G has established expansive relationships with local stakeholders and Alaska tribal governments through these previous projects. The PI has over 10 years of experience conducting harvest surveys in rural Alaska and has collaborated on over 25 subsistence harvest survey publications. The PI has previous experience working in this region of Alaska and co-authored technical reports such as Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Contemporary Subsistence Harvest of Non-Salmon Fish in the Koyukuk River Drainage, Alaska and The 2002-2003 Harvest of Moose, Caribou, and Bear in Middle Yukon and Koyukuk River Communities. Additionally, the location of the PI and ADF&G offices in Fairbanks minimizes travel time and expenses for this project.

Additionally, the NPS and State of Alaska are required by ANILCA to manage land jointly to include Subsistence. The PI is trusted in the communities which is needed in order to obtain correct subsistence information on the surveys.