The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Avian Health and Disease Program (Region 7) is offering project support for health and disease impact investigations.

INSTRUCTIONS TO AUTHORS
The Avian Health and Disease program (AHD) supports avian conservation, surveillance and monitoring goals of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service by including health and disease assessments into activities related to the management of all migratory bird species.

MATERIALS
To prepare a complete Proposal, authors should have a copy of the Avian Health and Disease Program-Region 7 Request for Proposals (FY2012) and the National Strategic Plan.

OBJECTIVES OF THE AVIAN HEALTH AND DISEASE PROGRAM
Conduct health and disease surveillance of wild bird populations to:
1. Establish avian health baselines
2. Identify existing and emerging avian health and disease risks
3. Ensure disease preparedness and prevention
4. Develop, guide, and implement appropriate and effective management actions

To address these objectives, the National Strategic Plan (NSP) (1) provides support for the following six main areas:
1. Personnel
2. Morbidity and mortality monitoring, response and technical assistance
3. Health and disease impact investigations
4. Technical assistance for management issues
5. Infrastructure and provisions needed for field operations
6. Communications and informing policy
7. Collaborations

The Regional Avian Health and Disease Coordinator (acting coordinator: Russ Oates) is responsible for ensuring that Alaska’s AHD program is meeting the objectives and fulfilling requirements identified in the NSP.

This Request for Proposals (RFP) is designed specifically to address Health and Disease Impact Investigations (Number 3 above). Although, many of the other areas, such as Morbidity and Mortality Monitoring and Response will require partnering between the Regional Office and many field stations across the state, these activities will be developed with the Coordinator and field personnel separately from this proposal process.

Below are specific topics identified within the NSP that should be considered in proposals seeking funding from the R7-AHD program (2) .

HEALTH AND DISEASE IMPACT INVESTIGATIONS
Integrate health surveillance into field activities
• Initiate or expand investigation of regionally specific avian health and disease problems
• Collect baseline data on avian species to assess health and disease concerns
• Evaluate critical avian populations: species of concern, threatened and endangered species (conduct field investigations in combination with the ongoing management activities)
• Investigate infectious diseases (viruses, bacteria, fungal infections)
• Investigate non-infectious diseases (parasites, biotoxins, contaminants)
• Conduct targeted pathogen surveillance
• Investigate indigenous and exotic disease problems

Climate change
• Incorporate AHD activities into DOI climate change strategic plans, LCCs, CCPs and other planning documents.
• Integrate health surveillance with National Wildlife Refuges Inventories and Monitoring disease surveillance priorities
• Investigate the impact of climate change on the biology of wildlife disease reservoirs and vector species
• Investigate disease impacts on species adaptation strategies
• Identify ancillary stressors influencing avian susceptibility to disease (decoupling of biological processes)

Human-induced effects on disease transmission
• Assess the increased disease risks associated with urban, suburban, and agricultural environments (water quality, habitat fragmentation, contaminants)
• Aid in the prevention and management of invasive species introduction
• Adjust FWS personnel behaviors during field activities to decrease the potential of disease transmission to humans, other wildlife, other geographic sites

PROPOSAL DEVELOPMENT
Multi-year projects, up to three years will be accepted. All proposals must cover the entire scope of the project, not just the current year. Proposals can be updated each year to address any changes that may occur over the life of the project.

No set budget limit exists for individual projects; however projects should try not to exceed $60,000 per year. Projects costing more than $60,000 will be considered but must be well-justified.

Proposals should be 2-5 pages and include enough information for a reviewer to understand how objectives of the project will be met.

TIMELINE FOR PROJECTS-2012
December 1, 2011: Request for Proposal released by Regional Coordinator
January 30: Proposals due to Regional Coordinator
February 18: Selections on Funded Projects Announced
December 1: Annual Progress Reports due to Regional Coordinator
*For final reports, see section below.

REPORTING
For all projects, an annual progress report is due by December 1, 2012. For single-year projects and on the last year of multi-year projects, final reports are due 120 days after receiving laboratory results from all samples submitted for analyses. Report formats will be distributed by the Coordinator in Fall 2012.

Proposals should be sent to Michelle St. Peters.

REGIONAL AVIAN HEALTH AND DISEASE PERSONNEL
For questions regarding the AHD program in Alaska, please contact:

Acting Regional Coordinator:
Russ Oates
russ_oates@fws.gov
907-786-3560

Logistics and Project Assistance:
Michelle St. Peters
michelle_stpeters@fws.gov
907-786-3691

Budget and Admin:
Amber Wagner
amber_obrien@fws.gov
907-786-3472

Address:
U.S. FWS
1011 E. Tudor Road MS201
Anchorage, AK 99503
Avian Health and Disease Program
Region 7 Proposal Template
FY2012

I. TITLE SECTION

I.A. Title of Project
I.B. Principal Investigator (include contact information)
I.C. Co-Investigators

II. INTRODUCTION

II.A. Background and Justification
Briefly describe the project, including species, location, avian health issue or concern.

II.B. Objective(s)
List all objectives of the proposed project

II.C. Management Action(s)
Identify any on-going management activities associated with the proposed project (e.g., annual banding drive, aerial surveys etc) and any management actions that may result as a consequence of this project.

III. METHODS

III.A. Data Collection
Methods should be described with enough detail to allow reviewers of the proposal to clearly see how the objectives of the proposal will be met. Key elements to be described in this section include (1) type, number, and location samples to be collected and analyzed, (2) type of health parameter, pathogen or non-infectious agent to be addressed (3) Other information that will be collected as part of this or ancillary projects

III.B. Analysis
Identify laboratory or other analyses that will be conducted on the samples. Briefly describe methods used for data analyses.

IV. RELEVANCE TO NATIONAL STRATEGIC PLAN

Describe how your project addresses any of the components listed in the “Health and Disease Impact Investigations” section above. You may also discuss how your project relates to any other objectives or support areas identified in the National Strategic Plan.

V. LITERATURE CITED

VI. PARTNERSHIPS

Identify collaborators and describe their contribution to the project.Also, identify contract laboratories or agencies.

VII. BUDGET

Include costs for FY2012 and all out-years. Be as specific as possible; include line-item estimates for salary, travel, supplies, equipment, laboratory analysis, helicopter or airplane costs, fuel, food, contracts etc.

Footnote (1) For more specific details on each of these support areas please see the National Strategic Plan: Currently available by contacting the R7 Avian Health and Disease Acting Coordinator at Russ_Oates@fws.gov.

Footnote (2) Note: Not all of these topics will be addressed in every proposal. The author will be asked how their proposal addresses the objectives and activities outlined in the NSP.

Footnote (3) FY202 is the second year of the Avian Health and Disease program. Funding for this program is subject to change without notice; therefore, funding for multi-year projects are contingent upon Region 7 receiving appropriations from the National office. Additionally, all funds are subject to distribution per the outcome of the Continuing Resolution in place, as of December 16, 2011.