National Park Service Grant: Air Quality and Nitrogen Deposition Research in Rocky Mountain and Bakken Regions

This Funding Announcement is not a request for applications. This announcement is to provide public notice of the National Park Service’s intention to fund the following project activities without full and open competition.

OVERVIEW

The purpose of the Air Quality and Nitrogen Deposition project in the Rocky Mountain and Bakken Formation regions is to improve understanding of the sources, transport, atmospheric transformation, deposition, and impacts of air pollutants in U.S. National Parks. The project efforts are designed to complement measurements from routine monitoring networks (e.g. Interagency Monitoring of Protected Visual Environments (IMPROVE), Ammonia Monitoring (AMon), National Atmospheric Deposition Program, (NADP), Clean Air Status and Trends Network (CASTNet)) to provide more detailed characterization of air quality problems in particular parks and regions and to identify key gaps associated with current air quality and deposition monitoring strategies.

This work will be accomplished through the use of the Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Units (CESU), in which federal agencies and nonfederal partners (e.g. tribes, universities, state agencies, and other organizations) collaborate through technical assistance, education, and training to address natural and cultural resource management issues. Under the Rocky Mountain CESU Cooperative Agreement, a new Task Agreement between the National Park Service (NPS) and Colorado State University (CSU) will be accomplished to continue this work which will contribute towards the public enjoyment of clean air, good visibility, and healthy ecosystems at Grand Teton National Park, Rocky Mountain National Park, Theodore Roosevelt National Park and elsewhere. In addition, this project will yield an educational benefit to the CSU graduate students involved with the project tasks.

RECIPIENT INVOLVEMENT

CSU agrees to:
– Continue analysis of Grand Teton Reactive Nitrogen Deposition Study (GrandTReNDS) project data and complete assessment of reactive nitrogen species concentrations and deposition in the Grand Teton region.
– Complete analysis and publish findings from the IMPROVE NHx study.
– Analyze observations of periods of smoke impact from Rocky Mountain Atmospheric Nitrogen and Sulfur (RoMANS), GrandTReNDS, and the Fort Collins High Park fire measurements from NADP, AMon, IMPROVE, CASTNet and other networks to better determine the relative contributions of reduced and oxidized nitrogen in the U.S.
– Continue efforts to assess the importance of organic nitrogen (ON) as a contributor to reactive nitrogen deposition in the Rocky Mountain region.
– Analyze findings from the 2013 Bakken Air Quality Study.
– Plan and conduct a second Bakken Air Quality Study (BAQS) in winter 2013/2014 to further assess air quality in the region and air quality impacts from oil and gas development.
– Continue to maintain the NPS Mobile Air Sampling Laboratory.

NATIONAL PARK SERVICE INVOLVEMENT

Substantial involvement on the part 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:
– Participating in data analysis and/or modeling, report writing, and co-authoring peer reviewed publications with CSU personnel.
– Providing access to air quality monitoring locations, equipment shelters, and specialized monitoring equipment; where applicable.
– Assigning an Agreement Technical Representative and a NPS Technical Expert to the project.
– Working closely with the CSU scientists in the planning and execution of the Bakken Air Quality Study (BAQS) and in interpretation of project measurements of fine particle composition, volatile organic compounds and reactive nitrogen gas phase species.
– Conducting spatial and temporal analyses of field data.
– Conducting air quality modeling analyses in conjunction with CSU scientists to evaluate the influence of different regional emission sources on observed airborne concentrations and deposition fluxes observed in the field studies.
– Providing meteorological fields to drive the air quality models and overseeing and conducting aspects of the temporal and spatial analyses.

SINGLE-SOURCE JUSTIFICATION

The National Park Service did not solicit full and open competition for this award based the following criteria:

(2) CONTINUATION, AND
(4) UNIQUE QUALIFICATIONS

Single Source Justification Description:

THIS IS A NOTICE OF INTENT TO AWARD

This is a Task Agreement, P13AC01187, under the Rocky Mountain Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit (CESU) Cooperative Agreement H2370094000, in the amount of $425,499.00 with a period of performance from date of award through September 30, 2014.

STATUTORY AUTHORITY

16 U.S.C. §1a-2(j) Cooperative research and training programs
Secretary of the Interior’s authorization of activities – Enter into cooperative agreements with public or private educational institutions, States, and their political subdivisions, for the purpose of developing adequate, coordinated, cooperative research and training programs concerning the resources of the National Park System, and, pursuant to any such agreements, to accept from and make available to the cooperator such technical and support staff, financial assistance for mutually agreed upon research projects, supplies and equipment, facilities, and administrative services relating to cooperative research units as the Secretary deems appropriate; except that this paragraph shall not waive any requirements for research projects that are subject to the Federal procurement regulations.

16 U.S.C. §5933 Cooperative agreements
(a) Cooperative study units – The Secretary is authorized and directed to enter into cooperative agreements with colleges and universities, including but not limited to land grant schools, in partnership with other Federal and State agencies, to establish cooperative study units to conduct multi-disciplinary research and develop integrated information products on the resources of the National Park System, or the larger region of which parks are a part.
(b) Report – Within one year of November 13, 1998, the Secretary shall report to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of the United States Senate and the Committee on Resources of the House of Representatives on progress in the establishment of a comprehensive network of such college and university based cooperative study units as will provide full geographic and topical coverage for research on the resources contained in units of the National Park System and their larger regions.