The National Park Service is offering this grant to conduct a Landcover (Vegetation) Inventory for Alagnak Wild River.

This Funding Announcement is not a request for applications. This announcement is to provide public notice of the National Park Service (NPS), intention to fund the following project activities.

ABSTRACT

Funding Announcement: J2141L0003

Project Title: A Technical Plan to Conduct a Landcover (Vegetation) Inventory for Alagnak Wild River

Recipient: University of Alaska Anchorage, AKNHP

Principle
Investigator: Keith Boggs
Alaska Natural Heritage Program
ENRI, UAA
707 A Street
Anchorage, AK 99501

Total Anticipated
Award Amount: $103,968

Cost Share: N/A

New Award
Or Continuation: New CESU award

Anticipated
Length of
Agreement: 2 1/2 Years

Anticipated
Period of
Performance: July 2010 – September 30, 2012

Award
Instrument:Cooperative Agreement/CESU

Statutory
Authority: 16 U.S.C. §1a-2(j) authorizes the National Park Service (NPS) to enter into cooperative agreements that involve the transfer of NPS appropriated funds to educational institutions for the public purpose of carrying out NPS programs. More specifically, the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA), 16 U.S.C. Section 5933, authorizes the National Park Service 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.

CFDA# and 0.00 Not Elsewhere Classified
Title:

Single Source
Justification
Criteria Sited:

BACKGROUND:
This project is part of the Inventory and Monitoring Program (I&M) of the NPS, which seeks to provide reliable and consistent scientific information to assess the status and trends in condition of national park ecosystems. This project is conducted under the inventory portion of the I&M Program with the goal of providing basic vegetation information that is useful for making resource management decisions on a park wide basis. Under the Inventory and Monitoring Program (I&M), all park units are required to inventory vegetation as part of their 12 basic natural resource inventories.

This project seeks to conduct a Landcover (Vegetation) Inventory of Alagnak Wild River (ALAG) during the summer of 2010. To assure continued data quality and consistency across the NPS Alaska Region landcover inventories, this project seeks to collaborate and establish a Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit (CESU) Agreement with the Alaska Natural Heritage Program (ANHP).

1) 505 DM 2 Single Source – Only one responsible source will satisfy agency requirements.

Alaska Natural Heritage Program, ENRI, UAA
707 A Street
Anchorage, Alaska 99501
tel: (907) 257-2783

We consider ANHP to be the sole appropriate source for conducting this project because they have completed this work for seven park units already. Allowing ANHP to conduct this work for ALAG would assure a consistent landcover (vegetation) product across the NPS Alaska Region.

2) Nature and description of the deliverable required to meet the agency’s needs:
This project will provide for the compilation, collection and analysis of ground data in Alagnak Wild River (ALAG). A User’s Guide will be developed that provides floodplain plant association descriptions, landcover map, descriptive tables, and illustrative photos. Once complete, each User’s Guide will be submitted to the NPS Natural Resource Technical Report (NRTR) series and made available through the NPS Natural Resource Information web portal. The landcover map in association with plant associations will also serve as a basis for monitoring vegetation succession on floodplain deposits. The procedures and products produced in this project will be compatible with those employed in previous NPS land cover-mapping efforts.

The objectives of this inventory are to:
1.Develop a plant association classification for the Alagnak River Floodplain
2.Develop a landcover map for the park unit using IKONOS satellite imagery and aerial photography and field data.
3.Prepare a Natural Resource Technical Report (User’s Guide) that includes an introduction, methods, plant associations, and landcover map

Estimated price of the requirement: $103,968

3) Criteria for justifying award without competition. In order for an assistance award to be made without competition, the award must satisfy one or more of the following criteria. Please explain which criterion specifically addresses the proposed agreement.

The criteria being used to justify the proposed agreement award without competition are: 1) Continuation of an activity presently being funded (Landcover/Vegetation Inventories), and 2) Unique Qualifications.

To date, Alaska Natural Heritage Program, ENRI, UAA (ANHP) has been the organization we have relied on to acquire and synthesize vegetation field survey information and develop plant association classifications and vegetation successional descriptions for seven Alaska National Parks. These parks include: Aniakchak National Monument & Preserve (ANIA), Denali National Park and Preserve (DENA), Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve (GAAR), Glacier Bay National Park & Preserve (GLBA), Katmai National Park & Preserve (KATM), Kenai Fjords National Park (KEFJ), and Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve (YUCH). When acreages are combined, these park units account for approximately 54% of all NPS parklands in Alaska. Additionally, ANHP has taken the lead role in Alaska vegetation mapping for statewide projects such as Landfire, NatureServe, and the Alaska Gap Analysis Project.

This project requires the selected cooperator to have expertise in vegetation and plant association classifications, botany, disturbance ecology and succession, as well as landscape classification and mapping; experience conducting fieldwork and analysis in Alaska, specifically in Southcentral and Southwest Alaska. Experience working with and in National Parks in Alaska is also highly preferred. ANHP meets these criteria.

The Alaska Natural Heritage Program (AKNHP) is Alaska’s clearinghouse for information on plant and animal species of conservation concern, natural communities of conservation concern, and invasive nonnative plant species. The ANHP collects, validates, and distributes this information, and assist natural resource managers and others in applying it effectively. The Alaska Natural Heritage Program is part of NatureServe. Their data are linked to similar programs in all 50 states, most Canadian provinces, and many Latin American countries. AKNHP was established in 1989 by The Nature Conservancy and in 1993 became part of the University of Alaska Anchorage, residing in the College of Arts and Sciences.

4) A description of the market research that was conducted and the results, or a statement of the reason a market research was not conducted:

We consulted local experts in Federal agencies who had knowledge of this subject area regarding potential CESU cooperators that have expertise specific to the unique landscapes and ecosystems in Alaska National Parks. No other cooperators with as much expertise to acquire and synthesize vegetation, ecological field survey information, or plant associations and succession was discovered.

5) Any other facts supporting the use of other than full and open competition:

Alaska Natural Heritage Program, ENRI, UAA (ANHP) has been the organization we have relied on in recent years to acquire and synthesize vegetation field survey information and develop plant association classifications and vegetation successional descriptions for seven Alaska National Parks. A partial list of these parks include:

1)Aniakchak National Monument & Preserve (ANIA)
a)A Technical Plan for Aniakchak National Monument and Preserver Plant Association and Succession Project
b)Cooperative Agreement No.: H9911080028

2)Glacier Bay National Park & Preserve (GLBA)
a)Support for the NPS Inventory and Monitoring Program Activities in the Alaska Region
b)Cooperative Agreement No.: 1443CA991000013

3)Katmai National Park & Preserve (KATM)
a)Ecological Characterization of Landcover Information for Katmai National Park and Preserve
b)Cooperative Agreement No.: 9925010012
c)
4)Kenai Fjords National Park (KEFJ)
a)Kenai Fjords Landcover Mapping
b)Cooperative Agreement No.: 9925040004

6) A statement of the actions, if any, the agency may take to remove or overcome any barriers for competition before any potential future agreement award:

No known source will be available in the future.

National
Park Service
Point of Contact:Erica_Cordeiro@nps.gov