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| ![]          | **EXPRESSION OF INTENT**                              |
| (media/image |                                                       |
| 1.jpeg){widt | **FOR ACTIVITIES IN IPY 2007-2008.**                  |
| h="1.0986111 |                                                       |
| 111111112in" |                                                       |
| height       |                                                       |
| ="1.09861111 |                                                       |
| 11111112in"} |                                                       |
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**Deadline for Submission - January 14, 2005**

Email to <jcel@bas.ac.uk> or Fax to +44-1223-221270

**1.0 PROPOSAL INFORMATION**

1.1 Title of proposed activity

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  **National Wildlife Refuges in Alaska -- a system of conservation units
  for monitoring the status of arctic fauna and flora and their uses by
  indigenous people**

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1.2 Acronym or short form title of proposed activity

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  **USFWS-Alaska-IPY**

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1.3 Concise outline of proposed activity

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| The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) is the principal federal     |
| agency responsible for conserving, protecting and enhancing fish,     |
| wildlife, plants and their habitats in the United States. The FWS     |
| maintains a large presence in Alaska through a network of 16 National |
| Wildlife Refuges (NWRs) totalling more than 78 million acres, located |
| in particularly important fish and wildlife habitats. Many of these   |
| Refuges were created in areas adjacent to or surrounding villages of  |
| Alaskan Natives. Today these refuges include within their boundaries  |
| 81 villages, about 20 million acres of Native Corporation lands, and  |
| allotments owned by thousands of individual Native Americans. The     |
| presence of these villages and the strategic location of these        |
| national wildlife refuges are the foundation of the FWS's proposed    |
| participation in the IPY.                                             |
|                                                                       |
| This EOI is organized around the following themes and can form a      |
| template for similar work in other Arctic nations.                    |
|                                                                       |
| **Theme 1. Status:** The FWS will establish permanent plots on NWRs   |
| across Alaska to obtain a snapshot of the current distribution and    |
| abundance of various biota, and to monitor change. Two state-wide     |
| transect lines above the 60^th^ latitude, along which most of the     |
| Refuges in Alaska are spatially oriented, will be established. These  |
| transects will bisect the major biomes in Alaska including coastal    |
| grasslands/tundra, boreal forest and arctic tundra. Within each       |
| Refuge, plot sampling along these transect lines will be stratified   |
| to capture diversity and variability across various ecosystem types,  |
| including aquatic habitats.                                           |
|                                                                       |
| **Theme 2. Change:** The FWS will implement a Circumpolar             |
| Biodiversity Monitoring Plan by convening working groups of           |
| scientists from Arctic nations with expertise on fish, wildlife and   |
| plants. These working groups will be modelled after existing groups   |
| that are cooperatively monitoring select wildlife species across the  |
| Arctic under the auspices of the Conservation of Arctic Flora and     |
| Fauna (CAFF). The FWS will also initiate community-based monitoring   |
| programs in villages within the boundaries of our Refuges where       |
| synoptic sampling will occur during IPY. These monitoring programs    |
| will focus on water quality, invertebrate sampling, and phenology     |
| (e.g., timing of bird arrival, date of bud burst, flowering, etc.).   |
| This program will be patterned after and expand upon the Borderlands  |
| Ecological Knowledge Co-op of which the Arctic NWR is a cooperator.   |
|                                                                       |
| **Theme 3. Global Linkages:** The FWS will spearhead production of a  |
| Circumpolar Boreal Vegetation Map (CBVM) that will accompany the      |
| recently completed Circumpolar Arctic Vegetation Map (CAVM). The CAVM |
| and the CBVM will provide an early 21^st^ century view of the status  |
| of vegetation across the circumpolar Arctic and Subarctic. An         |
| education component of the monitoring of change in phenology and      |
| water characteristics will link participating schools in Alaska with  |
| schools in other regions of the country or world.                     |
|                                                                       |
| **Theme 6. Human Societies:** Community-based sampling on our Refuges |
| will include a traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) component that  |
| will provide a contemporary view or benchmark of the local uses of    |
| fish, wildlife and plants by the indigenous peoples inhabiting the    |
| refuge, their values towards wildlife and wildlands, and their        |
| perceptions and perspectives on contemporary conservation issues such |
| as climate change. This qualitative information will be enhanced by   |
| household surveys that quantify the subsistence use of fish and game. |
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1.4 Which IPY 2007-2008 theme(s) will be addressed by the project (see
Note 1)

  -------------------------------------------------------------- --------
  **Theme 1 -- The current state of the polar environment**      X

  **Theme 2 - Change in the polar regions**                      X

  **Theme 3 - Polar-global linkages and interaction**            X

  **Theme 4 - Investigating new frontiers**                      

  **Theme 5 -The polar regions as vantage points**               

  **Theme 6 - Human societies in polar regions**                 X
  -------------------------------------------------------------- --------

5.  What is the major target of the proposed activity (specify one --
    see Note 1)

  -------------------------------------------------------------- --------
  **Natural or social science research**                         X

  **Education/Outreach and Communication**                       

  **Data Management**                                            

  **Legacy**                                                     

  **Other Targets**                                              
  -------------------------------------------------------------- --------

6.  What significant advance(s) in relation to the IPY themes and
    targets can be anticipated from this project?

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| -   a recent snapshot of the biota across a variety of ecosystem      |
|     types in Alaska.                                                  |
|                                                                       |
| -   a series of permanent, geo-spatially referenced sampling plots    |
|     located in protected areas that can be re-sampled at any time.    |
|                                                                       |
| -   a recent circumpolar map of the boreal region of the world        |
|                                                                       |
| -   a number of groups of internationally connected experts working   |
|     together to monitor select arctic fish and wildlife species       |
|                                                                       |
| -   an ongoing community-based monitoring system                      |
|                                                                       |
| -   a recent benchmark of use of refuge resources by indigenous       |
|     people                                                            |
|                                                                       |
| -   an education component linking monitoring of key indicators on    |
|     refuges in the Arctic to monitoring of the same indicators by     |
|     communities in other regions.                                     |
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1.7 What international collaboration is involved in this project? (see
Note 2)

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  Production of the CBVM will bring together botanists and ecologists
  from across the Arctic. Similarly, the creation of international
  working groups that will coordinate research and monitoring of Arctic
  fish and wildlife species across the Arctic will also occur. Other
  components of our proposal could easily be duplicated in other polar
  countries.

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**2.0 FIELD ACTIVITY DETAILS**

1.  Outline the geographical location(s) for the proposed field work
    (see Note 3)

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  Alaska and Northern Circumpolar region. A map of the National Wildlife
  Refuges in Alaska can be viewed at http://alaska.fws.gov/nwr/map.htm.

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2 2 Define the approximate timeframe(s) for proposed field activities?

  ----------------------------------- -----------------------------------
  **Arctic Fieldwork time frame(s)**  **Antarctic Fieldwork time
                                      frame(s)**

  05/07 -- 09/08                      

                                      

                                      
  ----------------------------------- -----------------------------------

2.3 What significant logistic support/facilities will be required for
this project? Can these resources be usefully shared with other
projects? (see Note 4)

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  Helicopter, fixed--wing, field camp support. Arctic logistics will be
  shared whenever possible or practical to do so.

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2.4 Will the project leave a legacy of infrastructure? (see Note 1)

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  Infrastructure legacies will be limited to the establishment of a
  number of permanent geo-spatially referenced sampling plots on National
  Wildlife Refuges in Alaska.

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2.5 How is it envisaged that the required logistics will be secured?
(one or more options can be identified)

  ------------------------------------------------------------ ----------
  Consortium of national polar operators                       

  Own national polar operator                                  

  Another national polar operator                              

  National agency                                              X

  Military support                                             

  Commercial operator                                          X

  Own support                                                  X

  Other sources of support                                     X

                                                               
  ------------------------------------------------------------ ----------

2.6 Has the project been \"endorsed\" at national or international level
(see Note 5)

  ----------- -----------------------------------------------------------
  No          This expression of interest is also being sent to the U.S.
              National Committee for IPY for consideration.

  ----------- -----------------------------------------------------------

**3.0 PROJECT MANAGEMENT AND STRUCTURE**

3.1 Is the project a component (established over the IPY 2007-2008
timeframe) of an existing plan, programme or initiative or is it a new
autonomous proposal?

  --------------------- -------------------------------------------------
  New Project           Component of an existing or planned activity

  Both. The synoptic    
  sampling and          
  community-based       
  programs represent    
  new components for    
  many NWRs in Alaska.  
  The CBVM is a natural 
  next step following   
  publication of the    
  CAVM.                 
  --------------------- -------------------------------------------------

2.  How will the project be organised and managed? (see Note 6)

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  Project work will be organized and managed through the existing program
  and regional management structures of the FWS in Alaska. If FWS is
  successful in obtaining new funds for this project, an IPY project
  manager will be hired as well as additional technical staff to complete
  the field work and analysis and reporting of data.

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3.3 What are the initial plans of the project for addressing the
education, outreach and communication issues outlined in the Framework
document? (see Note 7)

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  The FWS is well-suited to meet the IPY's education, outreach and
  communication requirements through its network of field offices,
  visitor centers, and public affairs offices. The FWS uses a diverse
  communication strategy to reach its intended audiences such as
  lectures, open houses, press releases, media events, brochures and
  other written materials, web sites, digital products, and congressional
  briefings. Nearly 1 million people visit Alaskan NWRs annually, each
  refuge has outreach and education staff and many also employ Refuge
  Information Technicians who are local employees that function as
  liaisons between the FWS and local communities with large Alaska Native
  populations.

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3.4 What are the initial plans of the project to address data management
issues (as outlined in the Framework document)? (see Note 8)

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  We anticipate that data from this project will be collected in a
  consistent manner across the various NWRs and will be collectively
  stored and managed at the FWS's Regional Office in Anchorage, Alaska.
  Hiring a data manager is a high priority new position. We also
  anticipate that the quantitative community-based monitoring programs
  will use a web-based data entry system. All spatial data will be
  consistent with standards established by the multi-Agency Federal
  Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) at USGS. All data, data tools and data
  products will be available to all users and will conform to IPY
  standards.

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3.5 How is it proposed to fund the project? (see Note 9)

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  A portion of the proposed work will be funded within the current FWS
  appropriation. However, most of the proposal represents new work
  requiring new funds. The FWS will seek additional funding for IPY
  activities through its normal appropriations process in FY07 and
  through other partner and granting organizations.

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3.6 Is there additional information you wish to provide?

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| The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is a federal agency devoted to the |
| conservation of fish and wildlife and their habitats. The FWS manages |
| 544 national wildlife refuges across the U.S. totalling 95 million    |
| acres. The 16 Alaskan refuges are unique in that they are large and   |
| encompass entire ecosystems and therefore are exceptional natural     |
| laboratories for conducting research. More than 78 million acres of   |
| federal lands are included in Alaska refuges.                         |
|                                                                       |
| We have just begun coordination with potential international          |
| cooperators.                                                          |
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**4.0 PROPOSER DETAILS**

1.  Lead Contact for the Expression of Intent 

Title USFWS - IPY

First Name Anthony

Surname DeGange

Organisation USFWS

Address 1 1011 East Tudor Road

Address 2 Anchorage, Alaska

Address 3

Postcode/ZIP 99503

Country USA

Telephone 907-786-3492

Mobile

Fax 907-786-3306

Email tony_degange@fws.gov

Repeat Email

2.  List up to six other project members and their affiliation.

Name 1 Danielle Jerry

Organisation USFWS, National Wildlife Refuge System

Anchorage, AK

Name 2 Stephen Talbot

Organisation USFWS, National Wildlife Refuge System

Anchorage, Alaska, USA

Name 3 Kent Wohl

Organisation USFWS, Migratory Bird Management

> Anchorage, Alaska, USA

Name 4 Maeve Taylor

Organisation USFWS, National Wildlife Refuge System

Anchorage, Alaska, USA

Name 5

Name 6