49578 Federal Register / Vol. 70, No. 163 / Wednesday, August 24, 2005 / Notices 

radio/sonic transmitters attached to 

their carapace, and would be 

laparoscopied and bone biopsied. 

Twenty loggerheads would be used in a 

whelk gear bycatch reduction study.

Dated: August 18, 2005.

Steve Leathery,

Chief, Permits, Conservation and Education 

Division, Office of Protected Resources, 

National Marine Fisheries Service.

[FR Doc. 05–16842 Filed 8–23–05; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3510–22–S

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration

[Docket No. 990907250–5223–03; I.D. 

072905B]

Revised Guidelines for NOAA’s 

Community-based Restoration 

Program

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce.

ACTION: Request for comments on 

proposed revisions to Program 

Guidelines for the NOAA Communitybased Restoration Program.

SUMMARY: NMFS initiated a Communitybased Restoration Program (Program) in 

1996 that provides Federal financial and 

technical assistance to encourage locally 

led coastal and marine habitat 

restoration, and to promote stewardship 

and conservation values for NOAA trust 

resources. The Program is a systematic 

national effort to foster partnerships at 

national, regional and local levels to 

implement sound habitat restoration. 

Partnerships are forged between 

government, not-for-profit 

organizations, community groups, 

recreational and commercial fishing 

organizations, students and educational 

institutions, businesses, youth 

conservation corps and private 

landowners. Under the Program, 

partners may contribute funding, land, 

technical assistance, workforce support 

or other in-kind services; promote local 

participation in habitat restoration 

activities; undertake research and 

monitoring to evaluate and improve 

project success; and facilitate 

stewardship for restored resources at the 

local level. To date, the Program has 

funded more than 1000 communitybased habitat restoration projects in 27 

states, Canada, and the Caribbean. 

NMFS is issuing revised guidelines for 

Program implementation for FY 2006 

and beyond, to reflect the evolution of 

the program since its original 

implementation. NMFS is seeking 

comments from interested parties on the 

revised guidelines. One or more 

constituent meetings are also planned to 

solicit feedback on the Program and the 

revised Program guidelines. This is not 

a solicitation of project proposals.

DATES: Comments must be submitted by 

email or mail by October 11, 2005. To 

support the continued evolution of the 

Program, and as part of the Program 

Guidelines revision, the Restoration 

Center plans to solicit feedback through 

one or more constituent meetings. 

Meetings will be limited to 

approximately 30 participants and will 

include facilitated break-out group 

discussions to maximize feedback 

results. The first meeting will be held on 

September 13, 2005, in Washington D.C. 

Subsequent meetings will be planned to 

coincide with restoration-related 

conferences or meetings throughout 

2006 to enable constituent participation 

without travel. These meetings will be 

physically accessible to people with 

disabilities. Requests for more 

information regarding the September 

meeting, including registration and 

requests for sign language or other 

auxiliary aids, should be directed to 

Robin Bruckner (see FOR FURTHER

INFORMATION CONTACT).

ADDRESSES: Please send your comments 

by email to: CRP.Guidelines@noaa.gov, 

or by mail to: Director, NOAA 

Restoration Center, National Marine 

Fisheries Service, 1315 East West 

Highway (F/HC3), Silver Spring, MD 

20910–3282.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Robin Bruckner, (301) 713–0174, or by 

e-mail at Robin.Bruckner@noaa.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Proposed 

Guidelines for the NOAA Communitybased Restoration Program were 

provided at 64 FR 53339, October 1, 

1999. In that document, comments were 

sought on modifications to the Program 

that would allow greater flexibility to 

support community-based habitat 

restoration projects. Final Program 

Guidelines, including responses to 

comments, were provided at 65 FR 

16890, March 30, 2000. Since the 

Guidelines were issued, the Program has 

experienced an increase in base funding 

and has subsequently implemented 

increased numbers of locally initiated, 

grass-roots habitat restoration projects 

through partnerships at the local, 

regional and national levels. The NOAA 

Restoration Center within NMFS is 

issuing revised guidelines, proposed 

here, that reflect the evolution of the 

Program, including measures that are in 

place or planned to enable the Program 

to demonstrate increased accountability 

for the expenditure of public dollars.

Background

Habitat loss and degradation threaten 

the long-term sustainability of the 

nation’s fishery resources. Over 75 

percent of commercial fisheries and 80 

to 90 percent of recreational marine and 

diadromous fishes depend on estuarine 

or coastal habitats for all or part of their 

life cycles. Protecting existing, 

undamaged habitat is a priority and 

should be combined with coastal habitat 

restoration to enhance the functionality 

of degraded habitat. Restored coastal 

habitat will help rebuild fisheries stocks 

and recover threatened and endangered 

species. Restoring marine and coastal 

habitats will help ensure that valuable 

natural resources will be available to 

future generations of Americans.

The purpose of this document is to 

replace the Program Guidelines that 

were published in 2000, and outline the 

goals, objectives, and structure of the 

Program that will guide its 

implementation in FY 2006 and beyond. 

This notice also references changes 

made by NOAA to standardize 

evaluation criteria for its competitive 

grant programs. The Program will 

provide annual notification regarding 

the availability of funds through the 

NOAA Omnibus Federal Register

Notice process and associated Federal 

Funding Opportunity (FFO) detail, and 

will solicit project proposals once a 

year, or more.

Electronic Access

Information on the Program, 

including partnerships and projects that 

have been funded to date, can be found 

on the World Wide Web at: http://

www.nmfs.noaa.gov/habitat/restoration.

Overview of Changes to the Program

Since the Program began, 

Congressional appropriations have 

increased from $250,000 in 1999 to 

$13.6 million in 2005. To effectively 

manage this growth, to provide better 

service to constituents, and to 

accurately report on the Program’s 

accomplishments, the Restoration 

Center has changed some of its practices 

and implemented a number of tools to 

increase efficiency and accountability.

In 2001 a Restoration Center database 

was launched to track habitat acres 

created, established, rehabilitated, 

enhanced or protected; stream miles 

made accessible to diadromous fish; 

volunteer or community participation 

hours; restoration techniques used; 

habitat types and species benefited; and 

other parameters for Restoration Center 

supported projects. The database has 

Federal Register / Vol. 70, No. 163 / Wednesday, August 24, 2005 / Notices 49579

increased NOAA staff efficiency and 

allows the Restoration Center to respond 

quickly and accurately to Congressional 

and Administrative inquiries, such as 

those on Program performance 

measures, through reporting features 

that can calculate the acreage or stream 

miles restored by all projects completed 

in any particular year, for example. 

Recent enhancements to the database 

include additional fields related to 

environmental compliance, display and 

collection of project locations through a 

Geographic Information System (GIS) 

based mapping application, and revised 

parameters to facilitate data-sharing 

with the National Estuaries Restoration 

Inventory.

To evaluate the progress of the work 

proposed under Program awards, to 

determine whether projects were 

successfully completed, and to facilitate 

population of the database with projectspecific information, the Restoration 

Center sought and received approval in 

2004 from the Office of Management 

and Budget (OMB) to collect detailed 

project information from grantees. This 

information, such as restoration 

techniques used, species benefited, 

geographic coordinates of project sites, 

and monitoring and outreach 

information, is now required as part of 

semi-annual progress reporting. Before 

April 2006, the Restoration Center plans 

to seek renewed approval from OMB, 

under the Paperwork Reduction Act, to 

continue collecting this information.

In coordination with the Estuaries and 

Clean Waters Act of 2000 (Public Law 

106–457), the Restoration Center has 

also begun requiring science-based 

monitoring of restoration projects, 

where appropriate, in an effort to 

improve on-the-ground restoration 

efforts and increase Program 

effectiveness. Applicants requesting 

funding to implement on-the-ground 

habitat restoration projects that will 

result in structural or functional habitat 

changes must have clearly identified 

goals (broad in scope) and specific, 

measurable objectives. Evaluating these 

objectives requires monitoring, during 

the project period, of at least one 

structural and one functional parameter, 

as supported by Title I of the Estuaries 

and Clean Waters Act of 2000 (Public 

Law 106–457), to ensure a basic 

assessment of project success. A fact 

sheet with examples of structural and 

functional monitoring parameters is 

available on the World Wide Web at: 

http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/habitat/

restoration, and assistance in refining 

the objectives and/or selecting 

appropriate parameters is available from 

Program staff.

The Program anticipates that a limited 

portion of annually available funds may 

be used to support high quality, 

quantitative monitoring projects to 

advance the science and technology of 

coastal and marine habitat restoration to 

support the Restoration Center’s 

Research Program area. Independent 

applications emphasizing science-based 

monitoring of previously completed 

Community-based Restoration Program 

projects may be accepted, however, 

applications for research or monitoring 

of projects not funded by the Program 

will not be considered under annual 

funding solicitations unless funding for 

the Program increases significantly.

In conjunction with science-based 

monitoring of projects, the Program will 

begin assessing and monitoring the 

human dimensions (demographic, 

economic, psychological, cultural, and 

ethical aspects) of habitat restoration. 

Fostering a community’s and an 

individual’s stewardship ethic is an 

important component of the Program. It 

is assumed with some certainty that 

participating in on-the-ground 

restoration projects cultivates and 

promotes environmental stewardship; 

however, the Program expects to begin 

quantifying this assumption over the 

next several years.

Both the Restoration Center Database 

and implementation of minimum 

monitoring requirements support 

NOAA’s strategic plan and allow better 

project tracking and evaluation of 

performance measures. Revision of 

habitat-related and other relevant 

performance measures in coordination 

with all major NOAA programs 

involved with habitat restoration is 

ongoing through NOAA’s Habitat 

Program.

Program Goals and Objectives

The goals and objectives that have 

defined the Program to date have not 

changed. These include:

• Producing on-the-ground habitat 

restoration within a relatively short time 

period;

• Using a competitive, technical 

review process, whenever possible, to 

maximize opportunities for public 

access to Program resources;

• Partnering with national and 

regional organizations, as well as local 

groups, to undertake habitat restoration;

• Offering NOAA technical expertise 

in addition to financial assistance for 

project design, implementation, and 

environmental compliance;

• Leveraging NOAA’s financial 

contribution by collaborating with other 

governmental agencies, industry and 

businesses, non-governmental and notfor-profit organizations, and academia;

• Ensuring projects are monitored to 

evaluate success and direct corrective 

actions; and

• Encouraging long-term stewardship 

and catalyzing future habitat restoration 

projects.

In general, the Program’s objective is 

to establish or supplement partnerships 

to implement coastal and marine habitat 

restoration projects that benefit NOAA 

trust resources. Partnerships with 

citizen groups, public and not-for-profit 

organizations, industry, corporations 

and businesses, youth conservation 

corps, students, landowners, and local 

government, and state and Federal 

agencies are supported through the 

provision of Federal financial and 

technical assistance at national, regional 

and local levels. Partners help identify 

and secure additional funding, land, 

technical assistance, workforce support 

or other in-kind services to enable 

citizens to improve locally important 

habitats that sustain living marine and 

coastal resources. Projects are most 

often implemented in coastal and 

nearshore marine and estuarine 

environments and in riverine 

environments that support diadromous 

fish; expansion of the Program to the 

Great Lakes is being considered, and 

will be dependent on the NOAA Habitat 

Program’s goals and Congressional 

appropriations made for this purpose. It 

is anticipated that any projects 

supported in the Great Lakes region will 

fall under these Program Guidelines.

The Program places emphasis on 

habitat restoration projects with strong 

community support and recognizes the 

significant role that communities can 

play in habitat restoration and 

protection. Projects that incorporate 

citizens’ ‘‘hands-on’’ involvement in 

project implementation, monitoring, or 

outreach and education are preferred. 

The role of NOAA in the Program is to 

strengthen the development and 

implementation of sound restoration 

projects. NOAA staff will continue to 

provide guidance and technical 

expertise on permitting, environmental 

compliance, engineering and design, 

and similar aspects required for project 

implementation.

Successful applicants will be those 

whose projects demonstrate 

collaboration among entities such as 

nonprofit organizations, citizen groups, 

industry, youth conservation corps, 

students, landowners, academics, local 

government, and state, and federal 

agencies to implement habitat 

restoration projects. Projects should be 

able to report a net gain in habitat acres 

restored or stream miles re-established 

for diadromous fish passage, and should 

document volunteer involvement and a 

49580 Federal Register / Vol. 70, No. 163 / Wednesday, August 24, 2005 / Notices 

maximization of project partnerships. 

Eligibility requirements will be detailed 

in annual solicitations.

The NOAA Restoration Center uses 

cooperative agreements focused at two 

distinct levels of partnership as the 

primary funding mechanism to 

accomplish habitat restoration. Direct 

project funding is announced annually 

in NOAA’s Omnibus Federal Register

Notice. This opportunity focuses on 

partnerships at the local level, and 

project awards currently provide up to 

$250,000 to support individual habitat 

restoration projects, or a suite of well 

developed restoration projects, for up to 

24 months. National and Regional 

Habitat Restoration Partnership funding 

is announced every 3 years through the 

NOAA Omnibus Federal Register

Notice. Partnership awards are up to 36 

months in duration, are usually larger 

than project awards, and specific 

projects are often not identified at the 

time of application. Partnership 

applications outline the concept and 

focus of habitat restoration activities 

and detail the mechanism under which 

individual projects will be identified 

and subsequently funded as subawards 

through the partner organization. 

Partner organizations assume the 

administrative responsibilities for 

subawards, such as letting contracts and 

managing progress and financial reports. 

This allows NOAA staff to focus on 

assisting with project implementation. 

The next solicitation for national and 

regional habitat restoration partnerships 

is expected to be published in June 

2006, for 2007–2010 funding.

Eligible Restoration Activities

Restoration may include, but is not 

limited to, improvement of coastal 

wetland tidal exchange or 

reestablishment of historic hydrology; 

dam or berm removal; improvement or 

reestablishment of fish passage; reef/

substrate creation; establishment of 

riparian buffer zones and improvement 

of freshwater habitat features in 

watersheds that support diadromous 

fish; exclusionary fencing and planting; 

invasive species removal; planting of 

native coastal wetland and submerged 

aquatic vegetation; and enhancement of 

feeding, spawning and growth habitat 

essential to marine or diadromous fish, 

including degraded areas that 

historically were important habitat for 

living marine and coastal resources, and 

through the restoration of which would 

support these resources again.

Program Priorities

In general, restoration project 

proposals will be expected to clearly 

demonstrate anticipated benefits to 

specific NOAA trust resource habitats; 

describe how these benefits will be 

achieved through the proposed 

restoration activities, and identify the 

range of species expected to benefit. 

NOAA trust resource habitats include 

but are not limited to, estuaries, salt 

marshes, seagrass beds, coral reefs, 

shellfish reefs, mangrove forests, and 

riparian habitat near rivers, streams and 

creeks used by diadromous fish.

NMFS will emphasize selection of 

restoration projects that address habitats 

whose regional condition is 

compromised due to loss, 

fragmentation, presence of invasive 

species, or loss of functionality. In 

addition, habitat restoration projects 

will be favored if they are socially and 

economically important (e.g. will 

benefit essential fish habitat that 

supports commercial or recreational 

fishery resources, or that improves 

aesthetic and stewardship value of 

NOAA trust resource habitats) within 

their region. Within a given habitat, 

priority will also be given to project 

proposals that incorporate proven 

effective restoration techniques, address 

causes of habitat degradation/loss, and 

maximize cost-effectiveness.

Since the inception of the Program, 

West Coast projects have focused 

primarily on restoration of salmonid 

freshwater habitats. To broaden the 

scope of funded projects in the Pacific 

Northwest and California, the Program 

may give priority to proposals for 

projects that benefit multiple species, 

including non-salmonid resources, and 

projects that emphasize restoration of 

marine and estuarine habitats. The 

Program expects to continue to support 

freshwater salmonid habitat restoration 

efforts, however projects that benefit 

multiple species including nonsalmonid marine resources may receive 

greater funding consideration. In 

addition, any salmonid project that 

would occur where NOAA species 

recovery planning efforts are underway 

must be consistent with those planning 

efforts.

While the primary focus of the 

Program is to provide funding and 

technical expertise to support on-theground implementation of fishery 

habitat restoration projects that involve 

an outreach and/or volunteer 

component tied to the restoration 

activities, the Program recognizes that 

accomplishing restoration is a multifaceted effort involving project design, 

engineering services, permitting, shortterm baseline studies, construction, 

oversight, monitoring, and education 

and outreach. In cases where on-theground funding for a project has been 

secured or is deemed likely, and/or 

community support for a restoration 

project is high, but pre-implementation 

funding to conduct feasibility studies or 

engineering and design is limiting a 

project’s forward progress, the Program 

reserves the right to consider funding 

such pre-implementation activities. 

Proposals emphasizing a singular 

component, such as only education or 

program coordination will be 

discouraged, as will applications that 

propose to expand an organization’s 

day-to-day activities, or that primarily 

seek support for administration, 

salaries, overhead, and travel. Because 

requests for habitat restoration funds 

historically exceed funds available, 

funding land purchase agreements, 

conservation easements, and large 

equipment purchases such as vehicles, 

boats and similar items will receive low 

priority.

Although NMFS recognizes that water 

quality issues may impact habitat 

restoration efforts, this Program is 

intended to fund projects that target 

physical and/or biological habitat 

restoration rather than those that result 

in direct water chemistry improvements 

(i.e. wastewater treatment plant 

upgrades or combined sewer outfall 

corrections). Similarly, the following 

restoration projects will not be eligible 

for funding: (1) Activities that constitute 

legally required mitigation for the 

adverse effects of an activity regulated 

or otherwise governed by local, state or 

Federal law; (2) activities that constitute 

restoration for natural resource damages 

under Federal, state or local law; and (3) 

activities that are required by a separate 

consent decree, court order, statute or 

regulation. Funds from this Program 

may be sought to enhance restoration 

activities beyond the scope legally 

required by these activities.

Environmental Compliance

It is the applicant’s responsibility to 

obtain all necessary Federal, state and 

local government permits and approvals 

for the proposed work. Applicants are 

expected to design their projects so that 

they minimize the potential for adverse 

impacts to the environment. NOAA 

must analyze the potential 

environmental impacts, as required by 

the National Environmental Policy Act 

(NEPA), for applications that seek 

NOAA funding. Proposals should 

provide enough detail for NOAA to 

make a NEPA determination. Successful 

applications cannot be forwarded to the 

NOAA Grants Management Division 

with recommendations for funding until 

NOAA completes necessary NEPA 

documentation.

Consequently, as part of an 

applicant’s package, and under the 

Federal Register / Vol. 70, No. 163 / Wednesday, August 24, 2005 / Notices 49581

description of proposed activities, 

applicants will be required to provide 

detailed information on the activities to 

be conducted, such as site locations, 

species and habitat(s) to be affected, 

possible construction activities, and any 

environmental concerns that may exist 

(e.g., the use of and/or disposal of 

hazardous or toxic substances, 

introduction of non-indigenous species, 

impacts to endangered and threatened 

species, impacts to coral reef systems, 

etc.). For partnerships, where projectspecific details may not be available at 

the time an award is made, partners 

must meet the same environmental 

compliance requirements on subsequent 

sub-awards.

In addition to providing specific 

information that will serve as the basis 

for any required impact analyses, 

applicants may also be required to assist 

NOAA in drafting of an environmental 

assessment if NOAA determines an 

assessment is necessary and that one 

does not already exist for the activities 

proposed in the application. Applicants 

will also be required to cooperate with 

NOAA in identifying and implementing 

feasible measures to reduce or avoid any 

identified adverse environmental 

impacts of their proposal. The selecting 

official may decide, at the time of 

proposal review, to recommend funding 

a project in phases to enable an 

applicant to provide information needed 

for an environmental assessment, 

feasibility analysis or similar activity if 

a NEPA determination cannot be made 

for all activities in a particular 

application. The selecting official may 

also impose special award conditions 

that limit the use of funds for activities 

that have outstanding environmental 

compliance requirements. Special 

award conditions may also be imposed 

to ensure grantees consider and plan for 

the safety of volunteers, and provide 

appropriate credit for NOAA and other 

contributors, for example.

Funding Sources and Dispersal 

Mechanisms

The Restoration Center envisions 

funding projects through cooperative 

agreements and grants, contracts, joint 

project agreements, and intra- and 

interagency transfers, as appropriate.

A cooperative agreement is a legal 

instrument reflecting a relationship 

between NOAA and a recipient 

whenever (1) the principal purpose of 

the relationship is to provide financial 

assistance to the recipient and (2) 

substantial involvement is anticipated 

between NOAA and the recipient during 

performance of the contemplated 

activity. A grant is similar to a 

cooperative agreement, except that in 

the case of grants, substantial 

involvement between NOAA and the 

recipient is not anticipated during the 

performance of the contemplated 

activity. Financial assistance is the 

transfer of money, property, services or 

anything of value to a recipient in order 

to accomplish a public purpose of 

support or stimulation that is authorized 

by Federal statute.

A contract is a procurement 

instrument used when the primary 

purpose is to acquire goods or services 

for government use. Contracts may be 

used by the Program when NOAA 

directly implements priority restoration 

projects.

The Secretary of Commerce has 

authority to enter into joint project 

agreements with not-for-profit, research, 

or public organizations on matters of 

mutual interest, the cost of which is 

equitably apportioned. The principal 

purpose of a joint project agreement 

under this Program is to engage in a 

collaborative and equitably apportioned 

effort with a qualified organization on 

matters of mutual interest.

For purposes of this Program, 

interagency agreements are written 

documents that contain specific 

provisions of governing authorities, 

agency responsibilities, and funding. 

Such agreements are entered into 

between NOAA and a reimbursing 

Federal agency or between another 

Federal agency and NOAA when NOAA 

is the funding organization. Such 

agreements will also require the 

inclusion of a local sponsor for the 

restoration project.

The instrument chosen will be based 

on such factors as degree of direct 

NOAA involvement with the project 

beyond the provision of financial 

assistance, the proportion of funds 

invested in the project by NOAA and 

the other organizations, and the 

efficiency of the different mechanisms 

to achieve the Program’s goals and 

objectives. The Restoration Center will 

determine which method is the most 

appropriate based on the specific 

circumstances of each project.

NOAA reserves the right to fund 

individual projects directly, or through 

partnership arrangements. The Program 

will continue to create partnership 

arrangements at the national and 

regional level with organizations that 

have similar goals for improving 

fisheries habitat. Partnerships are a key 

element that allows the Restoration 

Center to significantly leverage the 

funding available for on-the-ground 

restoration. Partnerships also encourage 

sharing and distribution of technical 

expertise; they often improve 

coordination between diverse 

organizations with common goals, and 

they allow NOAA to reach larger and 

more diverse communities that have 

vested interests in fishery habitat 

restoration.

The Restoration Center will function 

in a clearinghouse capacity to help 

develop and link high quality habitat 

restoration proposals with other 

potential funding sources whose 

evaluation criteria contain similar 

specifications for habitat enhancement. 

This will provide greater exposure for 

project ideas and increase the chances 

for project proponents to secure 

funding.

Each year, the Restoration Center 

Director will determine the proportion 

of Program funds that will be allocated 

to National and Regional Habitat 

Restoration Partnerships and the 

proportion available for direct project 

funding. The proportion will be 

established annually and may depend 

upon the amount of funds available 

from partnership organizations to 

leverage NOAA dollars and the ability 

of partners to help NOAA fund a broad 

array of projects over a wide geographic 

distribution. A synopsis of the 

partnership and/or project funding 

opportunity will be published in 

NOAA’s Omnibus Federal Register

Notice, typically in June of each year. 

Potential applicants will be directed to 

additional information contained in any 

Federal Funding Opportunity (FFO) 

announced on www.grants.gov. FFO’s 

will contain a Funding Opportunity 

Description, Award Information, 

Eligibility Information, Application and 

Submission Information, Application 

Review and Selection Information, 

Award Administration Information, 

Administrative and National 

Environmental Policy Act 

Requirements, Agency Contacts, and 

other information for potential 

applicants.

The public should note that since 

publication of the initial Program 

Guidelines in 2000, NOAA has adopted 

five standard evaluation criteria for all 

its competitive grant programs, as 

follows: (1) Importance and 

Applicability of Proposal -This criterion 

ascertains whether there is intrinsic 

value in the proposed work and/or 

relevance to NOAA, Federal, regional, 

state or local activities; (2) Technical/

Scientific Merit This criterion assesses 

whether the approach is technically 

sound and/or innovative, if the methods 

are appropriate, and whether there are 

clear project goals and objectives; (3) 

Overall Qualifications of Applicants 

This criterion ascertains whether the 

applicant possesses the necessary 

education, experience, training, 

49582 Federal Register / Vol. 70, No. 163 / Wednesday, August 24, 2005 / Notices 

facilities, and administrative resources 

to accomplish the project; (4) Project 

Costs - This criterion evaluates the 

budget to determine if it is realistic and 

commensurate with the project needs 

and time-frame; and (5) Outreach, 

Education, and Community 

Involvement - NOAA assesses whether 

the project provides a focused and 

effective education and outreach 

strategy regarding NOAA’s mission. 

Information on how these criteria are 

specifically applied in the context of 

Community-based Restoration Program 

application evaluation are described 

each year in the FFO, and are currently 

available for the Program for FY 2006 on 

www.grants.gov (funding opportunity 

number NMFS-HCPO–2006–2000334).

Funding Ranges

In 2005, the Restoration Center 

accepted proposals requesting between 

$30,000 and $250,000; typical 

restoration project awards range from 

$50,000 to $200,000. This represents an 

increase in upper and lower funding 

ranges for projects from earlier Program 

Guidelines. Funding at lower levels 

(<$15,000) is no longer cost-effective 

due to increasing operational costs 

necessary to ensure environmental 

compliance; funding fewer projects at 

higher dollar amounts has also led to 

increases in Program efficiency.

Awards for establishing multi-year, 

National and Regional Habitat 

Restoration ‘‘umbrella’’ Partnerships, 

under which individual projects will be 

jointly reviewed and prioritized for 

funding, are anticipated to range 

between $100,000 and $2.0 million, 

with that range of funding anticipated to 

be provided to successful partnerships 

annually during a partnership’s 

duration. Subsequent allocation of 

funding during the multi-year award 

period will be dependent on the 

satisfactory performance of the partner 

organization.

Project and Partnership solicitations 

(FFO’s) will contain information on 

funding ranges, the weighting of 

NOAA’s standard evaluation criteria, 

and additional factors that may be used 

by the selecting official to recommend a 

slate of projects to the Grants 

Management Division to receive awards. 

The number of awards and funding 

ranges to be made in FY 2006 and 

beyond will depend on the amount of 

funds appropriated to the Program 

annually by Congress.

Examples of Previously Funded Projects

The following examples are 

community-based restoration projects 

that have been funded with assistance 

from the Restoration Center. These 

examples are only illustrative and are 

not intended to limit the scope of future 

proposals in any way.

Fish Ladder Construction

An impediment to fish passage was 

corrected through the design and 

construction of a step-pool fish ladder, 

which now allows native steelhead trout 

to reach their historic spawning 

grounds.

Invasive Plant Removal

A coalition of volunteer groups called 

‘‘Pepper busters’’ worked to remove 

exotic Brazilian pepper plants and 

replant native shoreline vegetation.

Salt Marsh Restoration

An undersized culvert was replaced 

to increase the mean high water level in 

the restricted portion of a marsh and 

restore tidal flushing to 20 acres of salt 

marsh.

Oyster Reef Restoration

Oyster reef habitat was increased by 

reconstructing historic reefs and seeding 

them with hatchery-produced seed 

oysters grown in floating cages by 

students.

Submerged Aquatic Vegetation 

Restoration

An evaluation of the feasibility of 

using volunteer divers to restore 

seagrass was developed. A protocol was 

created to train volunteers in water 

quality monitoring and seagrass 

transplantation techniques.

Kelp Forest Restoration

Community dive groups were trained 

in kelp reforestation activities, 

including the preparation, planting and 

maintenance of kelp sites, 

documentation of growth patterns, and 

changes in marine life attracted to the 

newly planted kelp areas.

Wetland Plant Nursery

An innovative wetland nursery 

program was implemented in local high 

schools, where science and ecology 

classes build wetland nurseries on 

campus to grow salt marsh grasses for 

local restoration efforts.

Derelict Fishing Gear Removal

A pilot project consisted of 

developing protocols and conducting 

initial removal efforts. After surveying, 

locating, and mapping derelict fishing 

gear, a minimum of 11 tons of lost and 

abandoned fishing gear was removed by 

licensed and certified divers.

Nuisance Dam Removal

Two small stone dams blocked fish 

migration, and degraded water quality 

and prey habitat conditions for 

anadromous fish. The dams, while only 

several feet high, also presented a public 

safety hazard. This project resulted in 

opening stream habitat to anadromous 

fish, restoring acres of tidal wetlands, 

and removal of a public safety hazard.

Riparian Habitat Restoration

Youth corps members were trained in 

the use of biorestoration and 

stabilization techniques to restore 

eroding riverbanks and improve habitat 

for salmon smolt and other fish species.

Diadromous Fish Habitat Restoration

Highly functional salmonid and 

wildlife habitat was restored with the 

cooperation of private landowners by 

opening silted enclosures along a slough 

to provide refuge for juvenile salmonids 

during the winter flood flows.

Dated: August 19, 2005.

William T. Hogarth,

Assistant Administrator for Fisheries, 

National Marine Fisheries. Service.

[FR Doc. 05–16844 Filed 8–23–05; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3510–22–S

CORPORATION FOR NATIONAL AND 

COMMUNITY SERVICE 

Information Collection; Submission for 

OMB Review; Comment Request

AGENCY: Corporation for National and 

Community Service.

ACTION: Notice.

SUMMARY: The Corporation for National 

and Community Service (hereinafter the 

‘‘Corporation’’), has submitted a public 

information collection request (ICR) 

entitled AmeriCorps*VISTA Progress 

Report to the Office of Management and 

Budget (OMB) for review and approval 

in accordance with the Paperwork 

Reduction Act of 1995, Pub. L. 104–13, 

(44 U.S.C. Chapter 35). Copies of this 

ICR, with applicable supporting 

documentation, may be obtained by 

calling the Corporation for National and 

Community Service, Ms. Carol Rogers at 

(202) 606–6815 or e-mail at 

crogers@cns.gov. Individuals who use a 

telecommunications device for the deaf 

(TTY–TDD) may call (202) 565–2799 

between 8:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. eastern 

time, Monday through Friday.

ADDRESSES: Comments may be 

submitted, identified by the title of the 

information collection activity, to the 

Office of Information and Regulatory 

Affairs, Attn: Ms. Katherine Astrich, 

OMB Desk Officer for the Corporation 

for National and Community Service, by 

any of the following two methods