Grantee Research Project Results

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Office of Research and Development
National Center for Environmental Research
Science to Achieve Results (STAR) Program
U. S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service (CSREES)
Agricultural Food and Research Initiative Competitive Grants Program

CLOSED - FOR REFERENCES PURPOSES ONLY

Recipients List

Enhancing Ecosystem Services From Agricultural Lands: Management, Quantification, And Developing Decision Support Tools

This is the initial announcement of this funding opportunity.

Funding Opportunity Number: EPA-G2008-STAR-K1

Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) Number: EPA: 66.509, USDA: 10.310

Solicitation Opening Date: February 25, 2009
Solicitation Closing Date: May 26, 2009, 4:00 pm Eastern Time

Eligibility Contact: William Stelz (stelz.william@epa.gov); phone: 202-343-9802
Electronic Submissions: Ron Josephson (josephson.ron@epa.gov); phone: 202-343-9643; email: josephson.ron@epa.gov
EPA Technical Contact: Anne Sergeant (sergeant.anne@epa.gov); phone: 202-343-9661; email: sergeant.anne@epa.gov
USDA Technical Contact: Diana Jerkins (djerkins@csrees.usda.gov); phone: 202-401-6996; email djerkins@csrees.usda.gov

Table of Contents:
SUMMARY OF PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS
	Synopsis of Program
	Award Information
	Eligibility Information
	Application Materials
	Agency Contacts
I. FUNDING OPPORTUNITY DESCRIPTION
	A. Introduction
	B. Background
	C. Authority and Regulations
	D. Specific Areas of Interest/Expected Outputs and Outcomes
	E. References
	F. Special Requirements
II. AWARD INFORMATION
III. ELIGIBILITY INFORMATION
	A. Eligible Applicants
	B. Cost Sharing
	C. Other
IV. APPLICATION AND SUBMISSION INFORMATION
	A. Internet Address to Request Application Package
	B. Content and Form of Application Submission
	C. Submission Dates and Times
	D. Funding Restrictions
	E. Submission Instructions and Other Submission Requirements
V. APPLICATION REVIEW INFORMATION
	A. Peer Review
	B. Programmatic Review
	C. Funding Decisions
VI. AWARD ADMINISTRATION INFORMATION
	A. Award Notices
	B. Disputes
	C. Administrative and National Policy Requirements
VII. AGENCY CONTACTS

Access Standard STAR Forms
Research awarded under previous solicitations

SUMMARY OF PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS

Synopsis of Program:
The U. S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), as part of its Agricultural and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) Competitive Grants Program and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), as part of its Science to Achieve Results (STAR) program, are seeking applications proposing research on the ecosystem services provided by agricultural lands. Ecosystem services are the goods and services derived from natural and managed ecosystems upon which human welfare depends. Because of the global intensification of land use, these services are in decline, especially in agricultural ecosystems. Ecosystem services are essential in maintaining both human welfare as well as ecological integrity, yet these services can be affected by natural changes and management actions. In addition, agricultural lands are experiencing significant land use changes as demonstrated by the rapid conversion of these lands from traditional farming use, to alternate farming practices, to urban development, and to non-agricultural use.

Award Information:
Anticipated Type of Award: Grant or Cooperative Agreement
Estimated Number of Awards:

• EPA: Approximately 2 awards are anticipated with an estimated total funding level of approximately $1 Million.
  USDA: Approximately 7 awards are anticipated with an estimated funding level of approximately $3.5 Million.

Potential Funding per Award: Proposed project budget requests must not exceed $500,000 (including direct and indirect costs) with a maximum duration of 4 years for USDA and EPA grants. Proposals with budgets exceeding the total award limits will not be considered. Cost-sharing is not required.

 

Eligibility Information:
EPA
Public nonprofit institutions/organizations (includes public institutions of higher education and hospitals) and private nonprofit institutions/organizations (includes private institutions of higher education and hospitals) located in the U.S., state and local governments, Federally Recognized Indian Tribal Governments, and U.S. territories or possessions are eligible to apply. See full announcement for more details.

USDA
Except where otherwise prohibited by law, State agricultural experiment stations, all colleges and universities, other research institutions and organizations, Federal agencies, National Laboratories, private organizations or corporations, and individuals are eligible to apply for and to receive a competitive grant through the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative of Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service (CSREES).

Application Materials:
To apply under this solicitation, use the application package available at Grants.gov (for further submission information see Section IV.E. “Submission Instructions and other Submission Requirements”).  The necessary forms for submitting a STAR application will be found on the National Center for Environmental Research (NCER) web site, https://www.epa.gov/research-grants/funding-opportunities-how-apply-and-required-forms. If your organization is not currently registered with Grants.gov, you need to allow approximately one week to complete the registration process.  This registration, and electronic submission of your application, must be performed by an authorized representative of your organization.

If you do not have the technical capability to utilize the Grants.gov application submission process for this solicitation, call 1-800-490-9194 or send a webmail message to https://www.epa.gov/research-grants/forms/contact-us-about-research-grants at least 15 calendar working days before the submission deadline to assure timely receipt of alternate submission instructions.  In your message  provide the funding opportunity number and title of the program, specify that you are requesting alternate submission instructions, and provide a telephone number, fax number, and an email address, if available.  Alternate instructions will be e-mailed whenever possible.  Any applications submitted through alternate submission methods must comply with all the provisions of this RFA, including Section IV, and be received by the solicitation closing date identified above.

Agency Contacts:
Eligibility Contact: William Stelz (stelz.william@epa.gov); phone: 202-343-9802
Electronic Submissions: Ron Josephson (josephson.ron@epa.gov); phone: 202-343-9643; email: josephson.ron@epa.gov
EPA Technical Contact: Anne Sergeant (sergeant.anne@epa.gov); phone: 202-343-9661; email: sergeant.anne@epa.gov
USDA Technical Contact: Diana Jerkins (djerkins@csrees.usda.gov); phone: 202-401-6996; email: djerkins@csrees.usda.gov

I. FUNDING OPPORTUNITY DESCRIPTION

A. Introduction
Ecosystem services are the goods and services derived from natural and managed ecosystems upon which human welfare depends. Because of the global intensification of land use, these services are in decline, especially in agricultural ecosystems. Ecosystem services are essential in maintaining human welfare as well as ecological integrity, yet these services can be affected by natural changes and management actions. In addition, agricultural lands are experiencing significant land use changes as demonstrated by the rapid conversion of these lands from traditional farming use, to alternate farming practices, to urban development, and to non-agricultural use.

Agricultural ecosystems provide a vast array of goods and services. Even though ecosystem services relate to all USDA and CSREES strategic goals, CSREES AFRI is interested in expanding the current ecosystem services portfolio and would like to focus on Goal 3, “Supporting Increased Economic Opportunities and Improved Quality of Life in Rural America,” and Goal 6, “Protect and Enhance the Nation’s Natural Resource Base and Environment.” Agroecosystems of interest include cropping, forestry, range and grasslands ecosystems. A program focusing on ecosystem services provides an organized approach in developing basic and applied research projects to deliver scientifically based information for advising and guiding agricultural management, social, and policy decisions. Using a systems approach would expand current CSREES efforts on ecosystem services to evaluate multiple ecosystem services interactions and attributes at larger geographic scales. As more services become monetized, the issues of scale become increasingly important. One service should not be provided at the expense of other services and the long-term productivity of the system. Validation and quantification of the levels and number of services provided for will become necessary to maximize production efficiencies.

Accordingly, USDA and EPA are sponsoring research on ecosystem services, environmental management options, and the development of decision-support tools to assist decision-making by farmers and ranchers, state and local governments and by tribal nations. The EPA currently supports a number of research grants related to ecosystem services resulting from previous solicitations. Information regarding current research can be found on the Office of Research and Development’s National Center for Environmental Research (NCER) web site. The USDA/CSREES AFRI currently supports several research projects related to ecosystem services primarily through their Agroecosystem and Rural Prosperity cluster of programs. Information on these programs and current funded projects can be found at http://www.csrees.usda.gov/funding/afri/afri.html.

B. Background
More than 900 million acres of land are presently in agricultural production in the United States, comprising approximately 41% of the total area (USDA 2002). These working lands are also known as agricultural ecosystems or agroecosystems. They are dynamic associations of crops, pastures, forests, livestock, other flora and fauna, atmosphere, soils, and water. Agroecosystems are contained within larger landscapes that include uncultivated land, drainage networks, rural and urban communities, and wildlife.

Agroecosystems are among the most ancient of human-modified landscapes. For millennia they have been managed to provide essential services such as food, fuel, and fiber. Demands for these services, especially the production of biologically based fuels, have increased in recent years. Farms and timberland can also provide less visible ecosystem services, such as internal cycling of nutrients, retention of soils and sediments, mitigation of flood damage, climate-change regulation, and protection of biodiversity (MEA 2005). New research and spatially explicit models and other analytical tools are needed to assess the array of ecosystem services that could be provided from agricultural ecosystems both now and in the future. Ideally, new tools will be developed that identify how the pattern, connectivity, and management of agroecosystems could enhance the production of ecosystem services (e.g., enhanced riparian and aquatic habitat, carbon sequestration, ecological processes that affect the spread of invasive plants or animals, enhanced biodiversity, control of crop pests by natural predators), while reducing undesirable impacts such as non-point source pollution, eutrophication of lakes, rivers, and estuaries, and degraded groundwater and air quality. An important goal of this research is to provide a scientific framework to identify ways in which environmental protection goals can be integrated with management of agricultural ecosystems, especially at regional and sub-regional scales of analysis.

Agroecosytems are embedded in a larger landscape mosaic of rural and urban communities that drain to natural and engineered water bodies and are connected within airsheds via climate and weather patterns. This embedment contributes, in part, to the environmental externalities associated with agriculture, especially those related to the quality of air and water resources. Approximately 70 percent of U.S. rivers and streams and 49 percent of lakes are impaired by agricultural runoff which can contain sediments, nutrients and pathogens. Agricultural nutrients also promote eutrophication in receiving coastal waters, contributing to major shifts in the composition and abundances of aquatic plants and animals (Martinetto et al. 2006). Since the 1970s, nitrate flux from the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico has increased, causing a persistent and large summer hypoxia (Turner et al. 2005). A significant amount of this nitrogen comes from agriculture: only about 30-50% of the nitrogen and 45% of phosphorous applied to fields is taken up by crops (Cassman et al. 2002; Smil 2000).

Agricultural production can also affect air quality. Agriculture has become dependent upon fixing inorganic nitrogen from the atmosphere to meet production demands. Unfortunately, agriculture is extremely inefficient at utilizing this fixed or reactive nitrogen. Once fixed, reactive nitrogen is converted back to atmospheric N₂ gas at a rate that is well below the rate inorganic nitrogen is fixed, resulting in a net annual increase of reactive nitrogen. Inefficiencies in N use can degrade the environment and lead to large pools of reactive N in air, water and soil resources. About a quarter of nitrogen oxides, or NO_x, -- an important component of smog -- released into the atmosphere comes from agricultural soils. Farming also contributes to atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases: 50% of the anthropogenic emissions of CH₄ and 70% of N₂O come from agricultural systems (Bhatia et al. 2004). Manure from livestock operations also contributes significant amounts of NH₃, which can be transported off-site via air or water.

Negative impacts of agricultural production are exacerbated by our changing climate (see, for instance, http://www.climatescience.gov/Library/sap/sap4-3/default.php); this in turn is driving many ecosystems across thresholds that are important for land, natural resource and agricultural production managers to consider. Appropriate natural resource management strategies and strategies for monitoring climate signals and ecosystem responses are needed in response to the increased scientific understanding of these signals and responses. In the face of mounting evidence of the biological and ecological consequences of climate change, and of the possibility that ecosystem changes may in fact be rapid, large, and sometimes irreversible (i.e. there may be thresholds that, once crossed, will present serious coping challenges to humans), policy makers and resource managers are confronted with the need to develop ways to proceed with decision-making in the realms of both mitigation and adaptation, despite the many uncertainties associated with thresholds. Understanding the speed, magnitude, and reversibility of climate change impacts on the natural environment and the potential consequences for the provision of ecosystem services is fundamental to human well being.

EPA has identified in its Strategic Plan its goal to maintain Healthy Communities and Ecosystems using integrated and comprehensive approaches and partnerships. Ecosystem services are provided by ecosystem structure and function. These services are essential to maintaining human welfare and ecological integrity, yet they can be affected by natural and human stressors and by management actions. Authority to manage water resources and privately owned lands is delegated to states and localities, but EPA shares with states and tribal nations the responsibility for implementing regulations related to maintaining the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of aquatic ecosystems; protecting groundwater quality; ensuring clean air, and protecting against adverse consequences of pesticide use.

The specific Strategic Goal and Objective from EPA’s Strategic Plan that relate to this solicitation are Goal 4: Healthy Communities and Ecosystems, Objective 4.4: Enhance Science and Research.

The EPA’s Strategic Plan can be found at https://www.epa.gov/ocfo/plan/2006/entire_report.pdf (PDF) (184 pp, 11.56 MB).

C. Authority and Regulations
The EPA authority for this RFA and resulting awards is contained in the Clean Water Act, Section 104, 33 U.S.C. 1254; the Safe Drinking Water Act, Section 1442, 42 U.S.C. 300j-1; the Clean Air Act, Section 103, 42 U.S.C. 7403; and the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act, Section 20, 7 U.S.C. 136r.

For research with an international aspect, the above statutes are supplemented, as appropriate, by the National Environmental Policy Act, Section 102(2)(F).

Applicable regulations include: 40 CFR Part 30 (Uniform Administrative Requirements for Grants and Agreements with Institutions of Higher Education, Hospitals, and Other Non-Profit Organizations), 40 CFR Part 31 (Uniform Administrative Requirements for Grants and Cooperative Agreements to State and Local Governments) and 40 CFR Part 40 (Research and Demonstration Grants). Applicable OMB Circulars include: OMB Circular A-21 (Cost Principles for Educational Institutions) relocated to 2 CFR Part 220, OMB Circular A-87 (Cost Principles for State, Local and Indian Tribal Governments) relocated to 2 CFR Part 225, OMB Circular A-102 (Grants and Cooperative Agreements With State and Local Governments), OMB Circular A-110 (Uniform Administrative Requirements for Grants and Other Agreements with Institutions of Higher Education, Hospitals and Other Non-Profit Organizations) relocated to 2 CFR Part 215, and OMB Circular A-122, (Cost Principles for Non-Profit Organizations) relocated to 2 CFR Part 230.

The USDA authority for this RFA is contained in section 7406 of the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act (FCEA) of 2008. Under this authority, subject to the availability of funds, the Secretary may award competitive research grants, for periods not to exceed five years, for the support of research projects to further the programs of the USDA. This program is subject to the provision found at 7 CFR Part 3430. These provisions set forth procedures to be followed when submitting grant applications, rules governing the evaluation of applications and the awarding of grants, and regulations relating to the post-award administration of grant projects.

D. Specific Research Areas of Interest/Expected Outputs and Outcomes
Note to applicant:  The term “output” means an environmental activity or effort, and associated work products, related to a specific environmental goal(s), (e.g., testing a new methodology), that will be produced or developed over a period of time under the agreement. The term “outcome” means the result, effect, or consequence that will occur from the above activity(ies) that is related to an environmental, behavioral, or health-related objective.

This solicitation seeks proposals to [1] develop methods to quantitatively estimate the variety of potential ecosystem services associated with a given agricultural setting and to portray the range of possible combinations of such services that could be produced over space and time and [2] develop quantitative strategies to reduce the negative environmental impacts of agriculture while enhancing the ecosystem services provided by these working lands.  As noted by the National Academy of Sciences (2004), the translation from ecosystem structure and function to ecosystem goods and services is described by an ecological production function, i.e., the goods and services that can be produced from inputs of natural and human capital, labor, and other resources.  The following graphic provides a heuristic view of such production functions, comparing the type and relative magnitude of example services that are provided from natural systems, from intensive farmlands, and from croplands with restored ecosystem services.

Figure 1.  Three hypothetical landscapes illustrating the types and magnitude of services associated with different types of ecosystems.  Natural ecosystems can support many ecosystem services at high levels, but not food production.  An intensive cropland produces food in abundance, but comparatively little of the other services.  A managed cropland can support a broad portfolio of ecosystem services (Foley et al. 2005, with permission).

  This program seeks to:

• Evaluate the effectiveness of current managed agricultural systems or practices and determine the consequences of change due to biological, environmental, economic, or other factors on the sustainability of ecosystem services;
• Provide a scientific framework to identify ways in which providing for ecosystem services can be integrated with management of agricultural ecosystems; and
• Enable producers, resource managers, and policy makers to better understand ecosystem functions and optimizing services, including the response of these systems to changing environmental conditions and future agricultural scenarios. With this understanding, they can have an informed scientific basis for managing agricultural lands and develop strategies to continue to optimize ecosystem services.

Proposals must: (1) describe a selected agroecosystem that is at high risk of losing multiple high value ecosystem services; (2) address all three Project Activity areas (below) and select an appropriate spatial scale(s) for the development of management and decision support tools; and (3) select one or more environmental stressor(s) impacting the chosen agroecosystem of study.  Projects can link multiple stressors.  Applicants are encouraged to incorporate a multi-disciplinary approach and have stakeholder involvement.

High Risk Agroecosystems

Agroecosystems of interest are those that are at high risk of losing existing ecosystem services due to land use conversion or change and environmental impacts. Priority will be given to agroecosystems that produce high economic value products and/or have potential for high value market or non-market ecosystem services. Agroecosystems must be subject to the specific environmental stressors mentioned below over various temporal and geographic scales. They could include those that are at ‘tipping points’ or altered to the point that it would be difficult for the system to revert to its previous state even if the stressor causing the change is reduced or eliminated.

Project Activities

1. Baseline: Identify and quantify the quality and quantity of the multiple ecosystem services provided by the selected agroecosystem at the farm, watershed, or regional scale;
2. Ecosystem change: Evaluate how ecosystem services and agricultural practices under changing ecological thresholds/functioning are impacted by major environmental stressors (see stressor list below); and
3. Management strategies and tools: Develop quantitative strategies to mitigate and respond to environmental impacts caused by stressors on agricultural lands so that ecosystems function sustainably to optimize ecosystem services. Physical, biological, and economic benefits and trade-offs of various agricultural practices supporting ecosystem services should be considered. Management strategies should be used to develop scale specific decision support tools for: a) producers of agricultural systems at the whole farm level, and/or b) managers and policy makers of natural resources at a watershed or regional scale.

Stressor Emphasis:

• Climate Change: Climate change has the potential to irreversibly alter ecological processes in agricultural ecosystems, such as agricultural lands, forests and rangelands that provide ecosystem services. Research should focus on climate–coupled modeling to describe and predict thresholds or trends in resilience of agricultural lands, forests or rangelands that affect their ability to provide ecosystem services under altered seasonal or extreme climate-driven conditions, such as changes in precipitation, temperature and atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations. Projects should also identify options for managing these agroecosystems as climate-driven physical, ecological and societal thresholds are approached to avoid irreversible changes in ecological processes that support ecosystem services.

• Water Availability: Agricultural practices account for the single largest use of water supplies around the world. While climate influences where crops will grow, water availability is necessary for crop success. Research should evaluate risks and economic options for balancing water supplies for agricultural production and processing with desired ecosystem services such as protection of endangered aquatic plant and animal species in wetlands, water quantity and quality, flood control, ground water recharge, biodiversity.

• Reactive Nitrogen: Nitrogen from farms and feedlots is a major source of ecosystem pollution (i.e., air, soil, and water systems). Agroecosystem projects impacted by reactive nitrogen should develop methods to increase nitrogen efficiency in the system by improved uptake and availability to plant and animal systems that result in improved ecosystem services; and determine effective ways to interrupt the nitrogen cycle to reduce the impairment of ecosystems services by nitrogen. Projects should develop process-based models to estimate leakage of nitrogen in agroecosystems and to predict where improvements in ecosystem services are likely through better nitrogen management.

• Pests, Weeds and Invasive Species: Agricultural pests, weeds, and invasive species are major culprits in the reduction of worldwide crop yields, not to mention post-harvest losses. Projects focusing on these issues should seek to quantify, provide valuation and forecast changes in the services provided by agroecosystems brought about directly or indirectly through pests, weeds, and/or invasive species.  Proposed research might investigate how pests, weeds, and/or invasive species impact the ability of agroecosystems to provide food, fuel, fiber, as well as those processes affecting air and water quality, climate, erosion control, and human diseases.

• Soil and Land Degradation: Changing land use and land cover can sometimes lead to degradation of the soil resource due to erosion and structural changes, soil saturation, salinization, acidification, and contamination.  This degradation of soil and landscapes puts stress on agroecosystems (including agricultural, forest, and range lands) and diminishes their capacity to provide important ecosystem services.  Research under this stressor should use, improve, or develop process-based models to evaluate risk and determine effective strategies to avoid or mitigate the loss of ecosystems services in areas sensitive to these stressors.  Applicants who choose this topic must link it to one of the four stressor emphasis areas listed above (i.e., climate change; water availability; reactive nitrogen; or pests, weeds, and invasive species).

Proposals must describe the rationale for selecting a portfolio of two or more services to be investigated.  For example, some of these services are relatively specific to particular times and geographic locations, such as regulating water quantity and quality in certain wetlands or river reaches.  Others are more broadly regional, such as uptake of nutrients to reduce hypoxia in estuaries.  Still others can be regional to global in scope, such as sequestering carbon or reducing greenhouse gases.  Proposals should describe the benefits of the study design for enhancing the production of ecosystem services from agricultural ecosystems at the regional and sub-regional scales of analysis, including geographic networks of lands at the rural / urban interface.  Areas that are at high risk of losing existing ecosystem services or those that have the greatest potential for restoring or improving ecosystem services are of special interest.

Successful proposals will describe the types of products and outputs anticipated from the research and the role of these outputs in yielding environmental outcomes; e.g., measurable changes in services, contributions to human welfare, or improved ecological condition.  The following types of outputs are especially desired:  maps and other spatial-analysis products, predictive models, quantitative information on ecosystem services and associated ecological production functions, and decision-support tools.  These outputs are not necessarily mutually exclusive; some research results may contribute to more than one output.  It is expected that a wide range of analytical methods may be employed, including dynamic modeling, neutral terrain modeling, scenario-building, and optimization procedures.  Proposals must describe the data used to develop, parameterize, and test these analytical methods.

Estimates of ecosystem services produced from the research should be expressed as quantitatively as possible and with explicit reference to dimensions of space and time.  For example, ecosystem services could be expressed as rates, stocks, or flows; as changes to baseline conditions; or other quantitative measures.  These measures of ecosystem services should be chosen for their relevance to managing natural resources, managing risks to people or the environment, and to making market decisions.  Examples of market decisions include those related to water quality trading, selection and purchase of conservation easements to achieve specific conservation objectives, and carbon offset markets.  For example, a useful research result would be to quantify that a given management practice could reduce pesticide use by X% over a specified spatial area, and reduce peak annual floods and associated sedimentation by Y% over a twenty mile river segment over a Z- year time horizon.  Estimates of associated economic costs or benefits associated with the ecosystem services are strongly encouraged.

For maps and other spatial-analysis products, proposals should describe how multiple services associated with a given location will be addressed.  For example, wetlands might yield multiple benefits such as denitrification, flood storage capacity, and maintenance of bird communities that reduce pest species.  For ecological production functions, proposals should describe how the research is anticipated to provide information about the effect of management options on the type, magnitude, and timing of services provided, and to advance issues related to identifying and evaluating trade-offs among services.

Proposals must also describe the environmental outcomes that might reasonably be expected from successful implementation of their research findings.  For example, outcomes related to improved ecosystem integrity and resilience might include the following: nutrients are recycled in-place, not exported downstream; rivers, lakes, and coastal areas are not over-fertilized, noxious weeds and “dead-zones” are avoided; spring flood waters are held on fields, reducing downstream flooding, transport of pollutants, and associated damages; soil erosion is minimized, reducing land degradation and pesticide transport, and improving air and water quality; pesticide uses that disrupt natural pollination and natural pest control are avoided; biodiversity is enhanced.

Finally, proposals should discuss how research results could be used to create or improve decision-support tools in order to enable resource managers, agricultural producers, and decision-makers to proactively manage agricultural ecosystems and the services they provide.  These decision tools should provide ways to describe and compare multiple ecosystem attributes, including information on the availability, reliability, and possible synergies among ecosystem services over space and time.  In particular, the proposed research should enable development of testable hypotheses about when and where enhanced ecosystem services would be expected to be observed and to describe the expected lag-times between management decisions and observed environmental outcomes.  Ideally, decision support tools supported by this solicitation will enable users to compare trade-offs in ecosystem services provided by agricultural lands at farm to regional scales. Research teams that involve farmers associations, resource managers, economists, and financial analysts in the testing and demonstration of these support tools are strongly encouraged.

E. References
American Farmland Trust.  2006.  http://www.farmland.org/

Bhatia, A., Pathak, H., and Aggarwal, P. K.  2004.  Inventory of methane and nitrous oxide emissions from agricultural soils in India and their global-warming potential.  Current Science 87:317-324.

Cassman, K.G., Dobermann, A., and Walters, D. 2002. Agroecosystems, nitrogen-use efficiency, and nitrogen management. AMBIO 31:132-140.

Cleveland, C.J. et al. 2006.   Economic value of the pest control service provided by Brazilian  free-tailed bats in south-central Texas.  Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment.  4(5):238-243.

Foley, J. A. et al. 2005.  Global consequences of land use.  Science 309 :570-574.  http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/short/309/5734/570

Kremen, C., Williams, N.M., Thorp, R.W. 2002. Crop pollination from native bees at risk from agricultural intensification. PNAS, 99:16812-16816.

Martinetto, P., Teichberg, M., and Valiela, I.  2006.  Coupling of estuarine benthic and pelagic food webs to land-derived nitrogen sources in Waquoit Bay, Massachusetts, USA.  Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser. 307:37–48.

Millennium Ecosystem Assessment.  2005.  Ecosystems and Human Well-Being.  vol. 1.  Current State and Trends.  Washington DC: Island Press.

National Academy of Sciences.  2004.  Valuing Ecosystem Services: Toward Better Environmental Decision-making. http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=11139

Smil, V.  2000.  Phosphorous in the environment: natural flows and human interferences.  Annu. Rev. Energy Environ. 25:53-88.

Turner, R. E., Rabalais, N. N., Swenson, E. M., Kasprzak, M., and Romaire, T.  2005.  Summer hypoxia in the northern Gulf of Mexico and its prediction from 1978 to 1995.  Mar. Environ. Res.  59:65-77.

USDA 2002 (http://www.ers.usda.gov/StateFacts/US.htm)

F. Special Requirements
Multiple Investigator applications may be submitted as: (1) a single Lead Principal Investigator (PI) application with Co-PI(s) or (2) a Multiple PI application (with a single Contact PI). If you choose to submit a Multiple PI application, you must follow the specific instructions provided in Sections IV. and V. of this RFA. For further information, please see the EPA Implementation Plan for Policy on Multiple Principal Investigators and the CSREES, USDA, Implementation Plan for Recognizing Multiple Principle Investigators on Federally-Funded Research Projects, both at (http://rbm.nih.gov/toolkit.htm).

The application must include a plan (see “Data Plan” in section IV.B.5.c.) to make available to the public all data generated from observations, analyses, or model development (primary data) and any secondary (or existing) data used under an agreement awarded from this RFA. The data must be available in a format and with documentation such that they may be used by others in the scientific community.

These awards may involve the collection of “Geospatial Information,” which includes information that identifies the geographic location and characteristics of natural or constructed features or boundaries on the Earth or applications, tools, and hardware associated with the generation, maintenance, or distribution of such information. This information may be derived from, among other things, a Geographic Positioning System (GPS), remote sensing, mapping, charting, and surveying technologies, or statistical data.

EPA
Agency technical staff and managers are prevented from providing individual applicants with information that may create an unfair competitive advantage. Consequently, Agency employees will not review, comment, advise, and/or provide technical assistance to applicants preparing applications in response to RFAs, nor will they endorse an application or discuss in any manner how the Agency will apply the published evaluation criteria for this competition.

The most competitive proposals will involve local governments and/or state environmental managers. Successful applicants will direct their communicative efforts toward the appropriate user community, i.e., State, Tribal, or local agency. These efforts shall include, but are not limited to: disseminating research results, identifying potential research products (i.e., decision support tools, intervention strategies/techniques, etc.) and discussing a strategy for coordinating the demonstration of these tools and techniques to these communities.

II. AWARD INFORMATION

It is anticipated that a total of approximately $4.5 million will be awarded under this announcement, depending on the availability of funds and quality of applications received.  USDA and EPA will commit up to approximately $3.5 million, and up to $1 million, respectively.  A total of approximately 9 grants or cooperative agreements are anticipated for funding.

EPA
The EPA anticipates funding approximately two awards under this RFA.  Requests for amounts in excess of a total of $500,000, including direct and indirect costs, will not be considered.  The total project period requested in an application submitted for this RFA may not exceed 4 years.  The EPA reserves the right to reject all applications and make no awards, or make fewer awards than anticipated, under this RFA.  The EPA reserves the right to make additional awards under this announcement, consistent with Agency policy, if additional funding becomes available after the original selections are made.  Any additional selections for awards will be made no later than six months after the original selection decisions.

EPA may award both grants and cooperative agreements under this announcement.

Under a grant, EPA scientists and engineers are not permitted to be substantially involved in the execution of the research.  However, EPA encourages interaction between its own laboratory scientists and grant Principal Investigators after the award of an EPA grant for the sole purpose of exchanging information in research areas of common interest that may add value to their respective research activities.  This interaction must be incidental to achieving the goals of the research under a grant.  Interaction that is “incidental” does not involve resource commitments.

Where appropriate, based on consideration of the nature of the proposed project relative to the EPA’s intramural research program and available resources, the EPA may award cooperative agreements under this announcement.  When addressing a research question/problem of common interest, collaborations between scientists and the institution’s principal investigators are permitted under a cooperative agreement.  These collaborations may include data and information exchange, providing technical input to experimental design and theoretical development, coordinating extramural research with in-house activities, the refinement of valuation endpoints, and joint authorship of journal articles on these activities.  Proposals may not identify EPA cooperators or interactions; specific interactions between EPA’s investigators and those of the prospective recipient for cooperative agreements will be negotiated at the time of award. 

USDA
USDA-CSREES anticipates funding 7 grants or cooperative agreements under this announcement, depending on availability of funds. Projected awards are anticipated to be up to $500,000 for 2-4 years. Requests for amounts in excess of a total of $500,000, including direct and indirect costs, will not be considered. The total project period for an application submitted in response to this RFA may not exceed 4 years.

Applicants selected for USDA funding will be required to submit additional forms and documents as detailed in “A Guide for Preparation and Submission of CSREES Applications via Grants.gov (PDF).” (50 pp, 3.12 MB) All awards made from USDA will be limited to an indirect costs cap of 22% of the total Federal funds awarded.  Revised budgets will be solicited if these guidelines are not met by an application to be awarded by USDA-CSREES.

III. ELIGIBILITY INFORMATION

A. Eligible Applicants
EPA
Public nonprofit institutions/organizations (includes public institutions of higher education and hospitals) and private nonprofit institutions/organizations (includes private institutions of higher education and hospitals) located in the U.S., state and local governments, Federally Recognized Indian Tribal Governments, and U.S. territories or possessions are eligible to apply. Profit-making firms are not eligible to receive assistance agreements from the EPA under this program.

Eligible nonprofit organizations include any organizations that meet the definition of nonprofit in OMB Circular A-122, located at 2 CFR Part 230. However, nonprofit organizations described in Section 501(c) (4) of the Internal Revenue Code that lobby are not eligible to apply.

National laboratories funded by Federal Agencies (Federally-Funded Research and Development Centers, “FFRDCs”) may not apply. FFRDC employees may cooperate or collaborate with eligible applicants within the limits imposed by applicable legislation and regulations. They may participate in planning, conducting, and analyzing the research directed by the applicant, but may not direct projects on behalf of the applicant organization. The institution, organization, or governance receiving the award may provide funds through its assistance agreement from the EPA to an FFRDC for research personnel, supplies, equipment, and other expenses directly related to the research. However, salaries for permanent FFRDC employees may not be provided through this mechanism.

Federal Agencies may not apply. Federal employees are not eligible to serve in a principal leadership role on an assistance agreement, and may not receive salaries or augment their Agency’s appropriations in other ways through awards made under this program.

The applicant institution may enter into an agreement with a Federal Agency to purchase or utilize unique supplies or services unavailable in the private sector. Examples are purchase of satellite data, census data tapes, chemical reference standards, analyses, or use of instrumentation or other facilities not available elsewhere. A written justification for federal involvement must be included in the application. In addition, an appropriate form of assurance that documents the commitment, such as a letter of intent from the Federal Agency involved, should be included.

Potential applicants who are uncertain of their eligibility should contact William Stelz (stelz.william@epa.gov) in NCER, phone (202) 343-9802

USDA
Except where otherwise prohibited by law, State agricultural experiment stations, all colleges and universities, other research institutions and organizations, Federal agencies, national laboratories, public and private organizations or corporations, and individuals are eligible to apply for and to receive a competitive grant through the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative of the CSREES. Award recipients may subcontract to organizations not eligible to apply provided such organizations are necessary for the conduct of the project.

B. Cost-Sharing
Institutional cost-sharing is not required.

C. Other
Applications must substantially comply with the application submission instructions and requirements set forth in Section IV of this announcement or they will be rejected.  In addition, where a page limitation is expressed in Section IV with respect to parts of the application, pages in excess of the page limit will not be reviewed.  Applications must be received by Grants.gov (see Section IV.E. “Submission Instructions and Other Submission Requirements” for further information, or through any authorized alternate submission methods described in Section IV) on or before the solicitation closing date and time in Section IV of this announcement or they will be returned to the sender without further consideration.  Also, applications exceeding the funding limits or project period term described herein will be returned without review.  Further, applications that fail to demonstrate a public purpose of support or stimulation (e.g., by proposing research which primarily benefits a Federal program or provides a service for a Federal agency) will not be funded.

Proposals must: (1) describe a selected agroecosystem that is at high risk of losing multiple high value ecosystem services; (2) address all three Project Activity areas (below) and select an appropriate spatial scale(s) for the development of management and decision support tools; and (3) select one or more environmental stressor impacting the chosen agroecosystem of study.  Projects can link multiple stressors.  Applicants are encouraged to incorporate a multi-disciplinary approach and have stakeholder involvement.

High Risk Agroecosystems

Agroecosystems of interest are those that are at high risk of losing existing ecosystem services due to land use conversion or change and environmental impacts. Priority will be given to agroecosystems that produce high economic value products and/or have potential for high value market or non-market ecosystem services. Agroecosystems must be subject to the specific environmental stressors mentioned below over various temporal and geographic scales. They could include those that are at “tipping points” or altered to the point that it would be difficult for the system to revert to its previous state even if the stressor causing the change is reduced or eliminated.

Project Activities

1. Baseline: Identify and quantify the quality and quantity of the multiple ecosystem services provided by the selected agroecosystem at the farm, watershed, or regional scale;
2. Ecosystem change: Evaluate how ecosystem services and agricultural practices under changing ecological thresholds/functioning are impacted by major environmental stressors (see stressor list below); and
3. Management strategies and tools: Develop quantitative strategies to mitigate and respond to environmental impacts caused by stressors on agricultural lands so that ecosystems function sustainably to optimize ecosystem services. Physical, biological, and economic benefits and trade-offs of various agricultural practices supporting ecosystem services should be considered. Management strategies should be used to develop scale specific decision support tools for: a) producers of agricultural systems at the whole farm level, and/or b) managers and policy makers of natural resources at a watershed or regional scale.

Stressor Emphasis:

• Climate Change: Climate change has the potential to irreversibly alter ecological processes in agricultural ecosystems, such as agricultural lands, forests and rangelands that provide ecosystem services. Research should focus on climate–coupled modeling to describe and predict thresholds or trends in resilience of agricultural lands, forests or rangelands that affect their ability to provide ecosystem services under altered seasonal or extreme climate-driven conditions, such as changes in precipitation, temperature and atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations. Projects should also identify options for managing these agroecosystems as climate-driven physical, ecological and societal thresholds are approached to avoid irreversible changes in ecological processes that support ecosystem services.

• Water Availability: Agricultural practices account for the single largest use of water supplies around the world. While climate influences where crops will grow, water availability is necessary for crop success. Research should evaluate risks and economic options for balancing water supplies for agricultural production and processing with desired ecosystem services such as protection of endangered aquatic plant and animal species in wetlands, water quantity and quality, flood control, ground water recharge, biodiversity.

• Reactive Nitrogen: Nitrogen from farms and feedlots is a major source of ecosystem pollution (i.e., air, soil, and water systems). Agroecosystem projects impacted by reactive nitrogen should develop methods to increase nitrogen efficiency in the system by improved uptake and availability to plant and animal systems that result in improved ecosystem services; and determine effective ways to interrupt the nitrogen cycle to reduce the impairment of ecosystems services by nitrogen. Projects should develop process-based models to estimate leakage of nitrogen in agroecosystems and to predict where improvements in ecosystem services are likely through better nitrogen management.

• Pests, Weeds and Invasive Species: Agricultural pests, weeds, and invasive species are major culprits in the reduction of worldwide crop yields, not to mention post-harvest losses. Projects focusing on these issues should seek to quantify, provide valuation and forecast changes in the services provided by agroecosystems brought about directly or indirectly through pests, weeds, and/or invasive species.  Proposed research might investigate how pests, weeds, and/or invasive species impact the ability of agroecosystems to provide food, fuel, fiber, as well as those processes affecting air and water quality, climate, erosion control, and human diseases.  

• Soil and Land Degradation: Changing land use and land cover can sometimes lead to degradation of the soil resource due to erosion and structural changes, soil saturation, salinization, acidification, and contamination.  This degradation of soil and landscapes puts stress on agroecosystems (including agricultural, forest, and range lands) and diminishes their capacity to provide important ecosystem services.  Research under this stressor should use, improve, or develop process-based models to evaluate risk and determine effective strategies to avoid or mitigate the loss of ecosystems services in areas sensitive to these stressors.  Applicants who choose this topic must link it to one of the four stressor emphasis areas listed above (i.e., climate change; water availability; reactive nitrogen; or pests, weeds, and invasive species).

Proposals must also describe the following: 

1. Rationale for selecting a portfolio of two or more services to be investigated.
2. Data used to develop, parameterize, and test these analytical methods.
3. Environmental outcomes that might reasonably be expected from successful implementation of their research findings.

In addition, to be eligible for funding consideration by EPA, a project’s focus must consist of activities within the statutory terms of EPA’s financial assistance authorities; specifically, the statute(s) listed in I.C. above.  Generally, a project must address the causes, effects, extent, prevention, reduction, and elimination of air pollution, water pollution, solid/hazardous waste pollution, toxic substances control, or pesticide control depending on which statute(s) is listed in I.C. above.  These activities should relate to the gathering or transferring of information or advancing the state of knowledge.  Proposals should emphasize this “learning” concept, as opposed to “fixing” an environmental problem via a well-established method.  Proposals relating to other topics which are sometimes included within the term “environment” such as recreation, conservation, restoration, protection of wildlife habitats, etc., must describe the relationship of these topics to the statutorily required purpose of pollution prevention and/or control.

Applications deemed ineligible for funding consideration will be notified within fifteen calendar days of the ineligibility determination.

IV. APPLICATION AND SUBMISSION INFORMATION

Formal instructions for submission through Grants.gov follow in Section E.

A. Internet Address to Request Application Package
Use the application package available at Grants.gov (see Section E. “Submission Instructions and Other Submission Requirements”).  Note: With the exception of the budget form, the current and pending support form, and the conflict of interest list (available at https://www.epa.gov/research-grants/funding-opportunities-how-apply-and-required-forms), all necessary forms are included in the electronic application package.

An email will be sent by NCER to the Lead/Contact PI and the Administrative Contact (see below) to acknowledge receipt of the application and transmit other important information.  The email will be sent from receipt.application@epa.gov; emails to this address will not be accepted.  If you do not receive an email acknowledgment within 30 days of the submission closing date, immediately inform the Eligibility Contact shown in this solicitation.  Failure to do so may result in your application not being reviewed.  See Section E. “Submission Instructions and Other Submission Requirements” for additional information regarding the application receipt acknowledgment.

B. Content and Form of Application Submission
The application is made by submitting the materials described below. Applications must contain all information requested and be submitted in the formats described.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1. Standard Form 424

   The applicant must complete Standard Form 424. This form will be the first page(s) of the application. Instructions for completion of the SF424 are included with the form. (However, note that EPA requires that the entire requested dollar amount appear on the 424, not simply the proposed first year expenses.) The form must contain the original (or electronic) signature of an authorized representative of the applying institution.

   Applicants are required to provide a “Dun and Bradstreet Data Universal Numbering System” (DUNS) number when applying for federal grants or cooperative agreements. Organizations may receive a DUNS number by calling 1-866-705-5711 or by visiting the web site at http://www.dnb.com.

   Executive Order 12372, “Intergovernmental Review of Federal Programs,” does not apply to the Office of Research and Development's research and training programs unless EPA has determined that the activities that will be carried out under the applicants' proposal (a) require an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), or (b) do not require an EIS but will be newly initiated at a particular site and require unusual measures to limit the possibility of adverse exposure or hazard to the general public, or (c) have a unique geographic focus and are directly relevant to the governmental responsibilities of a State or local government within that geographic area.

   If EPA determines that Executive Order 12372 applies to an applicant's proposal, the applicant must follow the procedures in 40 CFR Part 29. The applicant must notify their state's single point of contact (SPOC). To determine whether their state participates in this process, and how to comply, applicants should consult http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/grants/spoc.html. If an applicant is in a State that does not have a SPOC, or the State has not selected research and development grants for intergovernmental review, the applicant must notify directly affected State, area wide, regional and local entities of its proposal.

   EPA will notify the successful applicant(s) if Executive Order 12372 applies to its proposal prior to award.

2. Key Contacts

   The applicant must complete the “Key Contacts” form as the second page of the application. An “Additional Key Contacts” form is also available at https://www.epa.gov/research-grants/funding-opportunities-how-apply-and-required-forms. The Key Contacts form should also be completed for major sub-agreements (i.e., primary investigators). Please make certain that all contact information is accurate.

   For Multiple PI applications: The Additional Key Contacts form must be completed (see Section I.F. for further information). Note: The Contact PI must be affiliated with the institution submitting the application. EPA and CSREES will direct all communications related to scientific, technical, and budgetary aspects of the project to the Contact PI; however, any information regarding an application will be shared with any PI upon request. The Contact PI is to be listed on the Key Contact Form as the Project Manager/Principal Investigator (the term Project Manager is used on the Grants.gov form, the term Principal Investigator is used on the form located on NCER’s web site). For additional PIs, complete the Major Co-Investigator fields and identify PI status next to the name (e.g., “Name: John Smith, Principal Investigator”).

3. Table of Contents

   Provide a list of the major subdivisions of the application indicating the page number on which each section begins.

4. Abstract (1 page)

   The abstract is a very important document in the review process. Therefore, it is critical that the abstract accurately describes the research being proposed and conveys all the essential elements of the research. Please note that these abstract instructions follow EPA guidelines; USDA will inform