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California LCC 2011 Projects

The California Landscape Conservation Cooperative (CA LCC) is a management-science partnership among agencies, non-governmental organizations, landowners and other entities that informs on-the-ground conservation actions addressing climate change and other stressors within and across landscapes.

Location: Lancaster, California

Guidelines for Proposal Submissions - March 2011

Background

The California Landscape Conservation Cooperative (CA LCC) has FY 2011 funds to support projects that meet its purpose and goals. The purpose of the CA LCC is to inform and promote integrated science, natural resource management and conservation to address impacts of climate change and other stressors within and across ecosystems.

Priority for this year’s funding will be projects that support decision-making and climate adaptation and resiliency. Continuing projects will also be evaluated on performance and products delivered to date. The geographic focus of this funding is the entire CA LCC (link to map).

Award Information
  • Approximately $850,000 is available for distribution - projects are recommended between $10,000 - $100,000.
  • Estimated number of awards is 8 – 12.
  • Projects may be one year or more in duration, however, deliverables should be clearly identified for each year, and subsequent years’ funding is subject to successful competition in next year’s solicitation.
  • Any entity capable of entering into an agreement with the Federal government is eligible to apply. This includes, but is not limited to, non-governmental organizations, universities, and local, state or federal agencies.
  • Previously funded 2010 CA LCC projects are eligible for continued funding given they meet the additional criteria for continuing projects as listed below.
  • Deadline for proposal submittal: COB Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Project Selection Schedule

A CA LCC Project Selection Team will evaluate and score full proposals and present funding recommendations to the CA LCC Steering Committee in May 2011. Awards will be announced soon thereafter. The CA LCC may suggest partnerships between entities proposing similar or complementary work. Contracts for this funding will likely not be finalized sooner than June 2011.

The CA LCC has reviewed and selected a set of proposed projects that are invited to submit full proposals. As with the pre-proposals, full proposals will be evaluated against the priorities and criteria listed below.

2011 CA LCC Priorities

Projects should support decision-making and conservation delivery for natural resource managers while accounting for sources of uncertainty about system dynamics that would affect management decisions. Projects should address at least one of the following priority issues:

Ecosystem Response/Species and Habitat Information
  • Developing models at scales relevant to resource managers that clearly address specific manager needs and characterize habitat/organism responses to projected change under alternative climate/economic/planning scenarios
  • Identifying projected future biodiversity hotspots and connectivity needs
  • Better understanding of demographic responses to climate change, including dispersal, survival, and productivity (e.g. why hotspots are hot)
  • Modeling the frequency, intensity, and impacts of extreme climate-driven events (e.g. sea level rise, floods, wildfires, and droughts)
Decision Support for Climate Adaptation
  • Future scenario planning at landscape and ecoregional scales
  • Identifying ecosystem impacts of adaptive land-use change – avoiding conflicts between human infrastructure changes and biodiversity/conservation
  • Developing open access information retrieval (i.e. metadata commons) systems to inform managers, and decision-support systems/tools that help managers allocate limited resources on prioritization, scenario evaluation and adaptive management
  • Developing/standardizing metrics of change, measurement protocols, indicator species, performance measures to assess resiliency
  • Monitoring in the context of fully implemented adaptive management frameworks
  • Long term monitoring programs designed to establish ecological baselines and trends, and track climate (or adaptation to climate change) effects
Evaluation Criteria
  1. Applicability to Conservation and Adaptation Decisions- Highly likely to aid conservation and adaptation decisions. Policy makers or other decision makers are clearly asking for support.
  2. Ecological or Ecosystem Response to System/Climate Change - Will improve understanding or help address crucial sources of uncertainty about how species, ecosystems, habitats, and/or landscapes respond to projected change under alternative scenarios.
  3. Breadth of Understanding - Project is integrative – multi taxa, crosses trophic levels, includes physical and biological data, enables comprehensive understanding, considers several major climate system components, e.g.: water, carbon.
  4. Accessibility – Products and information generated will be available and easy to use preferably online, designed for target audience access/understanding.
  5. Scope/Transferability - LCC-wide or region-specific with projected outcomes and/or products that are clearly transferable to other LCCs.
  6. Partnerships/Leveraging - Multi-partner project –includes scientists, habitat managers, and/or policy makers from multiple organizations (e.g., conservation and other NGOs, local governments, and state and federal agencies). Builds new collaborations and has secured matching funds and/or in-kind support from multiple partners.
  7. Timeliness and Urgency - Information is urgently needed because of high risk or to avoid severe impact. Products will inform urgent actions and provide important information for setting up the CA LCC for long-term success.
Continuing CA LCC projects will also be evaluated by the following additional criteria
  1. Continued Relevance - The project addresses one or more of the 2011 priorities.
  2. Project Performance - The project deliverables were received in a timely manner and are high quality.
  3. Readiness - The project is ready for additional funds.
Performance measures have been identified for LCCs nationwide and progress on these measures are reported quarterly. Applicants will be asked to identify if their project meets any of these performance measures, but projects do not need to meet one of these measures to be considered for funding. National LCC Performance Measures:
  • A risk and vulnerability assessment developed or refined for priority species and habitats.
  • Inventory and monitoring protocols developed or refined to capture data on fish and wildlife populations and their habitats to detect changes resulting from climate change.
  • A population and habitat assessment developed or refined to predict changes in species populations and habitats.
  • A biological planning and conservation design project developed in response to climate change.
  • A management evaluation action evaluated for effectiveness in response to climate change and research activities conducted to address information needs in response to climate change.
  • A conservation genetic project to improve and enhance conservation design and delivery for fish and wildlife populations in response to climate change.
CA LCC PROPOSAL GUIDANCE Format: The main text should be no longer than 5 pages in length (not including Support Letters and CVs) with a font no smaller than 11point and margins of at least ¾ inch. Other than Support Letters and CVs, no other attachments or appendices are allowed. Proposal text (including Support Letters and CVs) should be submitted in PDF format and be no larger than 3MB (does file size matter?). Project Timeline: Projects may be single-year or multi-year in scope. For multi-year projects, however, each year’s funding will be evaluated and re-competed annually using a federal Fiscal Year schedule (Oct-Sept). Project Accomplishments: Deliverables should be identified for each federal Fiscal Year (Oct-Sept) and be available to the public, preferably posted on the internet. Projects will be required to provide a one-page fact sheet annually describing the accomplishments of the project and the project’s contribution to supporting decision-making in the context of conservation delivery (protection, restoration, enhancement of natural resources) and natural resource management. Continuing projects must provide a status report of the work funded in 2010. Budgets: Budget details should be clearly identified by separate categories of measurable outcomes/products for each year of the project. A form will be provided. LCC projects will typically range from $10,000-$100,000. Allowed attachments: 1) Three (3) Letters of Support (also in PDF format) should be provided by external partners or agencies, such as potential users of the project products/findings, to advance their on-the-ground conservation objectives. 2) One page CVs should be provided for the principle investigator and/or project leader from each primary organization that will be conducting the work. Proposal Submission Deadline: Proposals and supporting documents in PDF format should be submitted via the CA LCC website (CaliforniaLCC.org) no later than Close of Business April 12, 2011.
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