Fish Passage Monitoring at Bradford and White Rock Dam Removal Sites; Hurricane Sandy Resiliency Project | F18AS00085

Opportunity Information: Apply for F18AS00085

Fish Passage Monitoring at Bradford and White Rock Dam Removal Sites; Hurricane Sandy Resiliency Project (Funding Opportunity Number F18AS00085) is a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service grant announcement issued mainly as a public notice that the agency intends to make a single-source financial assistance award to the University of Rhode Island. Even though the listing shows eligibility as unrestricted, the text makes clear that this particular action is not a competitive call for proposals. It sits in the natural resources category and is tied to post-project evaluation needs for fish passage work that was funded under Hurricane Sandy recovery authorities. The announcement was created March 15, 2018, with an original closing date of April 13, 2018, and it anticipates one award with a ceiling of $30,275.

The core purpose of the grant is to collect field data that helps the Service evaluate how well migratory fish are moving through river systems after dam removal projects that were funded through Hurricane Sandy Disaster Relief Act programs and completed between 2015 and 2018. In other words, the construction work at these sites is already done, and this funding is aimed at measuring real-world biological outcomes, specifically fish passage efficiency. The work is authorized under the Disaster Relief Appropriations Act of 2013 (Public Law 113-2) and also through the Cooperative Ecosystems Studies Unit (CESU) mechanism under the North Atlantic CESU (award number F14AC00282). The relevant CFDA references listed are 15.677 and 15.678.

Geographically, the monitoring effort concentrates on two dam removal sites: White Rock in Connecticut and Bradford in Rhode Island. The work is not limited strictly to those two locations, though, because the study also extends to additional sites along the Pawcatuck River system. This broader coverage supports a more complete picture of migratory behavior and passage conditions across connected habitat, which is important when trying to understand whether restored connectivity at one barrier translates into successful upstream movement and broader watershed use.

The University of Rhode Island, as the intended recipient, is expected to support both the U.S. Geological Survey and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service by helping run a telemetry-based monitoring program across two fish passage seasons. The fieldwork centers on three migratory species: Alewife, American Shad, and Blueback Herring. Technical tasks include capturing fish and tagging them with a combination of radio tags and PIT tags (Passive Integrated Transponder tags), which allows researchers to detect and track fish movements through key river reaches and passage points. The work also includes installing and maintaining telemetry equipment used to detect tagged fish, and keeping the system running throughout the season so the dataset is complete and reliable.

Operationally, the opportunity specifies a fairly hands-on monitoring cadence. During the fish passage season, telemetry data must be downloaded at least twice per week, which reflects the need to keep pace with active migration periods, reduce the risk of data loss, and identify equipment problems quickly. After the field season, the work moves into analysis and reporting, with the goal of turning raw detections and movement histories into findings that describe passage performance at the dam removal sites and across the connected river segments. The end products are intended to help the Service judge the effectiveness of Sandy-funded resiliency and restoration investments and to inform future fish passage and river restoration decisions.

• The Department of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service in the natural resources sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Fish Passage Monitoring at Bradford and White Rock Dam Removal Sites; Hurricane Sandy Resiliency Project" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 15.677.
• This funding opportunity was created on Mar 15, 2018.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Apr 13, 2018. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $30,275.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 1 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Unrestricted (i.e., open to any type of entity above), subject to any clarification in text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility.

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