Sample and characterize benthic macroinvertebrate and aquatic vegetation communities

Sample and characterize benthic macroinvertebrate and aquatic vegetation communities in the wetland complexes located southwest of the Munger Landing boat landing in the St. Louis River Estuary, and the comparison of data to appropriate reference locations in the St. Louis River Area of Concern (AOC). This is a notice of intent to award a single source cooperative agreement to Natural Resources Research Institute at the University of Minnesota Duluth under justification 505DM 2.14B(4). This project is being coordinated with other AOC projects in the St. Louis River Estuary. Therefore competition for the award is not practical because of NRRI's involvement in the collection and characterization of endpoints needed for this project, NRRI is uniquely qualified to complete the activities to ensure consistency across the AOC for delisting needs. The funding instrument will be a Cooperative Agreement as a substantial involvement on the part of the Service is required for the successful completion of the activities to be funded. In particular, the Service will be responsible for the following: working and coordinating with project partners to identify the number and locations of sample sites, and work coordinate with project partners to evaluate data in context with other St. Louis River AOC data.