Mississippi River Basin 2016 Asian Carp Partnership Projects for USFWS Funding

On June 10th, 2014 the President signed into law the Water Resources Reform and Development Act of 2014 (WRRDA). Public Law 113-121, authorizing a broad array of agency actions and public projects across the US. As part of the WRRDA, the US Fish and Wildlife Service (the Service) is authorized, in collaboration with the National Park Service and the U.S. Geological Survey, to take actions to slow, and eventually eliminate, the spread of Asian carp in the Upper Mississippi River Basin and the Ohio River Basin, and tributaries. Those actions include provisions of technical assistance, coordination, best management practices, and support structures for state and local governments engaged in activities to minimize and eventually eliminate this threat. This is a notice of intent to award single source grants to the Illinois Department of Natural Resources; Indiana Department of Natural Resources; Iowa Department of Natural Resources; Iowa State University (designee for Iowa Department of Natural Resources); Minnesota Department of Natural Resources; Missouri Department of Conservation; and Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources without competition under justification 505DM 2.14B.(4). Applications for renewal or supplementation of existing projects are not eligible for this award. Competition for the award is not practical as the State Natural Resource Management Agencies, and their designees, which have coordinated through MICRA on the collaborative development and implementation of the frameworks, have the necessary authorities and abilities, and will be able to provide qualifications and perspective that no other entity would have. The specific projects funded by these awards are the highest priority projects identified by multi-agency partnerships to support implementation of the Ohio River Basin Asian Carp Control Strategy Framework and the Upper Mississippi River Basin Asian Carp Control Strategy Framework and uniquely satisfy the Service's responsibilities under WRRDA 2014 to lead collaborative efforts to slow, and eventually eliminate, the spread of Asian carp in the UMRB and the ORB and tributaries.