Restoring resiliency to the Great Marsh; Parker River NWR, MA; DOI Project #PKR 43; Hurricane Sandy Disaster Relief

This is an announcement for issuing a single source financial assistance award to the Merrimack Valley Planning Commission (MVPC, Cooperator). This announcement is for notification purposes only. The intent of the award is to provide combined funding from two different Hurricane Sandy Resiliency grants, DOI Sandy Resiliency grant project 43, ¿Restoring resiliency to the Great Marsh; Parker River NWR, MA¿ and NFWF¿s Hurricane Sandy Coastal Resiliency Competitive Grant Project ¿Coastal Resiliency Planning and Ecosystem Enhancement for northeastern Massachusetts¿. Parker River NWR received $113,000 for a hydrodynamic model for Merrimack River and Plum Island Sound in their Sandy grant in November 2013. In June 2014, MVPC was funded $495,000 that builds on the Refuge funded project to include all of the Great Marsh, from Salisbury to Essex, adding sediment transport component and detailed data collection to inform the model. The agreement would combine the funding so that one award can be made to increase efficiency and project outcome. The funding provided by the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) will fund a hydrological flow and salinity model for Merrimack River and Plum Island Sound. The combined funding provided by MVPC and USFWS will fund a hydrodynamic model to cover Salisbury to Essex. This expanded model will incorporate hydrological flow, salinity, and sediment transport, with data collection to inform the model and model calibration and scenario planning. The model will be used to inform restoration needs and provide critical information to local decision makers on feasibility and long term sustainability of mitigation projects in response to sea level rise and storm surge. This project was previously vetted and approved for funding by the Department of the Interior. The appropriation for this project is the Hurricane Sandy Disaster Relief Supplemental Appropriation Act of 2013, Public Law 113-2. Criteria for funding was based on the project¿s ability to yield the greatest return on investment by taking advantage of existing science and regional planning tools for resiliency and by working with states, cities, communities, and partners who contribute to the goals of restoring and rebuilding national wildlife refuges and other federal public assets; and to increase resiliency and the capacity of coastal habitat and infrastructure and to withstand future storms and to minimize the damage incurred. This project is authorized by the Disaster Relief Appropriations Act of 2013, Public Law 113-2.