Western Alaska Landscape Conservation Cooperative Coastal Systems FY17 | F17AS00268

Opportunity Information: Apply for F17AS00268

The Western Alaska Landscape Conservation Cooperative (LCC) Coastal Systems FY17 opportunity (Funding Opportunity Number F17AS00268) is a competitive federal grant offered by the U.S. Department of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service, using a cooperative agreement funding instrument. It is designed to support applied science and coordination efforts that help partners understand and respond to large-scale landscape changes in western Alaska, especially where land and marine systems connect and where climate change and related stressors are reshaping ecosystems and communities. The work funded under this announcement sits within the Western Alaska LCCs broader Coastal Systems emphasis for FY16 and FY17 and is intended to translate regional collaboration into practical, on-the-ground adaptation planning outputs.

A central theme of the opportunity is building directly on momentum from a set of Coastal Resilience and Adaptation workshops held in 2016 in Nome, Unalaska, King Salmon, and Kotzebue. Rather than starting from scratch, the proposed project is expected to organize and advance that earlier workshop work into a more focused effort to develop adaptation strategies and recommendations specifically for the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta region. In other words, the grant aims to move from discussion and shared learning toward a coordinated set of actionable adaptation ideas that partners can use to guide conservation and resilience decisions in a rapidly changing coastal environment.

The Western Alaska LCC itself is described as a self-directed partnership governed by a Steering Committee with representatives from 14 State, Federal, and Tribal organizations. It is one of five LCCs in Alaska and part of a broader network of 22 Landscape Conservation Cooperatives across North America. Its mission is to promote coordination, dissemination, and development of applied science to inform landscape-scale conservation, explicitly including terrestrial-marine linkages and the realities of climate-driven change. Congress provides seed funding for the LCC through the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Service administers that support through competitive financial assistance awards for projects, studies, and events that expand scientific and public understanding of landscape change and resulting impacts on key species.

From a funding and timing standpoint, the opportunity anticipates a single award with an expected maximum (award ceiling) of $90,000. Funding was projected to begin around September 2017. A key constraint is that applicants should not assume any follow-on or multi-year support from the Western Alaska LCC beyond this award; the announcement is explicit that there should be no expectation of additional future-year funding for the proposed project. The notice also flags broader uncertainty about the future of the LCC program overall, but notes strong partner interest and interest from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in seeing this particular project implemented despite that uncertainty.

Eligibility is listed as unrestricted, meaning the competition is generally open to a wide range of entity types, subject to any additional clarifications that may appear in the full funding announcement. The opportunity is categorized as discretionary and tied to CFDA number 15.669, with activity categories spanning education, environment, natural resources, and other related areas. The announcement was created on June 20, 2017, with an original application closing date of July 20, 2017, signaling a relatively short application window typical of targeted, near-term needs funding calls.

Overall, this grant opportunity is essentially a small, focused, single-award investment intended to convert recent regional workshop efforts into concrete adaptation strategies for the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, while strengthening coordination and applied science products that inform coastal conservation decisions in western Alaska under accelerating climate and environmental change.

• The Department of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service in the education, environment, natural resources, other (see text field entitled explanation of other category of funding activity for clarification) sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Western Alaska Landscape Conservation Cooperative Coastal Systems FY17" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 15.669.
• This funding opportunity was created on Jun 20, 2017.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Jul 20, 2017. (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 $90,000.00 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.

Apply for F17AS00268

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