We are particularly interested in the following projects:

Projects should include an education outreach component. The specific needs and priorities of Lakewide Management Plans and geographic initiatives such as the Remedial Action Plans for Areas of Concern will be considered in evaluations, particularly:

• Lake Erie and the St. Clair/Lake St. Clair/Detroit River basin. Projects addressing the chemicals associated with the beneficial use impairments as identified by the Lake Erie LaMP (PCBs, mercury, PAHs, lead, chlordane, dioxins, DDE/DDT, mirex), with priority given to projects involving PCBs and mercury.
• Lake Huron basin. Projects investigating contaminated sediment in the Tittibawassee and Saginaw Rivers and Saginaw Bay, including the characterization, mapping, or modeling the transport of sediment and flood plain soil contamination with an emphasis on dioxin like compounds.
• Lake Ontario, St. Lawrence River, and Niagara River basins. Projects which address the critical pollutants as identified in the 1998 Stage I Lake Ontario LaMP and/or the Niagara River Toxics Management Plan and projects which remediate sediments in Areas of Concern.
• Lake Michigan basin. Projects for (i) the possible beneficial reuse of contaminated sediments and (ii) tools and models for public education and involvement in sediment cleanups and sediment pollution prevention plans.
• Lake Superior basin. In the Lake Superior basin, high priority will be placed on projects addressing the St. Louis River or St. Mary’s River Areas of Concern and their directives to remove impairments of beneficial uses. In addition, we are particularly interested in projects on the following three sites: 1) Ashland/NSP Lakefront Site in Wisconsin; 2) Stamp Sands of Keweenaw Peninsula, MI; and 3) Boyd Creek Site, WI. We are also interested in sampling and routine monitoring projects associated with the tributaries of Lake Superior, especially those with upstream industrial or other activities.

Project Selection Criteria. GLNPO's Proposal evaluation will seek a balance among sediments activities, focusing on on-the-ground cleanup, assessment and characterization of sediment sites, and evaluation of remedial alternatives. Proposals will be evaluated using the descriptions of the requested projects, the General Criteria, and the following Specific Criteria:

B. Pollution Prevention and Reduction (Binational Toxics Strategy) - $500,000 targeted for 8-15 projects. GLNPO requests Proposals for pollution prevention, reduction or elimination projects, with an emphasis on substances which are persistent and toxic, especially those which bioaccumulate, in the Great Lakes basin.

Priority will be given to those projects that support the goals of the US-Canada Great Lakes Binational Toxics Strategy (GLBTS). See http://www.epa.gov/glnpo/bns/strategy.html. The Strategy establishes reduction challenges for twelve "Level I" persistent toxic substances: alkyl-lead, benzo(a)pyrene [B(a)P], hexachlorobenzene (HCB), dioxins and furans, mercury, octachlorostyrene (OCS), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and five canceled pesticides (aldrin/dieldrin, chlordane, DDT, mirex, and toxaphene). The US has also identified "Level II" substances for pollution prevention activities: 1,2,3,4-tetrachlorobenzene; 1,2,4,5-tetrachlorobenzene; pentachlorobenzene; hexachlorobutadiene; and hexachlorocyclohexanes.

We are particularly interested in the following projects:

Project Selection Criteria. Proposals will be evaluated using the descriptions of the requested projects, the General Criteria, and the following Specific Criteria. GLNPO will favor Proposals for projects which:

The specific needs and priorities of Lakewide Management Plans and geographic initiatives such as the Remedial Action Plans for Areas of Concern will be considered in evaluations, particularly:

• Lake Erie and St.Clair/Lake St. Clair/Detroit River basins. Projects addressing the chemicals associated with the beneficial use impairments as identified by the Lake Erie LaMP (PCBs, mercury, PAHs, lead, chlordane, dioxins, DDE/DDT, mirex) with priority given to projects involving PCBs and mercury or which reduce the release of atrazine to the waters of Lake Erie.
• Lake Ontario, St. Lawrence River and Niagara River basins. Projects which:
  (i) address pollutants identified in the 1998 Stage I Lake Ontario LaMP (PCBs, DDTs, mercury, mirex, dieldrin, dioxins), and emerging toxics such as PBDE as well as projects along the Niagara River which address the priority toxics identified in the Niagara River Toxics Management Plan.
  (ii) reduce mercury or other pollutants by building upon, or initiating projects similar in concept to auto mercury switch/ thermometer replacement; mercury collections from medical situations; electronic equipment and pesticide collections and education; demonstrate innovative technologies for control of pollutant loadings from the watershed.
• Lake Michigan Basin. Innovative, demonstration projects which:
  (i) address dioxin and other pollutants formed from "burning trash in barrels."
  (ii) further agricultural clean sweep efforts.
  (iii) collect and phase out PCB and Mercury.
  (iv) prevent pollution from pesticides, including substitution projects.
• Lake Superior Basin. Projects which characterize sources and the indicators of progress toward zero discharge in the Lake Superior basin and otherwise address the main joint priorities of the Lake Superior Workgroup and the Lake Superior Forum. These include projects which:
  (i) address the top mercury commitments of the LaMP, including workshops; education/outreach; abandoned white goods containing mercury and PCBs; and taconite mercury treatability.
  (ii) address other LaMP mercury commitments such as mercury reduction of the main sources of environmental release in the Lake Superior basin: energy production (electric utility sector), taconite mining and ore processing, mercury releases at wastewater treatment facilities, and mercury releases from landfills, in order to meet the chemical load reduction schedules set in the Lake Superior Stage II LaMP document.
  (iii) enhance burn barrel outreach and education, especially in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.
  (iv) otherwise address the chemicals identified as critical pollutants; PCBs, dioxins, DDT and metabolites, toxaphene, chlordane, aldrin/dieldrin, mercury, hexachlorobenzene and octachlorostyrene.
  (v) address in-basin load estimates of mercury, dioxin and hexachlorobenzene that have a low degree of confidence but may represent a significant portion of the load from the Stage 2 and 3 inventories (e.g., small incinerators, treated wood or mercury products in the solid waste stream, and mercury release from landfills and solid waste transfer stations).
  (vi) provide demonstration projects that significantly reduce non-point loadings of critical and other pollutants originating from the development of previously undeveloped land such as new parking lots and highway construction.
  (vii) address the long-range transport of atmospheric pollutants to Lake Superior, especially those projects developed in conjunction with other international efforts - i.e., the United Nations Committee for Environmental Cooperation.
• Lake Huron basin. Priority pollutants for pollution prevention and reduction efforts in Lake Huron include PCBs, Chlordane, Dioxin, and Mercury. Proposals are also requested that demonstration innovative approaches to address the long-range transport of atmospheric pollutants to Lake Huron.

Please note: The Specific Request for Proposals for LaMP/RAP Development and Implementation also requests pollution prevention and reduction Proposals for Lake Superior.

C. Habitat (Ecological) Protection and Restoration - $760,000 targeted for 8 to 15 projects. USEPA’s Great Lakes National Program Office requests Proposals for projects that demonstrate practices and tools for protecting and restoring aquatic, terrestrial, and wetland ecosystems. Applicants should note that acquisition projects will not be considered.

Basinwide Proposals having large-scale ecological implications for the Great Lakes ecosystem, and multi-organizational, binational partnerships are encouraged. Regional Proposals must be consistent with Lakewide Management Plan (LaMP) priorities described below, with Tribal priorities, or with regional ecological protection and restoration planning effort priorities. Local or site-specific Proposals must implement techniques that demonstrate protection and restoration measures or the need for standard protection and restoration techniques, and define expected outcomes.

Project Selection Criteria. GLNPO’s evaluation process for ecological protection and restoration Proposals will seek a balance among basinwide, regional, and local projects. Proposals will be evaluated using the descriptions of the requested projects, the General Criteria, and the following Specific Criteria. The following Specific Criteria will also be considered in basinwide, regional and local Proposal reviews. Because each Proposal is reviewed from a holistic perspective, not every criteria needs to be present for a project to be selected. However, projects that meet more than one criteria will have a greater chance for success. The Specific Criteria for ecological protection and restoration are:

• Biological importance on a regional, basinwide or global scale.
• Project activities will test new techniques or approaches to ecological protection and restoration.
• Positive impact of the expected environmental results identified by the applicant.
• Effectiveness of education and outreach component.
• Potential for formation of new, multi-organizational, binational partnership(s).
• A significant number of acres of aquatic, riverine, wetland, and terrestrial habitat is protected or restoration efforts begun.

In addition, special consideration will be given to Proposals for the following projects at the basinwide, regional, and local scales:

Regional:

• Refine or develop LaMP and State of the Lakes Ecosystem Conference (SOLEC) indicators for Lake Erie species and habitats.
• Monitor and measure the results of projects listed in the Lake Erie LaMP.

Lake Ontario, St. Lawrence River Basin, Niagara River Basin.

• The highest priority project for Lake Ontario is developing a framework for a habitat prioritization strategy which would be used to target future habitat restoration and conservation. Proposals for such a framework, or early stages of such a framework would be considered, including development of an inventory of all past and ongoing assessment, restoration, and conservation projects being carried out by all agencies and environmental groups working in the Lake Ontario basin. The inventory would include: (i) a synthesis of findings from these projects, for each habitat type (for example, through the construction of GIS maps, or the modification of existing maps, for each habitat type that includes the location and condition of existing habitats and the location of past and present habitat restoration and conservation projects); (ii) a gap analysis that can be used to target future assessment projects; and (iii) the identification of vital habitats that can be used to prioritize and target future restoration or conservation efforts. $60,000 has been specifically set aside for 1-2 prioritization strategy projects, and additional money from this category could be made available.
• Address the loss of fish and wildlife habitat in these watersheds, including the identification and assessment of existing habitat types (nearshore, coastal, open water, etc.)
• Restore, conserve or enhance vital habitats.
• Gather information leading to development of additional Lake Ontario LaMP ecosystem indicators and measures for appropriate wildlife species or habitat.

• Demonstrate, in the coastal area of the lake or major tributaries, ecological restoration of brownfields and other degraded habitats; prioritization and planning of local restoration activities that utilize and/or add to Lake Michigan habitat data; and in urban areas, the utilization of the Chicago Wilderness biodiversity recovery plan model.
• Protect and/or restore wetlands and other nearshore features important to the health and spawning of Lake Michigan aquatic species, including development of plans for conservation buffers and dune protection.

• Protect or restore stream/tributary habitat so as to produce a healthy tributary environment, including the restoration of both the land and water interface. Projects should be connected to a monitoring and evaluation project.
• Promote the achievement of Great Lakes Fishery Commission fish community objectives, including the identification of critical habitat for key fish species which will allow development of quantitative goals for self-sustaining fish stocks; and the development of a standardized monitoring program to evaluate the status of the pelagic fish community of Lake Superior.
• Implement multi-jurisdictional restoration or protection watershed or forest stewardship management plan recommendations.
• Restore lost or degraded ecological components or processes in Lake Superior forest communities.
• Make available local sources of plant material (seeds or seedlings) for restoration or vegetation management projects.
• Protect or restore rare ecological communities (e.g., pine barrens).

• Assessment of the biodiversity of Lake Huron’s nearshore habitat and the identification of protection and restoration priorities.
• Investigate the impacts of dams and identify potential efforts to restore natural flows and increase tributary fish spawning habitat, including an analysis of management options for specific dams, i.e., case studies.
• Demonstrate the connections between coastal marshes and fishery and wildlife habitat in relationship to recent lake level fluctuations.
• Assess off-shore reef habitat in Saginaw Bay and Tawas.

• Implement techniques that demonstrate on-the-ground habitat protection or restoration in a particular locale.
• Show that habitat will actually be protected or restored at a particular site.
• Define the relationship of the project to regional protection and restoration efforts.
• Make an effort to include stakeholders in project planning or implementation.

Please note:

• Lake Ontario Habitat Proposals are all intended to be submitted under this RFP 1C.
• The Specific Request for Proposals for LaMP/RAP Development and Implementation requests a specific Proposal for implementation of habitat recommendations from the Habitat Plan for the Lower St. Louis River RAP Lake Superior that is intended to be submitted under RFP 2A.v.b.
• Following Proposal selection, Ecological Protection and Restoration and other grants may be issued through an "intermediary" organization which would make and administer grant sub-awards. See RFP 4 for additional information.
• RFP 3 requests Proposals for ecological conferences, workshops, meetings and reprints of education materials.

D. Invasive Species - $300,000 targeted for 4 to 8 projects. GLNPO requests Proposals to address invasive (non-indigenous) aquatic and terrestrial species in the Great Lakes Basin with an emphasis on prevention.

We are particularly interested in the following projects, with the highest priority given to the first three topic areas:

1. Development and demonstration of strong and innovative programs to prevent the introduction of new invasive species (aquatic or terrestrial) into the Great Lakes Basin.
2. Development and demonstration of strong and innovative programs to control the spread of invasive species within and from the Great Lakes Basin.
3. Documenting ecological impacts of invasive species on the Great Lakes Basin food web.
4. Documenting the economic impacts or potential economic impacts of invasive species already in the Great Lakes Basin.
5. Projects which identify chemical, physical, and biological conditions that promote the establishment of invasive species.
6. Development of innovative education/outreach projects.

Project Selection Criteria. GLNPO's Proposal evaluation will consider priorities associated with invasive species for geographic areas within the Great Lakes, particularly those of Lakewide Management Plans; however, as funding for this category is limited, emphasis will be placed on projects of Great Lakes Basin-wide applicability. Proposals will be evaluated using the descriptions of the requested projects, the General Criteria, and the following Specific Criteria:

E. Strategic or Emerging Issues - $260,000 targeted for 4 to 8 projects. In order to better fulfill its mission under the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement for the restoration and maintenance of the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the Great Lakes Basin Ecosystem, GLNPO is requesting Proposals for four to eight innovative Great Lakes environmental projects which deal with strategic or emerging issues of basin-wide importance.

We expect that projects in this area would:

• not fit neatly under other existing GLNPO funding categories (i.e. Contaminated Sediments, Pollution Prevention, Ecological Protections and Restoration, Invasive Species, or the specific Proposals requested for LaMP and RAP implementation) but might contain elements of one or more of those categories;
• address assessment, causes and/or effects of chemical or biological pollutants not in the regulatory "mainstream;"
• cut across or overlap two or more of the foregoing areas; or
• address some other unanticipated area.

We especially encourage projects which identify and propose solutions/mitigation for strategic or emerging issues of Great Lakes Basin-wide applicability. Areas of particular interest include:

Project Selection Criteria. The emphasis for this category is projects of Great Lakes Basin-wide applicability. Proposals will be evaluated using the descriptions of the requested projects, the General Criteria, and the following Specific Criteria: