Section 6
Funding for Research on Threatened and Endangered Arizona Plants
Note: the next funding cycle will be in Fall 2023
Upcoming report deadlines:
Segment 26: Draft final report is due August 15, 2023, approved final report is due September 15, 2023.
Segment 27: Draft final report is due August 30, 2023, approved final report is due September 15, 2023.
Current award in process: Segment 29
Applications were due Monday Nov 14, 2022, 11:59pm. Notifications will be made in Summer 2023; contracts and start dates are likely to be in September 2023 (please plan field seasons accordingly).
INTRODUCTION
The Herbarium at the University of Arizona is collaborating with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and the Arizona Department of Agriculture to manage and allocate the Endangered Species Act (ESA) Section 6 funding for plants in Arizona. Proposals for studies on threats, demography, monitoring, systematics, status reviews, etc. of threatened and endangered plant species, or plant species of other special concern, are solicited. (This grant no longer supports publication costs.) Plants that are listed as threatened, endangered, or have candidate status will rank higher than sensitive or rare plants (see FWS' list here; Arizona is in Region 2).
Please direct any questions to the Section 6 email address: section6 @ cals.arizona.edu.
PREVIOUS AWARDS
Please see our lists of previously funded projects, organized by year.
FUNDING TARGETS
We anticipate supporting three to eight projects per year at levels of approximately $5,000 to $20,000 per project. Projects may be one or two years in duration, but note that two-year projects are subject to the same $20,000 per-project limit.
PROPOSAL REVIEW
Proposals are reviewed by a committee for the importance of the species to Fish and Wildlife Service planned work, intellectual merit, and feasibility of the proposed research, appropriateness of the budget, and clarity of the proposal. Projects that are recommended for funding are ranked and funded as funds allow.
PROJECT PROCEDURES
Contracts are sent to the selected researchers by the Arizona Department of Agriculture within four months of the award notification (usually early fall) and will indicate actual start and end dates. Please note that reimbursable work may not begin until the contract is signed, which is often in late September. Awardee must be in a position to sign a standard contract with the State of Arizona. For questions in this regard, contact Ashley Estes, aestes@azda.gov, (602) 542-0972, Arizona Department of Agriculture. Contracts must be signed and returned within 30 days of receipt. Funds are only distributed on a reimbursable basis (funds will no longer be sent in advance under any circumstance). Researchers are welcome to submit expense reports and invoices up to once quarterly. Brief interim reports will be due semiannually, and the final project report will be due at the end of year two; interim and final report deadlines will be provided by the Dept. of Agriculture when the contract is awarded.
PROJECT COMPLETION
The final report is an expected deliverable of this research and should include introduction, materials and methods, results, discussion, and literature cited sections. Prior to approval and release of funding, reports will be reviewed by the section 6 grant committee and FWS species leads for completeness, clarity, and usefulness to the FWS for species management and recovery. Insufficient final reports will be returned with comments, and researchers will be expected to remedy the report prior to final approval. Draft final reports are welcome at any time.
PROPOSAL PREPARATION
General guidelines:
Researchers may submit, as PI or Co-PI, up to three proposals in a single competition. Proposals are limited to 6 single-spaced pages, including budget and match information, using font no smaller than 11 point with 1 inch margins. Each proposal must include a 2-page CV for the PI (not included in the 6-page limit but included within the file).
Projects should be designed to be complete within two years. Funding beyond two years will require submission of additional competitive proposals.
Proposals should be prepared according to the outline below. If an item is not applicable to this project, write "NA" for that item.
Questions on grant preparation should be directed to the Section 6 committee (Mima Falk, UA Herbarium liaison. Phone: 520-621-7243; email: section6@cals.arizona.edu).
Required content:
1. Project Title
2. Species List all species that will be investigated as part of this project; for each give:
2a. Federal Rank
2b. State Heritage Rank
3. Name of Investigator(s) Specify a single Principal Investigator, with any additional investigators as Co-PIs.
4. Mailing Address of Principal Investigator For investigators associated with more than one institution, this must be the address of the institution that would be receiving the contract. Also provide:
4a. Phone number for PI.
4b. Email address for PI.
4c. Institutional affiliation for PI If submitting as an individual, please indicate.
4d. Institutional contact information Name and address of official who is authorized to sign the contract and process reimburesments.
4e. UEI number Indicate N/A if submitting as an individual.
5. Proposed Start Date Preferred date; actual start and end dates will be determined in the contract.
6. Proposed End Date Planned end date.
7. Funding History and Needs Is this a request for continued funding for work already started under a previous Section 6 request?
8. Joint Project with Another State Provide details, if applicable.
9. Recovery Plan Task Numbers
10. Recovery Plan Task Priorities
11. Threatened or Endangered Species Permit Required A Section 10(a)(1)(A) permit from FWS may be required if listed plants, parts of plants, and/or seeds will be collected.
12. Other Threatened or Endangered Species in Project Area To obtain a complete list, visit https://ecos.fws.gov/ipac/, enter the area for the proposed study, and include the resulting list of organisms in the proposal.
13. Projected Conducted within Designated Critical Habitat Visit https://ecos.fws.gov/ipac/ to determine whether the proposed study will occur within any Designated Critical Habitats.
14. Objectives
15. Expected Results or Benefits
16. Approach Describe the general approach; e.g., herbarium study, plot monitoring, etc. Typically one paragraph.
17. Current Year Procedures Describe in detail the methodology of the proposed study.
18. Divergence from Original Approach
19. Location
20. Present Year Funding Request
21. Budget Budget should be broken down into anticipated costs for personnel, travel, and supplies. Matching costs should be identified, and should be at least 40% to 50% of the requested funds. For example, if you are requesting $10,000, you will need to provide at least $4,000 costs towards the project. Matching costs can be in any category of expenditures, e.g., personnel, travel, supplies, or equipment. Federal funds may not be used to supply the match. Match must be at federal rates, if applicable (e.g., per diem, mileage), and a job classification must be indicated if salary is to be used as match.
22. Previous funding performance If you have received Federal or other grants, please list references to contact. Have you ever defaulted on a previous grant?
Include a two-page CV for the PI at the end of the proposal (not included in the six-page limit).
WHAT AND WHERE TO SUBMIT
Proposals should be sent electronically to the Section 6 program at section6@cals.arizona.edu. Each proposal should comprise a single file; if submitting more than one, the CV must be included in each. File name should take the form LastName_2023-Seg29_Genus_species.docx or LastName_2023-Seg29_Topic.docx (pdf format is also acceptable).