Cardinal Valley Natural Habitat Restoration Project | F19AS00219

Opportunity Information: Apply for F19AS00219

The Cardinal Valley Natural Habitat Restoration Project is a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Department of the Interior) funding opportunity focused on restoring land that has been disturbed during EPA remedial cleanup, specifically areas where topsoil was removed. The core need driving the project is a soil substitute (soil amendment) that can be applied to those disturbed areas to replace lost topsoil functions and support long-term ecological recovery. Once the soil substitute is in place, the restored landscape will be managed as tallgrass prairie, which means the work goes well beyond initial earthwork and includes establishing native plant communities and maintaining them over time.

The restoration approach described combines several standard tallgrass prairie establishment and management practices. It includes seeding the site with native prairie species, controlling exotic and invasive plants through targeted herbicide application (spot spraying), mowing early on to reduce aggressive weed pressure while native seedlings establish, and using prescribed burning as an ongoing maintenance tool to sustain prairie structure and biodiversity. In addition to prairie work, the project also includes planting vegetation along selected wetland areas within the restoration sites, recognizing that wetland edges often need active revegetation and can be particularly vulnerable to invasive species.

This opportunity is structured as a cooperative agreement, meaning the Fish and Wildlife Service expects to be actively involved rather than simply issuing funds and stepping back. The Service specifically anticipates providing substantial involvement by planting vegetation along certain wetland areas, helping with spot-spraying invasive weeds, conducting vegetation and wildlife monitoring to track restoration outcomes, and selecting any subcontractors used to carry out restoration activities. That level of agency participation is a defining feature of a cooperative agreement and signals that the project will be implemented with close coordination between the recipient and the Service.

There is no competitive application process for this funding. Instead, the notice is a formal announcement of intent to make a single-source award to Webb City without competition, justified under Department of the Interior policy (505 DM 2.14 B. (2) and (4)). The rationale given is that competition is not practical because Webb City is uniquely positioned to perform the work: they own all of the property that will be restored, they have specialized technical expertise in prairie management, and they have specialized equipment capable of producing the specific type and quantity of soil amendment that had previously been tested by the Trustees. In other words, the award is framed as a situation where only one entity can realistically deliver what is needed on the specific land involved, using a proven soil substitute approach and the required operational capacity.

Key administrative details include the opportunity number F19AS00219, classified as a discretionary natural resources program under CFDA 15.658. The funding instrument is a cooperative agreement, with an expected single award (ExpectedAwards: 1). The award ceiling is listed as $1,103,688. The opportunity was created on May 23, 2019, with an original closing date of May 31, 2019, though the posting emphasizes that the closing date does not function like a standard deadline because the notice is not soliciting applications. Overall, the project is best understood as a targeted, site-specific restoration action tied to cleanup-related land disturbance, designed to rebuild soil capacity and re-establish a functioning tallgrass prairie and associated wetland vegetation, with ongoing invasive control and ecological monitoring built into implementation.

• The Department of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service in the natural resources sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Cardinal Valley Natural Habitat Restoration Project" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 15.658.
• This funding opportunity was created on May 23, 2019.
• Applicants must submit their applications by May 31, 2019 There is not an application process for this funding opportunity. This is a notice of intent to award a single source cooperative agreement to Webb City under justification 505DM 2.14B.(2) amp (4).. (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 $1,103,688.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 1 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification).

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