April 22, 2005
Dear Fish and Wildlife Program Project Sponsors:
Under the Northwest Power Act the Council is responsible for making
recommendations to the Bonneville Power Administration (Bonneville)
for projects to be funded through Bonneville's annual fish and
wildlife budget. The Council is preparing its project funding
recommendations for Fiscal Year (FY) 2006. You have received this
letter because Bonneville records identify you as the
sponsor/implementer of a project that received Bonneville funding in
FY 2005. If you desire to receive funding from Bonneville for FY 2006
to continue with your project, we need important information from you.
This letter includes:
- A general description
of the FY 2006 funding process and information about changes coming in
the funding process for FY 2007 and subsequent years;
- A link to an online
form that shows the budget for your project that the Council intends
to propose to Bonneville;
- A description of the
questions on that form that you must answer in order to be eligible
for a Council funding recommendation;
- A description of how
the Council will evaluate your responses and the steps that lead to
its FY 2006 funding recommendation to Bonneville.
For a printable copy of the online form, all help boxes, and full
list of metrics, download this 90k PDF. Note
this is only for off-line reference; please use the online form to
submit your response.
General description of the process for developing FY 2006
recommendations and changes in the process coming for FY 2007
The Council developed three-year project funding recommendations in
its Provincial Review process that was initiated in 2001 and completed
in 2003. The three-year term of those recommendations has expired in
all areas except for the mainstem/systemwide projects group (those
recommendations extend through FY 2006).
In the interim, the Council has been renewing its funding
recommendations annually from the first provincial review for ongoing
projects where they continue to be priority work, are within their
approved scope and budget, and demonstrate positive
accomplishments. The Council's recommendation to Bonneville for FY
2006 will principally be a renewal of existing projects. The Council
will not ask Bonneville to do a general solicitation for new
project proposals. The Independent Scientific Review Panel (ISRP) will
not be asked to review all ongoing projects, but the Council may ask
for review in specific limited instances. FY 2006 projects should
remain within the scope of the proposal originally reviewed and
recommended.
The Council intends to ask Bonneville to conduct a proposal
solicitation for work for FY 2007 and subsequent years. That process
will be launched in the fall of 2005 and all projects, existing or
newly proposed, will need to be described in new proposal form
documents. Ongoing and newly proposed work of a similar nature will
compete on equal footing for FY 2007 (and out-years) funding. For
proposals related to habitat and artificial production work, sponsors
will need to show how the proposed work is consistent with applicable
subbasin plans adopted by the Council, and further, that the proposed
work is of high priority in those adopted plans. Again, there will not
be a presumption that projects funded in FY 2006 will receive funding
in FY 2007 and beyond ? beginning with FY 2007, the proposed work
that is demonstrably most scientifically sound and highest priority
under the guiding subbasin plan will be recommended for funding.
Questions that sponsors must answer to be eligible for FY 2006
funding consideration
The Council has adopted a large set of subbasin plans into its Fish
and Wildlife Program over the last several months. As explained in the
2000 Fish and Wildlife program and during the subbasin plan amendment
process, these plans provide the guidance for the development and
review of proposed projects, particularly those related to habitat and
artificial production activities. The subbasin plans can be found at www.subbasins.org.
Beginning with FY 2006, it is critical that the projects proposed
for Bonneville funding demonstrate how they are implementing the
applicable subbasin plan. For FY 2006, we will begin drawing those
relationships together by asking project sponsors to answer the
questions presented below. We are providing an online form for you to
provide your answers, which is available by starting
here (link removed after May 20 deadline), then choosing your project, then clicking
"respond". You'll be asked to register and log in so your
response can be tracked and verified. The form includes "help" links for each question that
include specific instructions and example responses.
Not all projects proposed for renewal in FY 2006 will relate to an
adopted subbasin plan ? there are coordination, data
management, systemwide research, and other projects that would not be
expected to have a direct relationship to any one subbasin plan. If
you believe that your proposed work is in this category, in the online
form where you are asked questions about the project relative to a
subbasin plan, you should state ?work not related to a subbasin plan?
and proceed to the other questions.
1. Consistency with subbasin plans
Habitat protection and restoration projects should relate to a
subbasin plan. In addition, there may be existing research or
monitoring projects that relate specifically to a particular subbasin.
To demonstrate that your proposed project is consistent with a plan
and is priority work proposed by the plan, please provide the
following information:
- Cite the specific
strategies and/or objectives in subbasin plan that your project
relates to in order to demonstrate consistency. Provide the
page number(s) in the plan containing those strategies and objectives.
(These strategies and objectives should be located in the Management
Plan and/or Addendum/Supplement to the Management Plan). Briefly
explain how your project implements the strategies and objectives that
you cite.
2. Priority under subbasin plans
- Cite provisions of the
subbasin plan that demonstrate that the work conducted through your
project is priority work as defined by the subbasin plan.
Please provide section and page number references to the plan.
Examples of how priority can be presented include, but are
not limited to: where the applicable subbasin plans have an explicit
Prioritization Framework (typically in the Management Plan section)
describe how your project fits within it, or; where the applicable
subbasin plan Assessment identified key limiting factors or key
assessment findings, explain how your project addresses them, or;
where the applicable subbasin plan prioritized or ranked habitat
protection and restoration work by geographic area (such as in the EDT
?tornado diagrams? or dot charts) explain how your work relates to
those. These are examples of how sponsors may make a showing of ?priority?
based on subbasin plans?other approaches are welcome, but should be
grounded explicitly in the subbasin plan (Management Plan and/or
Assessment). In all cases, please cite to the subbasin plan section(s)
and page number(s).
3. Proposals not directly related to subbasin plans
If you do not believe that your proposal is related to a subbasin
plan, please indicate ?work not related to a subbasin plan? in
those text boxes. However, after doing that, you should specifically
identify and cite any guidance or plan document to which your proposal
relates. Examples include the Council's 2000 Fish and Wildlife
Program, the Updated Proposed Alternative for Operation of the FCRPS,
etc.
4. Reporting past accomplishments and identifying
anticipated FY 2006 accomplishments
Sponsors should report what their projects have accomplished since the
time they were recommended for funding by the Council in the last
provincial review recommendation process. Although many ongoing
projects have been in existence since well before the Provincial
Review process, it is the Council's original Provincial Review
recommendation (with any subsequent within-year modifications) that is
being proposed for renewal for FY 2006. Therefore, the most
appropriate benchmark in time for reporting accomplishments for FY
2006 renewal is that last Council recommendation.
The online form contains a list of metrics from which you should
choose for reporting accomplishments. If you do not believe that the
metrics provided allow you to report adequately, you may present your
own in the narrative field, but it would be most helpful if they
describe your accomplishments as directly and succinctly as those in
the provided list. All sponsors are invited to couple their reports
of accomplishments relative to metrics with a brief and direct
narrative discussion.
In addition to reporting past accomplishments as described above,
sponsors should report what they expect to accomplish with the FY 2006
funding sought. These anticipated accomplishments should be expressed
in the same terms as past accomplishments.
For more information about metrics and why the Council is requesting
metric data, see the "why are we asking for metrics" links
on the online form.
5. Anticipated FY 2006 project budget
The Council staff, with assistance from Bonneville, reviewed ongoing
projects that are likely candidates for renewal in FY 2006, and
identified the budget for each project. The budget determination is
based on a continuation of the previously Council recommended scope of
work. It is important that sponsors understand that in this renewal
process new or expanded activities will not be recommended for
funding. New or expanded work will be considered in the next
Provincial Review Process. Similarly, in order to support all of the
ongoing projects that the Council staff anticipates will seek renewal
in FY 2006, requests for increased funding to address escalating
personnel and/or materials costs will not likely be supported.
However, sponsors may wish to provide information on additional
funding demands caused by increasing costs in these areas so that it
may be documented and considered by the Council and Bonneville as they
design the project selection and recommendation process that will
apply to FY 2007 and subsequent years.
The project and budget information can be viewed here.
Sponsors are asked to review this information and report the
following:
- Confirm that you want
your project renewed for FY 2006;
- If your ongoing
project is not shown in the online list of projects, contact
Patty O'Toole (503-222-5161);
- Confirm the Council
staff FY 2006 budget identified for your project if it appears
consistent with your expectations;
- If you believe that
the budget identified is not consistent with the budget
previously approved by the Council or Bonneville, please reference as
specifically as possible the Council or Bonneville approval action you
believe applies and the funding level that you believe was approved
(nature of action, date, authorizing person, etc);
- If you believe that
the budget identified is consistent with the budget previously
approved by the Council or Bonneville, but is not sufficient to
implement the scope and nature of activities approved for the project,
please specifically identify, the additional funds required and what
previously approved project elements those funds are needed for.
Please be specific when describing the additional funding necessary,
and why those funds are needed (e.g. to deal with increased fuel
costs, personnel costs, unanticipated costs to perform approved work,
etc).
How the Council will use the information you provide in forming
FY 2006 funding recommendations to Bonneville
The Council will review the responses provided to ensure that the
proposals seeking renewal in FY 2006 are consistent with subbasin
plans (or other guiding documents where activities do not relate to
subbasin plans). The Council will also be interested to see how these
existing projects coincide with what the plans present as priority
work. While these reviews may not drive the Council renewal decisions
this year, issues of consistency and priority with guiding plans will
be critical issues in the upcoming Provincial Review Process for FY
2007 and beyond. Evaluating the FY 2006 renewal projects in this way
should allow for early notice and a smoother transition for all
parties if some ongoing projects do not seem to relate to their
guiding plans.
Similarly, the information sought regarding past accomplishments
will be reviewed and considered for the Council's FY 2006
recommendation. If a project is unable to demonstrate reasonable
accomplishments since the last Provincial Review recommendation,
further inquiries with Bonneville and the sponsor will be conducted
before the project is recommended for FY 2006 funding. Moreover, if
the sponsors are able to report past and anticipated accomplishments
in terms of the metrics provided, the Council and others can produce
reports for both internal and external purposes showing what is being
achieved in the Fish and Wildlife Program.
Finally, the project and budget information will be reviewed to
ensure that all of the projects seeking renewal in FY 2006 have been
identified. The project budget information, if confirmed by the
sponsor, will be that which is included in the Council's
recommendation to Bonneville. Where sponsor-proposed budgets are lower
than as presented, adjustments will be made. Where sponsor-proposed
budgets exceed those presented, they will be scrutinized
to ensure that the cause is not new or expanded beyond that approved
previously (again, new and/or expanded work will be considered in FY
2007 and subsequent years). If sponsors present increased project
budgets that respond to increased personnel, material, overhead costs,
etc., those will be carefully reviewed and catalogued. Again, it is
very unlikely that these increased costs can be equitably accommodated
across the program within available funds. Additional funding needs of
this sort will be considered in the within-year budget adjustment
process that takes place during the fiscal year.
Thank you in advance for providing the information required to
secure FY 2006 funding renewals. We have tried to streamline and
minimize the amount of material required here, but it is very
important to begin to relate work in this program to the new subbasin
plans, identify that body of work that is outside of the plans, and to
report all work in terms of accomplishments. If you have questions
about this request, contact Patty O?Toole at 503-222-5161 or .
For technical assistance with the online form, contact Eric Schrepel at 503-222-5161 or .
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