National Park Service (NPS)/U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Water-Quality Monitoring and Assessment (WQMA) Partnership for fiscal year (FY) 2003
In Reply Refer To:
Mail Stop 412 January 22, 2002
OFFICE OF WATER QUALITY TECHNICAL MEMORANDUM NO. 2002.08
Subject: National Park Service (NPS)/U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)
Water-Quality Monitoring and Assessment (WQMA) Partnership for
fiscal year (FY) 2003
The NPS/USGS WQMA Partnership (see WRD Memorandum 99.17) will continue in FY
2003 pending congressional approval. This memorandum prescribes the USGS
process to propose, select, and fund water-quality work for NPS. District
Chiefs are the primary liaisons to the Parks regarding projects in the
NPS/USGS WQMA Partnership.
The selection of NPS/USGS water-quality work begins with discussions among
NPS Park Superintendents and staff and USGS managers and scientists. Ideas
for new projects can be pursued in several ways. Districts can expect
contacts from Park Superintendents who wish to do water-quality assessment
and monitoring projects as part of this program. The Park Superintendents
will be asking for USGS assistance in developing preliminary project
proposals. In addition, District and National Research Program (NRP)
scientists are encouraged to propose and discuss new research topics with
appropriate Park staff and should inform the appropriate District
Chief(s)of any decisions made before pursuing formal proposals. NRP
scientists are expected to work collaboratively with District scientists on
projects funded by this program.
The process begins with the development of preliminary project proposals
that are limited to annual funding levels ($85,000 for intensive studies
and $42,500 for synoptic or fixed-station monitoring studies, $10,000 for
technical assistance). Additional information excerpted from the National
Park Service's Comprehensive Call is attached as "NPScall03abbrev." Each
preliminary proposal should follow standard guidelines determined by each
District and clearly indicate anticipated products. The resulting
preliminary project proposals will be submitted through District Chiefs
(with approval through the respective Region where necessary) to Park
Superintendents to NPS for internal screening and initial prioritization
using criteria described in the attachment "NPScall03abbrev."
It is suggested that preliminary project proposals address all the criteria
outlined in the attachments and should include:
(1) A statement of how the proposed work contributes to and focuses on an
enhanced understanding of Park water-quality management issues. In
addition,
proposals that include state-of-the-art water-quality methods
or enhance process understanding are preferred;
(2) Statements about collaboration with scientists from NRP, other
Districts,
National Water-Quality Laboratory, or other USGS Divisions and
academia;
Multi-year projects funded in previous years and proposed for FY 2002
funding will be subject to annual review and approval. Continuing projects
must prepare and submit a progress report (see "progressreportformat.doc")
before funds are allocated.
The timeline for preliminary proposal submission is, in large part,
dependent on the Park Region and are listed below. Unfortunately, due to
problems with NPS Web and email access and other communication issues this
year we have only learned about these deadlines in the past few days.
Obviously some of the deadlines require immediate attention and we have
been working with those likely affected by the Pacific West and Alaska
regional deadlines.
Pacific West ? January 15, 2002
Alaska ? January 28, 2002
Northeast ? April 1, 2002
Intermountain ? March 15, 2002
Southeast ? March 15, 2002
Midwest ? March 15, 2002
National Capital ? April 1, 2002
Upon receiving your collaborative proposal the NPS Regions will submit
selected proposals to NPS headquarters. Subsequently a panel of 3 USGS and
3 NPS representatives will prioritize the proposals for funding using the
criteria in "NPSCall03abbrev." Shortly thereafter Districts will be
notified if their proposal(s) has/have been selected for funding and each
project will be required to submit a USGS regionally approved workplan
before the fiscal year begins.
Questions concerning the NPS/WRD Partnership should be directed to
Mike Focazio (703/648-6808, mfocazio@usgs.gov).
Stephen K. Sorenson /s/
Acting Chief, Office of Water
Quality
The memorandum does not supersede any other Office of Water Quality
Technical Memorandum.
Distribution: A, B, DC, NAWQA NLT, NAWQA Study Unit Chiefs (1991, 1994,
1997), GS-W wqspecs
(See attached file:FY2003-FY2004 Servicewide Comprehensive Call)
(See attached file: Continuing Project Progress Report Format)
***********************************************
Stephen K. Sorenson
Acting Chief, Office of Water Quality
US Geological Survey
412 National Center
Reston, VA 20192
703/648-6864
sorenson@usgs.go