National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration October 31, 2005 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The NOAA Open Rivers Initiative (ORI) provides funding to catalyze the implementation of locally-driven barrier removal projects that remove dams and other barriers, in order to benefit living marine resources, particularly diadromous fish. Projects funded through ORI grants will have strong on-the-ground habitat restoration components that foster economic, educational, and social benefits for citizens and their communities in addition to long-term ecological habitat improvements for NOAA trust resources. The role of NOAA in this initiative is to provide funding and technical assistance for barrier removal projects. Proposals selected for funding through this solicitation will be implemented through a cooperative agreement. Funding of up to $6,000,000 is expected to be available for the ORI Project Grants competition in FY 2007. The NOAA Restoration Center (RC) within the Office of Habitat Conservation will administer this grants initiative, and anticipates that typical awards will range from $50,000 to $250,000 per project. Although a select few may exceed this range, project proposals requesting over $1,000,000 will not be accepted or reviewed. To help expedite the implementation of on-the-ground components of barrier removal projects in 2007, up to $1,000,000 may be made available in 2006 from a related NOAA grants program to support feasibility, engineering, and/or design elements of a small number of projects where the same application also seeks funding for on-the- ground removal activities.