U.S. Department of Commerce/National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration/OFA/AGFS/AMD -- OFA51, 1305 East West Highway -- Station 7604, Silver Spring, Maryland 20910

F -- MANGROVE HABITAT INJURY ASSESSMENT AND SCALING PROTOCOLS SOL NC-NR3000-0-00153 DUE 061500 POC Robert Ransom (301) 713-3038 x191 WEB: Click here to get a copy of the Statement of Work, http://www.rdc.noaa.gov/~amd/index.html. E-MAIL: click here to contact the Contracting Officer, robert.ransom@noaa.gov. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Damage Assessment Center requires the services of a qualified expert in the field of mangrove habitat and Natural Resource Damage Assessment to research existing information and identify additional data needed to scale compensatory restoration for mangrove habitat. The need for this information includes issues pertaining to selection of the most appropriate metrics to quantify lost mangrove services, and determination of the duration, functional form and ultimate extent of recovery and restoration project maturity. This project will focus on a preliminary review of the relevant published mangrove ecology scientific literature and other relevant documents by qualified expert(s), and development of recommendations to support the application of Habitat Equivalency Analysis (HEA) to specific mangrove injuries to address the above questions. Overwhelmingly, the service to service approach is selected as the most appropriate way of scaling compensatory habitat restoration projects, with Habitat Equivalency Analysis (HEA) being the most commonly used method to implement the service-to-service approach. Critical inputs to HEAs for cases involving injuries to mangroves are: 1) a metric or combination of metrics that can be used to quantify the ecological services provided by mangrove habitats, both created and natural, to be used for scaling mangrove restoration projects; 2) the duration and functional form of the recovery curve for injured mangroves; 3) the duration required for mangrove habitat restoration or creation projects to reach their maximum level of service provision, plus the shape (functional form) of the maturity curve; 4) the relative maximum service provision of created/restored mangrove habitats to natural ones; and the expected lifespan (i.e., duration of service provision) of created/restored mangrove habitats. These efforts will provide for more scientifically rigorous guidance in the selection of ecological metrics for a mangrove habitat service-to-service scaling analysis. These types of analyses have previously proven extremely valuable in applying HEAs in damage assessments involving injuries to marsh habitat in the Gulf Coast and East Coast regions. The practical application of this type of analysis in a range of cases has highlighted the importance of understanding habitat service flows. The objectives of this requirement are to: (1) Select the most appropriate metrics to quantify lost mangrove services; determine the duration, functional form and ultimate extent of recovery of the injured habitat; and the lifespan, duration and functional form of the maturity curve and ultimate service flow of mangrove restoration/creation projects, relative to natural mangrove habitats. (2) Identify data gaps required to select the appropriate mangrove service metrics. (3) Recommend studies or analyses needed to fill the identified gaps. The estimated value of this requirement is less than $20K. Award will be made to the quotation representing the best overall value using simplified acquisition procedures. Interested sources are invited to obtain a copy of the Statement of Work by visiting the NOAA website at: http://www.rdc.noaa.gov/~amd/index.html, or by sending an email to robert.ransom@noaa.gov. Quotations are due by 3:00pm EST, June 15, 2000. Posted 05/24/00 (W-SN458052). (0145)

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