Who May Apply?
Who may apply?
Participation in this RFP is open to scientists, resource managers, policy makers, and other stakeholders pursuing research relevant to forest lands in the northern tier of New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. We encourage applicants from all races, ethnicities, national origins, genders, sexual orientations, and career stages. The Principal Investigator (PI) must be from an institution, business, agency, or organization in one of the four NSRC states. Other investigators with expertise in the Northern Forest may be part of the proposal regardless of geographic location. All field research must be conducted in or near the boundaries of the Northern Forest in the four-state area. To distribute funds as broadly as possible, the NSRC discourages PIs from submitting more than one proposal to the annual RFP.
Can researchers from the USDA Forest Service apply?
Researchers within the Northern Research Station of the USDA Forest Service may submit proposals to the NSRC and may serve as named, collaborating PIs. As with all NSRC-funded projects, the proposed research must focus on the Northern Forest and benefit the people, ecosystems, and/or economies of this region. NSRC funds must be routed directly to partner institutions (e.g., universities) with no subsequent collection back to the USDA Forest Service (e.g., payroll or direct funding of supplies).
Must Tribal Nations leading a proposal be located in the Northern Forest?
As with other institutions, the Tribal Nation must be based in the states of Maine, New Hampshire, New York, or Vermont. Research must aim to directly benefit the communities – people, plants, and animals – in the forest of the northern tier of the four states.
Is there a limit to the number of proposals on which an individual can appear as a Co-PI?
There is no limit on the number of proposals on which an individual may be listed as a Co-PI. If a single person is identified as a paid Co-PI on multiple proposals, this may affect decisions about the equitable distribution of funds across the region, institutions, and individuals.
How Does Collaboration Work?
Can collaboration with the Forest Service or other federally funded activities count toward the matching requirement?
According to federal cost principles (commonly referred to as Uniform Guidance), shared costs must be from a non-Federal source, not included as contributions for any other Federal award, and necessary and reasonable for the project. Costs that are necessary and reasonable for the project and that are borne by federal agencies are considered leveraged funds and should be described in the project narrative and letters of commitment as leveraged. As described in the RFP, proposed projects will be scored separately on cost share and leveraged funding.
How is collaboration with Forest Service or other federal agency considered in the proposal review?
The NSRC recognizes the importance and value of leveraged involvement of Forest Service and other federally funded researchers in NSRC projects. PIs are encouraged to document planned collaboration with such personnel in project proposals. PIs include Letters of Commitment from the Forest Service or other agencies in proposals. Such letters should provide detail about expected commitment of resources; a monetary value for those resources would be considered leveraged funds (not cost share). PIs may also submit Letters of Support. As described in the RFP, the Full Proposal Review Panel will consider the criterion: Potential to leverage funding and collaborations, including collaborations with current USDA/FS research personnel and facilities (5%).
Pre-Proposals
Can an individual submit more than one pre-proposal for which they are the lead PI?
To distribute funds as broadly as possible, the NSRC discourages PIs from submitting more than one proposal to the annual RFP. That said, a lead PI could submit more than one pre-proposal.
Can maps or figures be included in the pre-proposal?
No, only text is allowed in the pre-proposal submission.
What Is Considered "Northern Forest"?
In the context of this RFP, what ecosystems can be considered part of the “Northern Forest”?
The original boundary of the Northern Forest in the context of NSRC was the so-called “Champion Forest Lands” which had holdings throughout the northern tier of the northeastern states. This boundary has expanded to include other forest types and land holdings in the norther tier. The current approximate boundary map is posted on the NSRC web site. The essential test of applicability is whether the trees in the proposed study site are predominantly the ones you’d find in the areas of this map, but even more importantly, whether the research that is proposed would directly benefit the communities – people, plants, and animals – in the forest of the northern tier of the northeastern states. Whether the site is mountain top or valley riparian area, or natural or fragmented are not criteria.
Research Topics
How were the priority research issues in the RFP decided upon?
An External Advisory Committee (EAC) was convened to inform the NSRC about the priority issues facing forest stakeholders in the Northern Forest region and to provide for crafting the 2020 RFP in response to broader stakeholder interests and needs. NSRC then sought perspectives from three consultants from the Tribal Nations and communities of Indigenous Peoples in the region. The RFP reflects the issues and topics raised by the EAC and Tribal Nations.
Proposal Review Process
Unlike in past years, it sounds like proposals won’t be rejected at the pre-proposal stage but rather that will be used just to provide feedback. Is that correct?
Yes. This is a change from past practice. More recent federal guidance stipulates that a program cannot deny a complete and legitimate submission. But a program can insist that applicants must follow certain application procedures, which in our case continues to include a pre-proposal. If you do not submit a pre-proposal, you may not submit a full proposal.
The review process for the full proposals is clear in the RFP. What is the review process and who will review the pre-proposals?
The pre-proposals will be evaluated by the NSRC Executive and Management teams only; i.e., no outside review will occur at this stage. The pre-proposal review will not focus on any technical or financial content. We will rely on expert, external, technical reviewers and a knowledgeable, region-wide final proposal review panel to provide the detailed input on final proposals. The pre-proposal stage has two purposes. First, it allows us to get an early reading of the scope of the proposals that we might see and begin to identify technical reviewers accordingly. Second, our intention is to provide quick feedback about the likely “competitiveness” of the core idea relative to the RFP and the direction we’ve been given by the NSRC External Advisory Committee. Our intention is to save PIs, reviewers, and the NSRC Executive/Management teams time and effort if there are pre-proposal ideas that we think may not be a good fit to the RFP. In the end, our responses on pre-proposals are advisory. It is the PI’s prerogative to decide whether to prepare and submit a full proposal. We will not turn any away without full review.
How many pre-proposals were received, and how were they reviewed?
In the 2020 RFP, NSRC received 83 pre-proposals requesting a total of $10.7 million dollars in research support from an available pool of about $1.5 million. The full proposal round will be very competitive, as NSRC is likely to be able to fund only 8-12 projects.
Pre-proposals were reviewed for several aspects of "fit" including 1) clarity of the project goal, 2) relevance to the NSRC mission, 3) attention to the key RFP topic areas, 4) general approach, and 5) expected project outputs and outcomes. Also considered were: the degrees to which a project relied explicitly on or included stakeholder involvement, addressed challenges of regional importance, and communicated the potential to transform understanding of ecosystem science or resource management, or both, in the Northern Forest region. Pre-proposals with the following characteristics rose to the top: relevance across the Northern Forest region, involvement with and relevance to stakeholders and managers, and potential to be transformative to scientists and/or managers. Of the pre-proposals submitted, 29 were considered likely to be competitive in the full proposal round; 31 were considered moderately competitive if the pre-proposal feedback was incorporated; and 23 were considered less competitive. All feedback at the pre-proposal stage is advisory. All PIs who submitted pre-proposals are eligible to submit full proposals, which will receive full external technical reviews.
I received an underwhelming review on the pre-proposal. May I submit a full proposal in the same general research area, but a different topic?
No, the pre-proposal and full proposal must be on the same topic.
Budget
May I add lines to the budget template for graduate students or undergraduate students?
Please create budget rows for graduate student RAs and undergraduate field assistants for both salary and fringe, if needed. Assistants may be grouped together or separated; just be sure to explain your calculations in the budget narrative. Technical reviewers should be able to see that your project proposal is adequately resourced and that proposed efforts and costs are reasonable.