The California Ocean Protection Council (OPC) is currently accepting requests for proposals through the Proposition 68 Grant Program. The priority issue area for this round of Proposition 68 funding is the nexus between marine protected areas and climate resiliency for species, habitats, and people.

Interested parties should apply directly to OPC and do not need to partner with a Sea Grant program. However, if interested, USC Sea Grant is available to collaborate as a partner on proposals. If you are interested in pursuing an optional partnership with USC Sea Grant for this grant, please complete and submit our Partnership Form by Friday, July 22nd, 2022, at 12:00 pm PT. See more details below on the funding announcement and how to apply.

 

Important Dates

  • July 22, 2022, 12:00 PM PDT:  Completed Partnership Form (optional) due to USC Sea Grant by emailing Amalia Almada (amaliaal@usc.edu) and Karina Alvarez (karinaa9@usc.edu)
  • July 29, 2022, 5:00 PM PDT: Letters of Intent due to OPC (prop68ch9@resources.ca.gov)
  • September 6, 2022: Selected applicants invited by OPC to submit a full proposal
  • October 7, 2022, 5:00PM PDT: Full Proposals due to OPC

 

How to Apply

 

Background

The California Drought, Water, Parks, Climate, Coastal Protection and Outdoor Access for All Act of 2018 (Proposition 68 or “Prop 68”) was approved by voters in June 2018. Funding from Prop 68 is intended to support projects that provide Californians with access to safe natural spaces and to continue investments in the state’s diverse ecosystems to ensure high quality of life for all Californians. Funding is also intended to support greening urban areas to mitigate the effects of climate change and pollution and to protect and restore the state’s natural resources for the benefit and enjoyment of future generations.

Chapter 9 of Prop 68 allocates $35 million to OPC for grants consistent with the California Ocean Protection Act (Section 35650). Priority shall be given to projects that conserve, protect, and restore marine wildlife and healthy ocean and coastal ecosystems, focusing on the state’s system of marine protected areas and sustainable fisheries. The funds in Chapter 9 may be allocated through competitive or discretionary grant programs. In addition, Prop 68 requires that at least 15 percent of the funds provided to OPC be allocated to projects that serve severely disadvantaged communities.

 

California’s MPA Network and Climate Change

The overall goal of this solicitation is to understand the role that California’s MPA Network plays in the face of climate change, climate variability, and marine heatwaves in the lives of key species, habitats, or human activities. Projects must be research-based. Applications submitted in response to this solicitation should advance the implementation of the OPC’s Strategic Plan to Protect California’s Coast and Ocean 2020-2025 (Strategic Plan). Projects should identify and demonstrate quantitative progress in implementing Strategic Plan targets. All projects must benefit California’s coastal or San Francisco Bay region. OPC will fund at least one project from each of the three priority project types described below.

 

Priority Project Types

Research projects that are designed with scalable and replicable methods and linked with research questions or monitoring components to inform future projects will be prioritized. Projects must inform adaptative management of the MPA Network and be able to directly link research outcomes to potential management tools. Projects should also be responsive to priorities outlined in the Climate Resilience and California’s MPA Network report. Projects should advance scientific understanding of the intersection of California’s MPA Network and climate change, including potential areas of refuge, vulnerability, and resilience. It is anticipated that proposals will focus on one of the three project types outlined below, however, proposals that include components of multiple project types will be considered.

The following three project types will be prioritized for funding. Projects that:

  1. Characterize the local vulnerability of MPAs across multiple stressors to evaluate the potential of the MPA Network to provide ecological resilience through climate refugia
    Projects should investigate and identify physical, ecological, and biological characteristics of climate refugia in California coastal systems and assess whether MPAs include or promote these conditions. Projects should investigate the spatial distribution of MPAs relative to historical and current stressor exposures and how those stressors are likely to evolve in the future.
  2. Model habitat and species distributions in current and future conditions to inform risk assessments of species, ecosystems, and habitats within MPAs
    Projects should model future species and habitat distributions while considering important conditions that affect focal taxa of MPA monitoring, including but not limited to: physiological tolerances, tipping-point thresholds, species, and ecological community range shifts, and genetic diversity. Projects can also feature risk assessments that focus on key managed or culturally important species and identify those most at risk from climate change. Refer to the list of species targeted for long-term MPA monitoring in the 2018 MPA Monitoring Action Plan (Tables 7-10, pages 33-40). Projects that propose to assess culturally important species should be able to describe how the lead investigators will engage with Tribes and other communities to determine cultural importance.
  3. Assess social values and outcomes relating to MPAs and climate resilience in California
    Projects should aim to understand the social resilience outcomes of MPAs in California specifically. Proposed projects could assess the state of the knowledge to identify and assess important gaps in our understanding of the interactions between MPAs and social resilience under a changing climate. Projects should investigate the role that MPAs play in protecting or rehabilitating species or ecosystems that are considered culturally important to different societal groups or what species or ecosystems are considered important to society (beyond economic or consumptive uses).


Key documents guiding OPC priorities for this solicitation include: