The Department of Fish and Game (DFG) will release the 2012 Proposal Solicitation Notice (PSN) for the Fisheries Restoration Grant Program on Feb. 15, 2012.

Applications will be accepted beginning at 8 a.m. Feb. 15, 2012 through 3 p.m. March 30, 2012.

The 2012 PSN will be posted at www.dfg.ca.gov/fish/Administration/Grants/FRGP/Solicitation.asp on Feb. 15.

Applications can also be submitted online at https://nrmsecure.dfg.ca.gov/frgpproposal/Default.asp as of Feb. 15.

The online application process, which is new this year, allows applicants to cut and paste text and save the final application as a PDF, eliminating the previous requirement to mail in five paper copies and a copy on disk.

Applicants will receive a confirmation e-mail after their proposal is submitted.

Applicants will also have the opportunity to attend PSN public workshops at various locations throughout the state. These workshops will review important changes in the PSN and the online application process.

Workshops will be offered in Fortuna, Fort Bragg, Yreka, Corte Madera, Windsor, Belmont, Watsonville, San Luis Obispo, Ventura and Los Alamitos.

A list of specific workshop locations and times can be found at www.dfg.ca.gov/fish/Administration/Grants/FRGP/GrantProcess.asp.

Proposals should focus on projects that restore, enhance or protect anadromous salmonid habitat in the coastal watersheds of California or projects that lead to the restoration, enhancement or protection of anadromous salmonid habitat.

Applicants should take care to review the 2012 PSN and note the changes from the previous year’s PSN, including:

A change in focus, including different watersheds and project types. There are now five recovery plans from which tasks can be selected. The statewide steelhead task list has been updated. Off-channel design criteria have been added.

Please refer to the 2012 PSN for details about these and other changes.

Since 1981, there has been a collaborative effort with more than 600 stakeholders to restore declining anadromous salmonid habitat. Over the last 30 years, the Fisheries Restoration Grants Program has invested more $250 million and supported approximately 3,500 salmonid restoration projects.

Funded projects will be consistent with DFG’s Steelhead Restoration and Management Plan for California, DFG’s Recovery Strategy for California Coho Salmon, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Southern California Steelhead Recovery Plan Final Version January 2012, NOAA’s Recovery Plan for Evolutionarily Significant Unit of Central California Coast Coho Salmon Public Draft Version March 2010 and NOAA’s Recovery Plan for the Southern Oregon Northern California Coast Evolutionarily Significant Unit of Coho Salmon Public Review Draft January 2012.