III. Project Priorities

Priority projects are salmon habitat recovery (protection or restoration) projects that "fit" the NOPLE Strategy, by:

• addressing wild priority species/stocks (Section C);
• being located in a priority tiered watershed (Section D);
• recovering/protecting a priority habitat factor/ watershed process (Section E) underlying the priority stock's decline identified as a priority action/area in the relevant Watershed Page (Appendix D);
• being of high benefit to salmon and having a high likelihood of success according to the SRFB definitions, as contained in the SRFB Policies and Project Selection Manual
• having community support (Section G)
• being timely or constituting an opportunity that would be lost if not acted on now, and
• being of appropriate cost.

To apply for SRFB-funding for a salmon habitat recovery project located in the NOPLE area, see the NOPLE Application Addendum.

The NOPLE prioritization process evaluates how well projects "fit" the NOPLE Strategy as follows:

• Technical Review. After working with project sponsors and providing them with feedback throughout the preproposal process, each NOPLE Technical Review Group ("TRG") member scores and comments on each full proposal based on a detailed score sheet. The score sheets are designed to evaluate whether the project is a priority project according to the NOPLE Strategy (see above).
• Citizen Review. The TRG scores and comments are forwarded to both the Citizen Facilitation Groups ("CFGs") and the Lead Entity Group ("LEG"). The CFGs then comment on and rank the projects within their WRIA area, with such comments and ranks also forwarded to the LEG.
• Lead Entity Prioritization. The LEG then considers all the scores and comments in finalizing the prioritized list that is submitted to the SRFB. In finalizing the prioritized list, the LEG generally adopts the scientifically-based ranked list produced through the TRG scoring process, unless community issues raised by the CFG(s) justify an adjustment. Upon prioritizing the projects into a prioritized list, NOPLE submits both the project applications and the prioritized list to the SRFB. This process is described in more detail in the NOPLE Score and Rank Merge Document.
• Conflict Rules. The NOPLE Rules and Procedures outline voting rules where individual TRG members are project applicants.

For more information about the NOPLE organization and committees, see NOPLE Organization and Process.

For details about the now-completed 2005 NOPLE Prioritization Process, see NOPLE 2005 Project Review Process.

For the results of the 2005 NOPLE Prioritization Process,see NOPLE 2005 Project Fit to Strategy.

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