Dear OBFS Community-

I want to draw people’s attention to the fact that NSF’s FSML program has been delayed for the year; proposals will not be accepted in early March. 

At the OBFS meetings in the fall the program officer for FSML, Peter McCartney, indicated that NSF is working through issues in terms of how to manage construction projects, including general project management issues as well as NEPA requirements.  Having talked with Peter since the delay was announced, as well as reviewing NSF’s 2010 Committee of Visitor’s Report which explicitly identifies support of field stations as a highlight, I believe that the delay is largely a matter of resolving how to manage NSF construction projects and does not reflect a decision to discontinue the program.  I’ll note that five or six years ago, the FSML program skipped a fiscal cycle.  Consequently a delay of even 6-9 months in the program cycle will not mean that we lose a fiscal year of funding for FSML.  Hopefully the program will stay in track, even though NSF has some issues to work through.

As anybody who has been reading the papers knows, there is considerable uncertainty about the federal budget and we do not know yet how this will impact NSF’s overall budget. 

I encourage people to stay informed by subscribing to AIBS’ public policy alerts:
http://www.aibs.org/about-aibs/get_involved.html

Notice of the delay to FSML can be found at:
http://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=5449. 

People that have an interest in the program should continue to check this link.  When a decision has been made about releasing a program announcement, it should promptly appear on that webpage.

Ian Billick
Executive Director, RMBL