Summary:

The purpose of this program is to support communication, planning, coordination, mapping, assessments, and data collection of landslide hazards. Projects must address at least one of the following risk reduction priority areas:

• Landslide hazard mapping and assessment: development of better landslide hazard mapping and assessments that can be used to inform vulnerability and risk-assessment activities; activities may include:
  • Landslide hazard mapping
  • Landslide event database creation that describes spatial and temporal information related to storm events, earthquakes, or other regional landslide events
  • Assessments to improve understanding of landslide behavior, including where landslides will initiate and where debris could travel after an event
  • Assessment of the influence of land use and land management practices on landslide likelihood and magnitude
• Landslide planning and coordination: improving planning and coordination among research, private industry, land management, and emergency management communities, as well as across various levels of government to ensure that the right information is in the right hands at the right time; activities may include:
  • Development of landslide emergency and technical response protocols, roles and responsibilities, procedures, or products to address local landslide emergencies
  • Development, coordination, and facilitation of a landslide working group that shares best practices and lessons learned for effective landslide outreach, preparedness planning, education, land use practices, and other areas of landslide risk reduction
  • Other activities
• Landslide education, engagement, and outreach: ensuring stakeholder comprehension of landslide risk reduction products to reduce landslide losses; activities may include:
  • Development of materials promoting landslide education, outreach, and engagement to the public
  • Providing collaborative engagement opportunities, such as workshops or trainings, for specialists and practitioners that facilitate addressing important challenges, including landslide hazard mitigation, response, preparedness, or resilience
  • Engaging user communities to assess the efficacy of existing landslide products and elicit their suggestions for improvements and new products

Refer to pages 32-35 of the NOFA file for information regarding additional eligible activities.

Priority will be given to projects that will achieve the greatest landslide hazard and risk reduction; that reflect the goals and priorities of the National Strategy for Landslide Loss Reduction; for which at least 50 percent of the total cost of the proposal is matched by nonfederal sources; and that include enhanced elevation data consistent with the 3D Elevation Program (3DEP).

Priority will also be given to projects that:

• Demonstrate strong collaboration with intended users
• Develop protocols for others to follow in the future
• Encourage collaboration across state, tribal, territorial, or other municipal boundaries
• Target landslide hazard mitigation and risk reduction in underserved communities, and in populations whose vulnerability may be directly related to socioeconomic factors

Collaborative projects are permitted. Two types of collaborative proposals will be accepted:

• Type A: collaboration between two or more external organizations
• Type B: collaboration between an external organization and a U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) internal project; collaborative projects between a USGS internal project and external investigator(s) must be structured in such a way that neither project could succeed without the other being funded

Projects must align with the National Landslide Preparedness Act, attached as the ProgramStatute file, as well as the National Strategy for Landslide Loss Reduction, attached as the LandslideStrategy file.

Eligible costs include salaries and wages, fringe benefits/labor overhead, equipment, supplies, services or consultants, limited travel costs, publication costs, other direct costs, and indirect costs.