Request for Submission of Scopes of Services

************************************************************************
TO:  Potential Contractors

FROM:     Barataria - Terrebonne National Estuary Program
     Scientific-Technical Committee

SUBJECT: Notification of Publication of Request for Submission of Scopes
of Services for Brown Marsh and Nutria Control Emergency Response

In coastal Louisiana during the spring and summer of 2001, an unusually
extensive and rapidly spreading dieback of the normally lush green
saltwater marsh grass Spartina alterniflora was discovered.
Approximately 20,000 acres of marsh grass have already converted from
dense vegetation to open mud flats with little or no vegetation and
approximately 260,000 acres of marsh have been identified as being
moderately or severely impacted. The Saltwater Marsh dieback was
declared an emergency by Louisiana Governor Mike Foster on October 23,
2000.

The Barataria-Terrebonne National Estuary Program Scientific-Technical
Committee is notifying contractors interested in brown marsh or nutria
control research projects that a request for submission of scopes of
services will be publicly issued on Wednesday 7 February 2001.  The
request for submission of scopes of services for brown marsh and nutria
control research projects will be posted at the  www.lacoast.gov and
www.btnep.org web sites. The instructions will be explicit and will not
be posted until Wednesday 7 February 2001. Scope of Services are due on
Wednesday 28 February 2001 at 4:00 pm at the BTNEP office.

************************************************************************