Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unti, Rocky Mountian CESU | G19AS00088

Opportunity Information: Apply for G19AS00088

This grant opportunity, offered by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Fort Collins Science Center, supports a single cooperative agreement with a partner from the Rocky Mountain Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit (CESU). The project focus is on understanding how major disturbances and land uses shape habitat conditions and wildlife populations across the sagebrush ecosystem and related western landscapes, including shrublands, semi-arid rangelands, and woodlands. The underlying purpose is practical: generate research and analysis that can be used directly in regional planning and day-to-day land management decisions on public lands.

The USGS is looking for work that explains and helps managers separate the effects of different drivers of change across the landscape. These drivers include wildfire, habitat and fuel treatments, restoration actions, energy development, grazing and other land uses, and natural environmental variation. Because public lands are managed for many uses at once, and because those uses interact with natural processes like climate and fire, habitat quality and wildlife distribution can shift over time in ways that are hard to interpret without targeted science. The opportunity emphasizes linking scientific understanding to management applications, especially where managers need to decide where to treat fuels, where and how to restore habitat, and how to anticipate the consequences of both planned actions and unplanned disturbances.

A major motivation for this work is the high demand for better, more usable information for land-use planning tied to sagebrush conservation, including the Greater Sage-grouse. The notice points to the Fish and Wildlife Service decision regarding Greater Sage-grouse in 2016 and the expectation of a re-evaluation of its status in 2021 as drivers of widespread revisions to federal land-management plans and state wildlife management plans. Those planning processes increase the need for timely, decision-relevant science on how sagebrush habitats function, how they respond to disturbance and treatment, and how focal wildlife species respond to changing habitat conditions.

The research sought is meant to characterize habitat trends and dynamics, meaning measurable changes over time due to management actions, fire, climate shifts, development pressures, and restoration efforts. The grant stresses the importance of understanding how these trends influence ecosystem services, domestic grazing conditions, and wildlife population dynamics, not only in isolated sites but across different parts of the landscape. It also calls for analysis that accounts for the relationship between natural landscape controls (soils, geology, topography, climate, and fire regimes) and human-driven actions (fuel breaks, energy development footprints, restoration investments, conifer removal, and other habitat management). The intended outcome is a clearer basis for adaptive management, where agencies adjust actions based on monitoring and improved interpretation of what is driving observed changes.

Another key theme is multi-species relevance. While sage-grouse is an obvious focal species, the opportunity explicitly notes broader concerns about native wildlife, including grouse species more generally, songbirds, ungulates, and small mammals. USGS indicates a need for analyses that look at how development, restoration, treatments, and fires interact to affect multiple species at once, reflecting the reality that management decisions often have tradeoffs across wildlife groups and habitat types.

Administratively, this is a discretionary funding opportunity under a cooperative agreement, categorized under science and technology and other research and development, with CFDA number 15.808. Eligibility is limited to CESU partners (with additional eligibility details referenced in the full announcement). The funding opportunity number is G19AS00088, posted July 8, 2019, with an original closing date of July 22, 2019. The award ceiling is $206,350, and USGS anticipated making one award.

• The Department of the Interior, U. S. Geological Survey in the science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unti, Rocky Mountian CESU" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 15.808.
• This funding opportunity was created on Jul 08, 2019.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Jul 22, 2019. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $206,350.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 1 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification).

Apply for G19AS00088

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