Cooperative Agreement for CESU-affiliated Partner with Rocky Mountain Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit | G24AS00412

Opportunity Information: Apply for G24AS00412

This grant opportunity (Funding Opportunity Number G24AS00412) is a U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) discretionary funding announcement for a cooperative agreement focused on understanding and forecasting how grassland bird communities in the western Great Plains may shift as climate and land use change. The project is rooted in a major conservation concern: grassland birds have experienced the steepest population declines of any bird group in North America over roughly the past 50 years. The opportunity frames the drivers of those declines as a combination of widespread conversion of native prairie to row-crop agriculture and the ongoing degradation of remaining grasslands due to disrupted fire regimes, woody plant encroachment, invasive species, and expanding human development. Because agencies and conservation groups have limited time and funding to respond, the central need identified here is for practical, defensible habitat and distribution models that can help managers decide where conservation and restoration actions are likely to produce the biggest benefits.

A key emphasis of the proposed work is to move beyond climate-only projections that rely mainly on temperature and precipitation variables. USGS highlights that vegetation productivity and structure, which are critical to grassland bird habitat, are also strongly shaped by factors such as vegetation type and soil conditions. The study described in the announcement aims to examine how vegetation influences grassland birds across the western Great Plains and then use that information to develop spatial products, specifically maps of projected bird distributions under multiple future climate scenarios that also account for vegetation and land-use change. In other words, the outcome is meant to be more than a general statement that birds will shift northward or respond to rainfall changes; it is intended to provide geographically explicit, management-relevant predictions tied to the vegetation patterns birds actually depend on.

The expected deliverables are positioned to support decision-making at multiple scales. The predictive distribution maps are meant to help land managers and other decision-makers connect local, site-level projects (for example, a prairie restoration, invasive plant control, or prescribed fire plan) to broader regional patterns and anticipated climate-driven change. To make the science easier to use in real planning contexts, the opportunity also calls for a web-based application and associated training modules. These tools are intended to expand the capacity of Federal, State, Tribal, and private partners to incorporate the mapping outputs into conservation planning and prioritization under changing climate conditions.

From an administrative standpoint, the award mechanism is a cooperative agreement, which typically means USGS expects substantial involvement in the project (such as collaboration on methods, data, interpretation, or product development) rather than a hands-off grant. The program falls under the Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit (CESU) framework, which is designed to link federal agencies with partner institutions to provide research, technical assistance, and education. Eligibility is limited to organizations that are participating partners in the Rocky Mountains CESU. The Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance listing is CFDA 15.808. The posted award ceiling is $100,000. The original closing date listed for applications is July 26, 2024, and the opportunity was created on June 25, 2024.

• The Geological Survey in the science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Cooperative Agreement for CESU-affiliated Partner with Rocky Mountain Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit" 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 2024-06-25.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2024-07-26. (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 $100,000.00 in funding.
• Eligible applicants include: Others.

Apply for G24AS00412

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