Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit, Rocky Mountain CESU | G19AS00092

Opportunity Information: Apply for G19AS00092

The Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit, Rocky Mountain CESU funding opportunity (USGS opportunity number G19AS00092) is a U.S. Geological Survey Fort Collins Science Center cooperative agreement aimed at improving the scientific tools used to conserve and manage grouse and their habitats in the western United States. The project focus is on developing and refining population and habitat models for key species, particularly Greater Sage-grouse, Gunnison Sage-grouse, and ptarmigan, along with the shrubland and grassland ecosystems they depend on. The core idea is to strengthen the practical, decision-ready science that federal and state land and wildlife managers rely on when making choices about land use, habitat treatments, restoration, and long-term conservation strategies.

This opportunity is driven by a combination of policy timelines and on-the-ground management pressure. The notice highlights major decision points and planning needs that elevated the demand for clearer, more consistent information, including prior U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service decisions in 2016 and planned future evaluations around 2021, ongoing revisions to federal land-management plans, shifting priorities in state wildlife management plans, and the added uncertainty introduced by changing climate conditions. In that context, the USGS is looking for research that can translate large, complex datasets into reliable models that help planners and managers understand what is happening to grouse populations, why it is happening, and how management actions might change future outcomes.

A central theme is pulling together extensive sage-grouse population data that has been collected by many different entities across the species range and making it usable in a consistent way. Because these datasets often vary in format, methods, spatial coverage, and time periods, one of the implied needs is to assemble and harmonize information so that trends and comparisons are defensible and can be interpreted similarly across jurisdictions. Long-term conservation success depends on being able to compare like with like, track changes through time, and connect population responses to habitat conditions and management actions.

The research emphasis goes beyond simple population counts and gets into how grouse populations function as connected systems. The opportunity specifically calls for better understanding of spatial relationships among sub-populations, including movement among sub-populations and the functional relationships that affect population estimates and metapopulation dynamics. In practical terms, this means identifying how birds move between areas, which sub-populations act as sources or sinks, how connectivity influences persistence, and how those dynamics should shape the way managers define planning units, prioritize habitats, and evaluate risk. It also means improving the ability to estimate populations accurately when the biology is structured as a network of interacting groups rather than a single uniform population.

Another key component is linking habitat and ecosystem conditions to population performance. The opportunity notes that documentation of ecosystem patterns and trends is growing, including information on restoration actions and treatment effects, but that stronger concepts and analyses are needed to connect those habitat changes to population dynamics. That points toward model development that can integrate habitat metrics, land-use patterns, disturbance history, and management treatments with demographic outcomes such as survival, reproduction, and occupancy. The end goal is to help decision-makers understand not only where habitat is changing, but whether those changes are likely to help or harm grouse populations, at what spatial scales, and over what time frames.

Administratively, this is a discretionary funding opportunity issued by the Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey, under CFDA number 15.808, using a cooperative agreement mechanism, which typically indicates substantial involvement or collaboration with the agency during the project. Eligibility is limited to partners within the Rocky Mountain Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit (CESU) network as described in the opportunitys eligibility notes. The posting was created July 9, 2019, with an original closing date of July 26, 2019. The expected number of awards is one, with an award ceiling of $250,000, suggesting a single, focused project intended to produce actionable modeling improvements and synthesis products that can be applied by land and wildlife management agencies across the grouses range.

• 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 Unit, Rocky Mountain 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 09, 2019.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Jul 26, 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 $250,000.00 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).

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