Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit, Rocky Mountain CESU | G18AS00092

Opportunity Information: Apply for G18AS00092

The Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit, Rocky Mountain CESU opportunity (Funding Opportunity Number G18AS00092) is a US Geological Survey (USGS) funding call, administered through the Department of the Interior and led by the USGS Fort Collins Science Center. It is set up as a discretionary award using a cooperative agreement, which typically means the work is collaborative and the federal scientists may have substantial involvement in shaping or supporting the project as it proceeds. The program sits within the Science and Technology and other Research and Development category (CFDA 15.808) and is designed to support research that helps land and resource managers understand and respond to major environmental change.

The core purpose of the award is to catalyze assessment and synthesis of how disturbance and global change are affecting western mountain ecosystems, with a clear emphasis on western national parks and specifically including Rocky Mountain National Park. Rather than focusing on a single narrow experiment, the language emphasizes pulling together evidence (assessment and synthesis) to build an integrated understanding across multiple ecosystem components. The intent is to generate actionable scientific insights on how warming, atmospheric deposition, and disturbance processes are reshaping soils, waters, forests, and snow-driven hydrology in mountain landscapes.

The opportunity highlights four main research questions. First, it calls for work on how warming and nitrogen deposition influence soil microbes and food webs, pointing to interest in belowground ecological processes that control nutrient cycling and the structure of soil-based trophic interactions. Second, it seeks synthesis on how alpine lakes are changing as they warm and as they receive nitrogen and phosphorus inputs, including phosphorus delivered via dust deposition, and how those drivers alter lake productivity, food webs, and trophic status (for example, shifts toward greater biological production or changes in nutrient limitation). Third, it targets montane and subalpine forest responses to warming and disturbance, while also explicitly bringing in the role of forest management strategies, signaling a need to connect climate-driven change with practical management choices and outcomes. Fourth, it focuses on snow persistence across elevation zones and how differences in snow duration and melt timing influence the production of streamflow across the semi-arid western United States, tying mountain snow dynamics directly to downstream water availability.

In terms of basic logistics, the announcement was created July 31, 2018, with an original closing date of August 14, 2018. The anticipated funding level is relatively targeted: one expected award with an award ceiling of $113,648. Eligibility is listed broadly as "Others," with further clarification referenced in the full notice under an additional eligibility section, which is common for CESU opportunities that may prioritize CESU network members or specific partner types depending on the agreement structure.

Overall, this grant opportunity is best understood as a focused, single-award effort to advance integrated understanding of climate and deposition impacts in western mountain systems, with a strong national park management relevance. It aims to connect mechanistic ecological change (microbes, food webs, forest dynamics, lake trophic conditions) with large-scale drivers (warming, nutrient and dust deposition, disturbance) and with hydrologic consequences (snow persistence and streamflow), producing synthesized knowledge that can inform monitoring, adaptation, and management decisions in Rocky Mountain and other western park landscapes.

• 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 31, 2018.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Aug 14, 2018. (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 $113,648.00 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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