Monitoring Surveys to Support Long-Term Monitoring of Bird Communities | P17AS00062

Opportunity Information: Apply for P17AS00062

The grant opportunity titled "Monitoring Surveys to Support Long-Term Monitoring of Bird Communities" (Funding Opportunity Number P17AS00062) is a National Park Service effort under the U.S. Department of the Interior focused on sustaining an established, science-based program for tracking long-term changes in bird communities within the Southern Colorado Plateau Network (SCPN). The main goal is not to design a new monitoring approach from scratch, but to continue implementing a set of rigorous, integrated protocols that have already been developed to consistently measure bird community status and trends over time across SCPN park units. By keeping methods consistent year after year, the program can produce comparable data that helps park managers understand how bird populations and associated habitat conditions are shifting, potentially in response to climate patterns, land use influences, disturbance, or broader ecological change.

The work covered by this agreement centers on field monitoring of landbirds and associated habitat characteristics in two specific SCPN park units that are part of the network's broader landbird monitoring design: GRCA (Grand Canyon National Park) and WUPA (Walnut Canyon National Monument). While the SCPN includes six park units selected for landbird monitoring, this particular task focuses on the two named parks, indicating that monitoring responsibilities are distributed across units and possibly phased or rotated depending on capacity and study design. The project scope includes completing the on-the-ground surveys, collecting habitat data that can help interpret bird observations, analyzing the resulting datasets, and producing written reports that document methods, results, and likely management-relevant findings.

From an administrative and funding standpoint, this opportunity is categorized as discretionary and uses a cooperative agreement as the funding instrument, which typically implies substantial involvement by the federal agency in coordinating, guiding, or collaborating on the work rather than simply issuing a standard grant with minimal agency interaction. The funding activity category is Natural Resources, and the CFDA number listed is 15.945. The eligible applicant type identified is "Public and State controlled institutions of higher education," signaling that universities and similar public higher-education entities were the intended partners for conducting this technical monitoring and analysis work. The anticipated federal funding amount is capped at an award ceiling of $95,529, with an expectation of a single award.

A key practical detail is that this posting functions as a Notice of Intent rather than an open solicitation. No applications were being accepted at the time because the task agreement was to be awarded under an existing cooperative agreement (P14AC00727) that had already gone through a competitive process. In other words, the National Park Service was publicly documenting its intent to fund a specific task under a previously competed cooperative agreement rather than inviting new proposals. The opportunity was created on January 25, 2017, and the original closing date is effectively not applicable because it was not open for competition.

Overall, the opportunity supports continuity in long-term ecological monitoring by ensuring that standardized bird and habitat surveys continue in key SCPN park units, and that collected data are processed into analyses and reports that can inform resource management decisions, detect trends, and strengthen understanding of how park ecosystems are changing over time.

• The Department of the Interior, National Park Service in the natural resources sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Monitoring Surveys to Support Long-Term Monitoring of Bird Communities" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 15.945.
• This funding opportunity was created on Jan 25, 2017.
• Applicants must submit their applications by This is a Notice of Intent only. This Task Agreement is being awarded under Cooperative Agreement P14AC00727 which was already awarded under a competitive process. No applications are being accepted at this time.. (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 $95,529.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 1 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Public and State controlled institutions of higher education.

Apply for P17AS00062

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