Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit, Rocky Mountain | G19AS00079

Opportunity Information: Apply for G19AS00079

The Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit, Rocky Mountain opportunity (Funding Opportunity Number G19AS00079) is a US Geological Survey (USGS) Northern Rocky Mountain Science Center (NOROCK) cooperative agreement focused on pulling together and analyzing existing information on North American porcupines across the contiguous western United States. The geographic scope is broad, spanning the West Coast eastward through the interior West to Texas and north to Montana. The core idea is to take scattered records that already exist in many different places and turn them into a unified, defensible picture of where porcupines occur now, how that pattern may have shifted over time, and what environmental or management factors might help explain those patterns.

The project has three main scientific goals. First, it aims to quantify current patterns of porcupine occupancy and abundance using existing records, then test whether any trends are visible that matter from a management and ecological standpoint. In other words, the work is not simply mapping presence points, but evaluating whether there is evidence of meaningful change in distribution or numbers based on the best information available. Second, the project is designed to evaluate potential drivers of any observed changes in distribution. The opportunity text highlights several candidate drivers that are relevant to land and wildlife management, including forest community type, climate-related factors such as ecological water availability (with latitude mentioned as a possible proxy), silvicultural or timber-harvest strategies, and the extent of historic poisoning campaigns. The solicitation encourages a rigorous analytical approach to comparing explanations, for example by using an information-theoretic framework to evaluate competing models and applying multi-model inference to support prediction, though multivariate analytical approaches are also described as acceptable. Third, the project seeks to examine how porcupine occupancy and density may influence forest stand structure and, in particular, fire frequency, while accounting for other known factors that affect fire risk. This connects porcupine ecology to broader forest and fire management concerns by asking whether porcupine presence or population levels have measurable associations with stand conditions that could relate to wildfire dynamics.

A major motivation behind the work is that porcupines are widespread, yet many managers suspect they may be declining in parts of the West, and there has not been a comprehensive, broad-scale analysis to test that perception. The results are intended to be directly useful to the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and state agencies as they consider whether the species warrants elevated conservation status. By consolidating evidence and producing spatially explicit estimates, the project is meant to reduce uncertainty and provide a stronger technical basis for conservation and management decisions.

The expected deliverables are concrete and data-driven. One deliverable is a compilation of high-confidence porcupine records assembled into a centralized database from numerous sources. Examples of sources explicitly mentioned include state wildlife agencies and Natural Heritage Programs across the region, nongovernmental organizations, global biodiversity aggregators such as GBIF, museum and research collections such as ARCTOS and the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology (MVZ) at the University of California, Berkeley, other museums, and even state Departments of Transportation (which can hold relevant observations such as roadkill or incident reports). Beyond database development, the awardee is expected to develop and evaluate alternative quantitative models describing spatial and temporal patterns in porcupine distribution. The work should culminate in a report that provides statistically valid, spatially explicit estimates of the probability of current and future porcupine distributions across the region, explicitly incorporating the kinds of drivers described in the opportunity (habitat, climate/water availability, forest management, historic control/poisoning, and the links to stand structure and fire frequency). The solicitation also calls for two peer-reviewed journal articles, signaling that the project is expected to meet publishable scientific standards rather than producing only internal agency products.

Administratively, this is a discretionary funding opportunity offered by the Department of the Interior, USGS, under CFDA 15.808, using a cooperative agreement as the funding instrument type. The listed award ceiling is $35,000, with one expected award, indicating a relatively small, targeted project intended to synthesize existing data and conduct analysis rather than fund extensive new field collection. The opportunity was created July 8, 2019, with an original closing date of July 22, 2019. Eligibility is listed broadly as "Others" with additional eligibility details referenced in the full announcement, consistent with CESU opportunities that often involve partner institutions and research organizations.

• 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" 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 $35,000.00 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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