Cooperative Agreement for CESU-affiliated Partner with Great Basin Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit | G23AS00404

Opportunity Information: Apply for G23AS00404

This grant opportunity, titled "Cooperative Agreement for CESU-affiliated Partner with Great Basin Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit" (Funding Opportunity Number G23AS00404), is a discretionary funding announcement from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), an agency within the Department of the Interior. The award will be made as a cooperative agreement, which generally indicates that USGS expects to have substantial involvement in the project during performance (for example, collaborating on study design, data standards, or integration of results into federal decision-support tools). The funding activity falls under Science and Technology and other Research and Development, and it is associated with CFDA number 15.808.

The purpose of the project is to support research that improves effectiveness monitoring strategies for the Conservation Efforts Database (CED). In practical terms, this means developing ways to measure and track how well conservation or restoration actions are working, using systematic monitoring approaches that can be applied across projects and landscapes. The emphasis is on leveraging treatment assessments within an adaptive management framework, meaning the work should help managers learn from past and ongoing treatments (such as habitat restoration, invasive species control, or other sagebrush ecosystem interventions), adjust strategies based on evidence, and continuously improve outcomes over time. While the focus area is sagebrush ecosystems in the northern Great Basin, the opportunity also notes relevance "beyond" that region, implying the intended products or methods should be transferable or scalable to other sagebrush landscapes or similar ecosystem management contexts.

This opportunity is issued under the Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit (CESU) Program, specifically tied to the Great Basin CESU. CESUs are structured partnerships that connect federal agencies with universities, tribes, non-profits, and other partners to deliver research, technical assistance, and education in support of public trust resource management. Eligibility is restricted to entities that are already participating partners in the Great Basin Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit, which is why the eligible applicant category is listed as "Others" rather than open competition to all organizations. In other words, only current Great Basin CESU partners can apply, and the award is intended to be made through that existing CESU network.

From an administrative standpoint, the opportunity was created on 2023-06-13 and had an original closing date of 2023-07-21. The stated award ceiling is $47,000, indicating the maximum anticipated federal funding level for the project under this announcement. The listing shows expected awards without a specific number provided, but the relatively modest ceiling suggests a focused, targeted scope of work, such as designing and piloting monitoring approaches, creating analytical or reporting frameworks tied to CED records, or producing guidance that can be used by land managers and partner organizations to evaluate treatment effectiveness consistently.

Overall, the grant is aimed at strengthening how conservation actions in sagebrush ecosystems are evaluated and learned from, by building monitoring strategies that tie on-the-ground treatment assessments to an adaptive management cycle and by improving the utility of the Conservation Efforts Database as a tool for tracking, comparing, and improving conservation outcomes across the northern Great Basin and potentially across the broader sagebrush biome.

• 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 Great Basin 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 2023-06-13.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2023-07-21. (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 $47,000.00 in funding.
• Eligible applicants include: Others.

Apply for G23AS00404

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