Category: Past Funding Opportunities

The Northeast Region of the National Park Service is working to tackle the challenges created by climate change and other stressors through regional initiatives targeting key resources. With funding from the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) and the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), these initiatives are moving forward as funded projects. Each initiative is working to bring the best available science and indigenous knowledge to bear on restoring or enhancing the resilience of cultural and natural resources entrusted to the National Park Service.

Deadline for Responding: March 22, 2024

Funds Available: $100,000 to $150,000 is available for the first two years of this project, inclusive of the CESU overhead rate of 17.5%.

For more information see the full Request for Letters of Research Interest and the Communications Strategic Planning Worksheet

The Joshua A. Nickerson Conservation Fellowship, offered in partnership by Cape Cod National Seashore Advisory Commission, Atlantic Research & Learning Center, and Friends of the Cape Cod National Seashore, has provided support to qualified individuals since 1992. At least one fellowship is awarded each year to individuals whose work will contribute to our knowledge of natural and cultural resources within Cape Cod National Seashore, and of the relationships of these resources to the local communities in which they are found.

Proposals may be submitted for research in the broad areas of the natural and social sciences. Topics of interest include terrestrial and aquatic ecosystem processes, biotic and abiotic ecosystem components, cultural and natural resource management, and the political and social implications of resource protection and management.

The amount of the fellowship varies from year to year. Housing may also be available to fellowship recipients while research is being conducted in the park. Laboratory equipment and field equipment may be available as well.

Application Deadline: March 24, 2024

More information can be found on the Nickerson Fellowship page on the NPS website.

The National Park Service (NPS) is requesting proposals from partners of the Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Units (CESU) Network to synthesize, analyze and summarize multiple files, sources of literature, agency records, university records and other NGO records on the distribution and abundance of birds in Mojave National Preserve to assist in the development of fire management plan revisions.

Award Ceiling: $57,000
Closing Date for Applications: 11:59pm PT, March 15, 2023
For More Information: See the listing on Grants.gov

Minute Man National Historical Park (MIMA) needs an inventory of bats to determine presence in areas of proposed building demolition and hazard tree management along trail corridors. An understanding of bat occupancy in these areas will allow proactive planning and appropriate timing of management actions.

Funding Source: National Park Service
Project Timeframe: Deadline for responding to this request for LOI is January 24, 2024. Funds will be obligated in winter 2024, with work starting by April 2024. The anticipated completion date for the project is September 30, 2025.
Funds Available: Project funds available are approximately $50,000; this includes the CESU overhead rate of 17.5%. The project will be funded by the National Park Service Inventory Program within the NPS Inventory and Monitoring Division.

For more information see the Request for Letters of Research Interest

The USGS Water Mission Area (WMA) Next Generation Water Observing System (NGWOS), is offering a funding opportunity to a CESU partner for a laboratory evaluation of a multi-parameter standard solution for water-quality analysis. The standard solution, recently patented by the USGS (US 11,768,160), is a combination of a xanthene dye, distyryl biphenyl (DSBP) and a pH buffer that is intended as a quick, easy, and stable standard solution for the verification and/or calibration of field sensor performance. The standard solution can be used to calibration several field sensors at once including sensors for fluorescent dissolved organic matter (fDOM, e.g. excitation at 350 nm and emission at 450 nm) and chlorophyll-a fluorescence (excitation at 465 nm and emission at 665 nm).

Research Objectives and Tasks: The objective of this funding opportunity is to test a standard solution for chemical stability of time and a range of temperatures. There are two primary tasks:
Task 1 Determine the chemical stability of a standard solution provided by the USGS over a period of 90+ days with testing at intervals of at least weekly for relevant chemical properties;
Task 2 Determine the chemical stability of a standard solution provided by the USGS over a range of temperatures from 0 to 30 degrees Celsius;
Task 3 Determine the chemical stability of a standard solution provided by the USGS as influenced by physical agitation such as stirring and shaking.

Funding Source: USGS
Current Closing Date for Applications: Dec 13, 2023 Electronically submitted applications must be submitted no later than 5:00 p.m., ET, on the listed application due date.

For more information see the posting on the Grants.gov website

This project will provide the National Park Service (NPS) with a Natural Resource Condition Assessment (NRCA) of Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument (KAWW; Attachment 1). NRCAs rely on existing data and expertise from a variety of NPS and non-NPS sources to provide a snapshot-in-time evaluation of resource conditions for a subset of important park natural resources and indicators. As with all other NPS NRCAs, the current project will be multidisciplinary (ecological) in scope, employ hierarchical indicator frameworks, identify or develop logical reference conditions/values to compare current condition data against, emphasize spatial evaluation of conditions and geospatial map products, summarize key findings at the park or park area (e.g., watershed boundary) levels, and follow national NRCA guidelines and standards for study design and reporting products.

Funding Source: National Park Service
Deadline: The deadline for responding to this request for LOI is January 19, 2024
Funds Available: $50,000 – $75,000
For more information see the Request for Letters of Interest

Synopsis: The USGS Water Mission Area (WMA) Next Generation Water Observing System (NGWOS), is offering a funding opportunity to a CESU partner for a laboratory evaluation of a multi-parameter standard solution for water-quality analysis. 

Funding Source: USGS
Funding level: $75,000
Deadline: November 30, 2023

For More Information: See the listing on Grants.gov 

The northeast region of the National Park Service (NPS) has proposed an ambitious effort to improve forest resilience and prepare for the effects of climate change by addressing forest regeneration debt (Miller et al. 2023) in 17 northeastern and mid-Atlantic parks. If funded through the Inflation Reduction Act, this initiative will include environmental assessments and implementation of management action to increase tree regeneration in park forests. An important component of the effort will be evaluating current park-level efforts to estimate deer population size and developing a consistent regional approach for long-term deer monitoring.

Funding Source: National Park Service
Funds Available: $250,000
Deadline: December 29, 2023

For more information: See the full request for letters of interest.