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The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA or EPA), through its Science to Achieve Results (STAR) program, seeks applications for collaborative, community-based research that will foster better understanding of how ecosystems support human health and well-being. Specifically, this research should examine how communities can integrate ecosystem services with human health and well-being to inform their decision making and management practices. It should also develop information that allows communities to integrate environmental, societal and economic information and to better manage multiple stressors and their cumulative impacts on humans and ecosystems. The ultimate goal is to help communities achieve their own objectives

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA or EPA), through its Science to Achieve Results (STAR) program, seeks applications for collaborative, community-based research that will foster better understanding of how ecosystems support human health and well-being. Specifically, this research should examine how communities can integrate ecosystem services with human health and well-being to inform their decision making and management practices. It should also develop information that allows communities to integrate environmental, societal and economic information and to better manage multiple stressors and their cumulative impacts on humans and ecosystems. The ultimate goal is to help communities achieve their own objectives

This project/program is to restore and maintain healthy, productive ecosystems and wildlife populations through management activities. The project should include (but not limited to):  Commercial and non-commercial thinning of forests, Hand and mechanized treatment of vegetation to reduce hazardous fuel conditions and or improve habitats  Seeding of appropriate wildlife browse and forage species for habitat enhancement, and seeding for erosion and noxious weed control on sites disturbed by management activities. Seeding will be of native species unless science and experience have proven non-native, non-invasive species are more effective. Layout of treatment unit boundaries under the direct supervision of BLM staff. Prescribed fire may be part of the overall project. Federal agency personnel will serve as the lead partner for any prescribed fire planning and operations. All personnel used for prescribed fire operations will meet NWCG requirements

This project/program is to restore and maintain healthy, productive ecosystems and wildlife populations through management activities. The project should include (but not limited to):  Commercial and non-commercial thinning of forests, Hand and mechanized treatment of vegetation to reduce hazardous fuel conditions and or improve habitats  Seeding of appropriate wildlife browse and forage species for habitat enhancement, and seeding for erosion and noxious weed control on sites disturbed by management activities. Seeding will be of native species unless science and experience have proven non-native, non-invasive species are more effective. Layout of treatment unit boundaries under the direct supervision of BLM staff. Prescribed fire may be part of the overall project. Federal agency personnel will serve as the lead partner for any prescribed fire planning and operations. All personnel used for prescribed fire operations will meet NWCG requirements

Background: In the fall of 2016, BLM was asked to participate in a non-vascular plant inventory in Musselshell County, MT. This location was chosen based on an evaluation of the MT Natural Heritage Programâ¿¿s (NHP) biological database which indicated no records for lichens, mosses, and other components of biotic soil crust. The results of this evaluation identified 11 Eastern Montana counties with no records. It was also noted that the diversity of vascular and non-vascular plant data from Eastern Montana is lacking in comprehensive information. Objectives: This project would help to fill information gaps on vascular and non-vascular plants associated with public, private, and state lands in Eastern MT. The goals of the project would be to supplement the MT NHP on-line field guide, build a more complete record of species in the database, and make this information available to all land owners. Public Benefit: This data will help land management make better informed decisions and bring more awareness of the role that of vascular and non-vascular plants play in a healthy ecosystem. The project would also look to bring simple and consistent monitoring of these species based on the functional areas that each support.

U.S. Geological Survey's (USGS) National Climate Change and Wildlife Science Center (NCCWSC) requests a three year cooperative agreement for a project titled: "Assessing the impact of future climate on Hawaii's aquatic ecosystems." NCCWSC synthesizes and integrates climate change impact data and develops tools that the Department of Interior's managers and partners can use when managing the Department's land, water, fish and wildlife, and cultural heritage resources.

The consequences of climate variability and change are becoming more immediate and profound than previously anticipated. Over recent decades, the world has witnessed the onset of prolonged droughts on several continents, increased frequency of floods, loss of agricultural and forest productivity, degraded ocean and permafrost ecosystems, global sea level rise and the rapid retreat of ice sheets and glaciers, loss of arctic sea ice, and changes in ocean currents. These important impacts highlight that climate variability and change can have significant effects on decadal and shorter time scales, with significant consequences for plant, animal, human, and physical systems. The EaSM funding opportunity enables interagency cooperation on one of the most pressing problems of the millennium: climate change and??how it is likely to affect our world. It allows the partner agencies -- National Science Foundation (NSF) and??U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) -- to combine resources to identify and fund the most meritorious and highest-impact projects that support their respective missions, while??avoiding duplication of effort and fostering collaboration between agencies and the investigators they support.This interdisciplinary scientific challenge calls for the development and application of next-generation Earth System Models that include coupled and interactive representations of such??components as ocean and atmospheric currents, agricultural working lands and forests,?? biogeochemistry, atmospheric chemistry,?? the water cycle and land ice.?? This solicitation seeks to attract scientists from the disciplines of geosciences, agricultural sciences, mathematics and statistics. Successful proposals will develop intellectual excitement in the participating disciplinary communities and engage diverse interdisciplinary teams with sufficient breadth to achieve the scientific objectives. 

This AFRI Challenge Area promotes and enhances the scientific discipline of food safety, with an overall aim of protecting consumers from microbial and chemical contaminants that may occur during all stages of the food chain, from production to consumption. This requires an understanding of the interdependencies of human, animal, and ecosystem health as it pertains to foodborne pathogens. The long-term outcome for this program is to reduce foodborne illnesses and deaths by improving the safety of the food supply, which will result in reduced impacts on public health and on our economy. In order to achieve this outcome, this program will support single-function Research Projects and multi-function Integrated Research, Education, and/or Extension Projects, and Food and Agricultural Science Enhancement (FASE) Grants that address one of the Program Area Priorities (see Food Safety RFA for details).

This AFRI Challenge Area promotes and enhances the scientific discipline of food safety, with an overall aim of protecting consumers from microbial and chemical contaminants that may occur during all stages of the food chain, from production to consumption. This requires an understanding of the interdependencies of human, animal, and ecosystem health as it pertains to foodborne pathogens. The long-term outcome for this program is to reduce foodborne illnesses and deaths by improving the safety of the food supply, which will result in reduced impacts on public health and on our economy. In order to achieve this outcome, this program will support single-function Research Projects and multi-function Integrated Research, Education, and/or Extension Projects, and Food and Agricultural Science Enhancement (FASE) Grants that address one of the Program Area Priorities (see Food Safety RFA for details).

One of the BLM's highest priorities is to promote ecosystem health and one of the greatest obstacles to achieving this goal is the rapid expansion of weeds across public lands. These invasive plants can dominate and often cause permanent damage to natural plant communities. If not eradicated or controlled, noxious weeds will continue to jeopardize the health of the public lands and to constrain the myriad activities that occur on public lands. BLM Invasive and Noxious Plant Management Programs work to prevent, detect, inventory, control and monitor weed populations on public lands. 1. Invasive species cost the public millions of dollars in control and management each year and many invasive plants and noxious weeds are highly competitive and have the ability to permanently degrade our public lands. 2. Noxious weeds and invasive species expansion are recognized as the single greatest threat to our native plant communities and the values they provide us. 3. These native plant communities are essential for supporting wildlife habitat, watershed function, recreation opportunities, rural economies and working landscapes. 4. Invasive plants and noxious weeds affect plant and animal communities on farms and ranches, and in parks, waters, forests, natural areas, and backyards in negative ways. 5. Human activity such as trade, travel, and tourism have all increased substantially, escalating the speed and volume of species movement to unprecedented levels.

Humanity depends upon the Earth's physical resources and natural systems for food, energy, and water (FEW). However, both the physical resources and the FEW systems are under increasing stress. It is becoming imperative that we determine how society can best integrate social, ecological, physical and built environments to provide for growing demand for food, energy and water in the short term while also maintaining appropriate ecosystem services for the future. Known stressors in FEW systems include governance challenges, population growth and migration, land use change, climate variability, and uneven resource distribution. The interconnections and interdependencies associated with the FEW Nexus pose research grand challenges. To meet these grand challenges, there is a critical need for research that enables new means of adapting societal use of FEW systems. The INFEWS program seeks to support research that conceptualizes FEW systems broadly and inclusively, incorporating social and behavioral processes (such as decision making and governance), physical processes (such as built infrastructure and new technologies for more efficient resource utilization), natural processes (such as biogeochemical and hydrologic cycles), biological processes (such as agroecosystem structure and productivity), and cyber-components (such as sensing, networking, computation and visualization for decision-making and assessment). Investigations of these complex systems may produce discoveries that cannot emerge from research on food or energy or water systems alone. It is the synergy among these components in the context of sustainability that will open innovative science and engineering pathways to produce new knowledge, novel technologies, and innovative predictive capabilities.

It also allows other researchers to develop new projects to further the knowledge of wildlife and rangeland management.Specific objectives include, but are not limited to: 1) Determine the number of grouse and leks and fit them with tracking devices. 2) Monitoring the birdsâ¿¿ movements to develop important seasonal habitats. 3) Develop GIS shapefiles and statistical analysis supporting habitat delineation. 4) Complete summary reports and make them available to interested parties, including land managers and other researchers.Public Benefit: This project will help inform future management decisions in sage brush ecosystems that will benefit a wide range of wildlife species, including GRSG, that reside on public lands within Billings Field Office in Carbon County Montana.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) Directorates for Engineering (ENG) and Geosciences (GEO), the Divisions of Integrative Organismal Systems (IOS) and Environmental Biology (DEB), in the Directorate for Biological Sciences (BIO), the Division of Computer and Network Systems in the Directorate Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE/CNS), and the Division of Chemistry (CHE) in the Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences, in collaboration with the US Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture (USDA NIFA) encourage convergent research that transforms existing capabilities in understanding dynamic soil processes, including soil formation, through advances in sensor systems and modeling. The Signals in the Soil (SitS) program fosters collaboration among the two partner agencies and the researchers they support by combining resources and funding for the most innovative and high-impact projects that address their respective missions. To make transformative advances in our understanding of soils, multiple disciplines must converge to produce environmentally-benign novel sensing systems with multiple modalities that can adapt to different environments and collect and transmit data for a wide range of biological, chemical, and physical parameters. Effective integration of sensor data will be key for achieving a better understanding of signaling interactions among plants, animals, microbes, the soil matrix, and aqueous and gaseous components. New sensor networks have the potential to inform models in novel ways, to radically change how data is obtained from various natural and managed (both urban and rural) ecosystems, and to better inform the communities that directly rely on soils for sustenance and livelihood.

The program features restoration efforts and treatments across multiple jurisdictions and ownership to improve land health. BLM Colorado seeks cooperators to engage in a collaboratve restoration effort on public and private lands and includes the following activities: â¿¢ Land health improvements across a landscape regardless of ownership; â¿¢ Defragmentation of landscapes; â¿¢ Re-establishment of extant species; â¿¢ Re-establishment of natural ecosystem processes; and â¿¢ Consolidating & leveraging funds allows restoration to continue despite budget uncertainties The BLM, along with state and local partners, educational institutions, nonprofit organizations, and other federal land management agencies, share a vision to improve the health of the land and enhance its recreation and natural resource values. The WRFO has a history of working alongside of local land managements, conservation districts, producers and ranchers, conservation organizations, research and educational institutions to further the goals of improved land health. Specific activities will include fostering cooperation and consultation between BLM and its partners for the purposes of monitoring, reclaiming and restoring wildlife habitat, impaired watersheds, and developing range improvements on public, private and state lands.

The Colorado State Office of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has been working with organizations on native plant projects on public lands for many years. BLM Colorado provides research opportunities by engaging cooperating partners to perform a variety of conservation and land management projects specifically addressing the importance of protecting native plant species on public lands. In particular, the Colorado State Office of the BLM seeks an organization partner for the purpose of conducting conservation and land management projects, to include, but not limited to, the following activities, as part of the BLM's Seeds of Success Program: seed collection activities on public lands located in Colorado; development of native plant materials; conducting studies and research to provide geneticially appropriate seed materials; improving technology for native seed production and ecosystem restoration; and providing hands-on experience to students and the public in the area of monitoring and managing rare plant species. This project will allow the cooperating partner to work alongside of BLM staff to further the understanding and appreciation of the our natural resources. BLM staff will provide mentoring and coaching opportunities for project participants to learn valuable skills in the field of botany and natural resources management.

The fishery research program consists of a portfolio of funded basic (discovery, descriptive, or hypothesis generation) and applied (descriptive or hypothesis-driven) research organized by theme areas given below. Research theme areas are: Human Dimensions of Great Lakes Fishery Management -- Human dimensions-related issues play a central role in Great Lakes fisheries in terms of values and beliefs, management challenges and desired outcomes, economics, and governance. Fishery objectives often focus on a limited number of ecological and social management goals; this theme aims to expand our understanding of the human dimension of fishery management and help in having that dimension reflected in fishery management practices. Physical Processes and Fish Recruitment in Large Lakes -- TBD. Energy Dynamics of Great Lakes Food Webs -- To understand energy dynamics in Great Lakes food webs and the role of food web members in structuring resilient communities and ecosystems. The Great Lakes Fishery Commission (Commission) grants funds to academic institutions, government agencies, and private corporations through research contracts. A Principal Investigator (PI) for each research project must be designated; the PI must be a permanent employee of the institution receiving the funds who can be held accountable for ensuring the work is completed as outlined in the contract.

As a leading poultry meat producer and distributor, TFC, part of ADG, is dedicated to contributing to a circular society and are now looking for ideas which can be realized and technologies that help to find an 'environmentally positive' second life for their waste products. TFC are seeking new uses and processing technologies for the waste generated by their farms. Their goal is that the waste produced becomes useful raw materials that can be used in other processes or high added value products for their core business. In a nutshell, TFC would like the waste to become of value to the company and to the environment. This would allow TFC to offset all the costs of disposal and eventually, it should generate a 'clean & green' revenue from the waste. Fresh thinking about the uses and the value of the waste could lead to new business models or cost-effective solutions that will make TFC's waste valuable and promote environmentally friendly reuse or recycling of the generated waste streams. The focus of this challenge is to find a solution that will process chicken farm waste in a cost-effective, commercially viable manner to create a positive impact on TFC as a corporate entity, on the environment in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and ultimately global ecosystem.

This project not only serves the National Park Service and specifically Great Smoky Mountains National Park by allowing the Park to maintain and repair the assets it is responsible for and the public greatly benefits by having safe access to two very popular trails at GRSM