Group items tagged

The dwarf bear-claw poppy is a listed endangered species under the Endangered Species Act of 1973 and is restricted in distribution to western Washington County, Utah. Studies conducted in recent years have found significants difference in fruits/flower, seeds/fruit and the weight of seeds among the seven poppy populations. To further that work, this project will conduct several studies at each of the seven populations. Pollinator studies would consist of viewing and collecting insects visiting flowers for specific periods of time. Insects would be identified, and counted. Specific flowers would be assayed for pollen grain numbered and tagged to estimated fruit set. A series of experimental hand pollinations would be undertaken. Flowers at different population sized sites would be would be pollinated to determine biologically whether smaller populations are more genetically challenged than larger populations. The number of successful mating types will be estimated and compared among populations by cross-pollinating at least three flowers on each of 15-25 plants with donor pollen from each of three flowers at different distances from the pollen recipient. Comparisons would be made among populations in fruits/flowers, seeds/fruit and fruit weight. Lastly, a series of labeled pollen studies at each of the populations would be undertaken to determine the movement of pollen between populations.

To that end, grants will be awarded to museums and cultural institutions in support of efforts to conserve works of art that are in danger of deterioration, including works that have been designated as national treasures. To qualify for the program, works of art must be significant to the cultural heritage of the country or region, or important to the history of art; on view to the public (or will be on view once conservation is complete); and be a painting, work on paper, photograph, sculpture, architectural or archeological piece, important book or manuscript, tapestry or work of decorative or applied art in danger of deterioration.

This project will create a Cultural Landscapes Inventory (CLI) and associated National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) nomination for the primary tourist walkways within the underground landscape of CAVE. The project will include an inventory and analysis of all associated cultural features, impacts and relationships with cave natural systems, and views associated with the trail system. The documents will contain a historic context, statement of significance, and evaluation of integrity of the inventoried resources and underground cultural landscape. A Determination of Eligibility (DOE) will result from this process. If found eligible, a NRHP nomination will be completed. As a living document, the CLI is updated every 6-10 years. The initial research created in this document will provide a baseline for cave monitoring, including how natural and cultural resources impact each other over time to guide park management strategies in the future. The final project reports and findings will be uploaded to IRMA, the NPS public access site. The project will engage student involvement through partnership with the University of Arkansas. Student engagement insures training of next generation scientists and preservation professionals. This project will focus on collaboration between cultural and natural resources, providing a critical and unique learning experience.

The goal of the Dimensions of Biodiversity campaign is to transform, by 2020, how we describe and understand the scope and role of life on Earth. The campaign promotes novel, integrated approaches to identify and understand the evolutionary and ecological significance of biodiversity amidst the changing environment of the present day and in the geologic past.This campaign seeks to characterize biodiversity on Earth by using integrative, innovative approaches to fill the most substantial gaps in our understanding of the diversity of life on Earth. It takes a broad view of biodiversity, and currently focuses on the integration of genetic, taxonomic/phylogenetic, and functional dimensions of biodiversity. Successful proposals should integrate these three dimensions to understand interactions and feedbacks among them. While this focus complements several core NSF programs, it differs by requiring that multiple dimensions of biodiversity be addressed simultaneously, in innovative or novel ways, to understand their synergistic roles in critical ecological and evolutionary processes.

Expand wildlife hunting and viewing opportunities and increase access; work with State agencies to meet wildlife population objectives; work with rural communities to enhance economic opportunities related to wildlife; work to enhance habitat for upland game, waterfowl, big game and watchable wildlife; provide employment opportunities for youths and veterans; provide consistent data to streamline energy and grazing permitting, and land use planning; partner with conservation stewardship organizations to increase habitat quality.

The site for this project is located along the western edge of White Sands National Monument overlooking the Lake Lucero playa, within the deposits of Pleistocene Lake Otero. Numerous visits to the site have been made over the past few decades both as professional investigations and avocational tours. Yet, despite its great research potential, its spatial extent has not been completely documented, nor have all of its cultural features been fully recognized. During a recent visit to the site, a series of adobe room blocks were identified on the ground surface. Additionally, areas of extremely high artifact density indicated the presence of probable buried features such as pithouses, thermal features, trash middens and even human burials. A systematic survey of the Lake Lucero Site is urgently needed to enable White Sands National Monument to properly manage and protect the site. The cultural and temporal evaluations of these resources will be based on the associations of these resources with diagnostic artifacts (such as projectile points and ceramics), as viewed in their cultural and environmental contexts. For this project, the recipient will locate and record the site, assess site condition, and determine site significance. Correlating the temporal information with paleoenvironmental data, where available, might allow for an examination of long-term changes in the biotic communities. The collected data will be synthesized in a report with recommendations for the preservation of this site. The information gathered will form a baseline for future condition assessments of this site, further recommendations for site preservation and additional project planning.

The Secretary of Agriculture has a congressionally designated advisory council that assists the U.S. Forest Service in establishing the grant categories and recommendations of final proposals for the Forest Service to consider. This is the National Urban and Community Forestry Advisory Council (Council).The Council serves to advise the Secretary of Agriculture on the status of the nation's urban and community forests and related natural resources. The Council seeks to establish sustainable urban and community forests, by encouraging communities of all sizes to manage and protect their natural resources, which, if well managed, improves the public's health, well-being, economic vitality, and creates resilient ecosystems for present and future generations.Urban and Community Forestry Program RequirementsThe Council recommends urban and community forestry projects that have national or multi-state application and impact through the U.S. Forest Service's competitive Urban and Community Forestry Challenge Cost-Share Grant Program. A proposal's content must meet the Urban and Community Forestry program authorities as designated by Congress in the Cooperative Forestry Assistance Act, (Section 9 PDF, pp. 19-24) State & Private Cooperative Forestry Handbook of Programs and the annual criteria set forth by the Council. A listing of the previously funded projects can be viewed at Urban Forestry South list of past NUCFAC grants

This campaign seeks to characterize biodiversity on Earth by using integrative, innovative approaches to fill the most substantial gaps in our understanding of the diversity of life on Earth. It takes a broad view of biodiversity, and currently focuses on the integration of genetic, taxonomic/phylogenetic, and functional dimensions of biodiversity. Successful proposals should integrate these three dimensions to understand interactions and feedbacks among them. While this focus complements several core NSF programs, it differs by requiring that multiple dimensions of biodiversity be addressed simultaneously, in innovative or novel ways, to understand their synergistic roles in critical ecological and evolutionary processes.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is soliciting applications from eligible applicants as described in Section III.A to provide training and technical assistance for small public water systems to help such systems achieve and maintain compliance with the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA), and to provide training and technical assistance for small publicly owned wastewater systems, communities served by onsite/decentralized wastewater systems, and private well owners to improve water quality under the Clean Water Act (CWA). Training and technical assistance activities provided to these systems, communities and private well owners should be made available nationally in rural and urban communities and to personnel of tribally- owned and operated systems.

Awarded in 2010, the objective of Cooperative Agreement (CA) N40080-10-LTC-0006 was to design and construct a wetland cell to provide habitat improvement and treatment of storm water from an approximate 162 acre watershed at Naval Support Facility Dahlgren (NSFDL). Calculations for the final design indicate it should achieve 40-50% of the treatment volume for the watershed. Subsequently in 2012, CA N40080-12-LTC-0005 was awarded to provide supplementary survey, design and construction services related to the construction of the first cell, and to design a complementary, second constructed wetland treatment cell. The goal for the second cell design was to fully integrate with and supplement the initial cell to achieve 100% of the recommended treatment volume for the watershed. This Agreement is for the construction of the final design for the second treatment cell to achieve the storm water treatment capacity needed for the watershed. The overall proposed project will provide both habitat enhancements and water quality benefits for a significant amount of untreated storm water.

The purpose of this Agreement is to conduct invertebrate species surveys and rare plant surveys at Naval Air Weapons Station (NAWS) China Lake. Invertebrate species surveys have been conducted at NAWS China Lake since 1994. Invertebrate species with management concerns include giant fairy shrimp, butterflies, Argus land snail, Jerusalem cricket, dune cockroach, Darwin Tiemann's beetle, scarab beetle, and weevils. In order to better manage these species, it is important to understand the distribution of and habitats occupied by them. The endangered plant census will focus on the Lane Mountain milk-vetch (Astragalus jaegerianus) that is federally listed as endangered. This plant grows up through other shrubs and may be found in the Superior Valley portion of the Mojave B south test complex. These surveys are necessary to identify Lane Mountain milk-vetch habitat so that it can be protected from impacts due to military activities. The Integrated Natural Resources Management Plan (INRMP) for the installation has identified invertebrate species surveys and Lane Mountain milk-vetch surveys as important prerequisites for management and protection of these species. The purpose of this cooperative agreement is to implement these surveys and censuses that are required by the INRMP.

The purpose of this Agreement is to provide for surveys of nesting Inyo California towhees (Pipilo crissalis eremophilus), a Federally listed threatened species and for in-fill surveys of desert tortoises (Gopherus agassizii) at the Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake (NAWS China Lake) as discussed in the Integrated Natural Resources Management Plan (INRMP) dated September 2000. The Inyo towhee nests on the installation primarily in riparian areas (springs and riparian corridors) on the eastern side of the North Range. Some of these areas are designated as critical habitat for the towhee. Nesting surveys will be focused on selected sites within this area of the installation. The findings of this effort will provide information on nesting bird numbers that will aid in conservation of this species, support the INRMP update, and provide the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service with valuable information to aid with a potential delisting of the species. In contrast to towhees, desert tortoises occupy much of the habitat on the installation. Since tortoise densities have not been established for much of this habitat, the focus of this effort would be to begin in-fill surveys of areas that have not been previously surveyed for tortoise and to populate a tortoise tracking database to incorporate annual in-fill surveys and future impromptu or project-specific surveys. These surveys shall follow presence/absence survey protocols established by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The purpose of this Cooperative Agreement (Agreement) is to conduct research at Marine Corps Logistics Base, Barstow, CA, to determine if there is a statistically significant difference in the outcome of twelve (12) 500 m x 500 m plots conducted in the spring versus the fall for the desert tortoise and conduct presence/absence transects at the Yermo Annex Test Track which is approximately 100 acres. This information, collected during a statistically valid research study, will help desert tortoise scientists determine if collecting research data on tortoise plots is better done in the spring or fall. The results of this research could lead to changes in the desert tortoise survey protocol for the southwestern United States. A draft and final report with GIS maps would be the final deliverable.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) invites investigators at U.S. organizations to submit proposals to conduct research about the Arctic. Arctic research includes field and modeling studies, data analysis, and synthesis about the arctic region.The goal of the NSF Section for Arctic Sciences, Division of Polar Programs (PLR),??is to gain a better understanding of the Arctic's physical, biological, geological, chemical, social and cultural processes; the interactions of oceanic, terrestrial, atmospheric, biological, social, cultural, and economic systems; and the connections that define the Arctic. The Arctic Sciences and other NSF programs support projects that contribute to the development of the next generation of researchers and scientific literacy for all ages through education, outreach, and broadening participation in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Program representatives from polar and other non-polar NSF programs that support arctic research coordinate across NSF, including joint review and funding of arctic proposals and mutual support of special projects with high logistical costs.

The Division of Ocean Sciences (OCE) offers postdoctoral research fellowships to provide opportunities for scientists early in their careers to work within and across traditional disciplinary lines, develop partnerships, and avail themselves of unique resources, sites and facilities. The fellowship program is intended to recognize beginning investigators of significant potential, and provide them with experience that will establish them in positions of leadership in the scientific community. During tenure, fellows will affiliate with an appropriate research institution(s) and conduct research on topics supported by OCE. The OCE fellowship program has two tracks: 1) Traick 1 (Broadening Participation) and 2) Track 2 (International). Fellowships are awards to individuals, not organizations, and are administered by the fellows.

Coral reefs and associated seagrass and mangrove communities are among the most complex and diverse ecosystems on earth. They support important fishing and tourism industries, protect coasts from wave and storm damage, build tropical islands, contain an array of potential pharmaceuticals, and provide essential services like food security, livelihood, and culture, among other benefits.As shallow-water, near shore communities, coral reef ecosystems are ecologically closely linked to adjacent watersheds and are highly vulnerable to human activity. Stresses in the coral reef environment include poor water quality from runoff and inadequate sewage treatment, destructive fishing practices, sedimentation, recreational overuse and misuse, and impacts from climate change and ocean acidification.To address these threats, Congress passed the Coral Reef Conservation Act of 2000 (Act), which established the NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program (CRCP) and provided guidance for allocation of Federal funding toward efforts to conserve coral reef ecosystems in the U.S. and Internationally. As required in the Act, one of the primary functions of the CRCP is to provide matching grants of financial assistance to external partners for coral reef conservation projects consistent with the Act and CRCP priorities. 

The Rhinoceros and Tiger Conservation Fund is soliciting proposals for the conservation of rhinoceroses and/or tigers throughout their ranges. The Rhinoceros and Tiger Conservation Act was passed in 1994 to provide financial resources for the conservation programs of nations whose activities directly or indirectly affect rhinoceros and tiger populations. The Rhinoceros and Tiger Conservation Fund supports projects that promote conservation through: * Enhanced protection of at-risk rhinoceros and tiger populations; * Reducing demand in consumer countries and trafficking for illegal rhino and tiger parts, products and live animals; * Protected area/reserve management in important rhinoceros and tiger range; * Veterinary care for wild populations; * Habitat conservation and management; * Reintroduction to former range; * Restoration of habitat; * Wildlife inspection, law enforcement, and forensics skills; * Conservation education and community outreach; * Efforts to decrease human-rhinoceros and human-tiger conflicts; * Strengthening local capacity to implement conservation programs; * Transfrontier rhinoceros and tiger conservation; * Applied research on rhinoceros and tiger populations and their habitats, including surveys and monitoring; * Development and execution of rhinoceros and tiger conservation management plans; and * Compliance with applicable treaties and laws that prohibit or regulate the taking or trade of rhinoceros and tigers or regulate the use and management of their habitat. 

Task 1.0Habitat Preferences of the elf owl in riparian habitat:The applicant shall design a study to obtain a description of the habitat within the home range, home range size, and activity budget of the elf owl within riparian areas where they are breeding. For this study Reclamation is interested in larger scale habitat parameters such as species of cavity tree or cactus, species of roosting tree or cactus, sheltering substrate, species of trees in riparian habitat, an estimate of canopy height and canopy cover within riparian habitat, an estimate of the mid story layer within riparian habitat, an estimate of abundance of cavities and snags, and other large scale parameters that may be important. The applicant shall use GIS to map locations of elf owl nests and large scale habitat parameters to describe foraging, roosting, nesting, and sheltering habitat. Reclamation is interested in obtaining a good description of the habitat within the home range of the elf owl but not in collecting data in non-use areas or creating habitat selection models.If any on the ground estimates are proposed for the larger scale parameters above the awardee shall work with Reclamation staff to conduct those measurements according to MSCP standards. 

Project TasksTo conduct surveys for lowland leopard frog and Colorado River toad within the LCR-MSCP planning area to determine each species distribution within that area. To identify habitat requirements for both species across multiple populations, focusing on breeding habitat in order to determine what their ecological needs are in order to determine if it is feasible to introduce either species into unoccupied or created habitat. Task 1.0Develop and implement a repeatable monitoring plan for the Lowland Leopard frog and Colorado River toad:This repeatable monitoring plan should include a cost effective way of surveying both species. Any method (or combination of methods) may be proposed to accomplish this including, but not restricted to: visual encounter surveys, tape playback surveys, larval funnel trapping and eDNA sampling. It is anticipated that the first 1-2 years of the project will be used to test and evaluate the methods proposed. It is anticipated that once the methods have been tested and evaluated and a protocol has been established, that each year's sampling during this project will be at a much reduced effort (annually) from what was done in the first three years of monitoring (2011-2013). The applicant will explain in detail how they will develop this monitoring plan and the reasoning behind the proposed sampling effort. The objectives of this plan will include the following: 1) find how many populations/occurrences there are, 2) use pilot data and what is learned about the habitat of each species to develop monitoring objectives, and 3) develop and test monitoring methods , which include how frequently and intensively to monitor to detect a biologically significant trend (if possible). Once work has started the applicant will work closely with Reclamation personnel to finalize the final monitoring plan.