OARS funding Conservation

The Expeditions Council is an editorially driven grant program that supports exploration and adventure worldwide.  Proposed projects must have the potential to yield compelling stories and images. Applications are also judged on the qualifications of applicants and their teams, and on the project's merit, uniqueness and safety protocols. The Council consists of representatives of National Geographic editorial divisions (magazines, television, books, website, and so on) who review and vote on grant applications, as well as an advisory board of external consultants. While the Expeditions Council funds a broad range of exploration and adventure, if a project is based on scientific inquiry, applicants must provide detailed methodology.  In addition, all projects must adhere to applicable scientific or professional ethical standards, which are outlined in the grant application and are subject to scientific review The Expeditions Council offers its grantees the opportunity to work effectively with National Geographic's many divisions. Grantees are therefore able to share the results of their expeditions with National Geographic's global audience.

The Mountaineers Foundation promotes the study of the mountains, forests and streams of the Pacific Northwest, and contributes to preserving its natural beauty and ecological integrity. We fund modest, short-term projects consistent with those purposes, with a maximum grant normally at $5000. Our funding criteria are based on our by-laws, articles of incorporation, and status as an IRS-designated 501(c)(3) organization. We Support selected projects of 501(c)(3) or of other non-profit organizations and of certain agencies such as libraries and schools; and, occasionally, projects by individuals. research about the natural environment: studies that will yield new data aimed at protecting Northwest wilderness and wildlife biologic, economic, legal, or policy studies direct educational programs and materials related to environmental preservation lectures, conferences, seminars written or audiovisual awareness materials curriculum or other instructional materials publication of conference proceedings, journal articles other fundable projects: seed or pilot studies that can be continued with funding from other sources selected capital improvement projects (e.g., restoration; assistance in purchasing equipment/materials)

The NOAA Chesapeake Bay Office (NCBO) is directed by congressional mandate to provide technical assistance in: (1) identifying science-based management options for restoration and protection of living resources and their habitats; (2) monitoring and assessing the status of living resources and their habitats; and, (3) evaluating the effectiveness of management plan implementation.

Today the Foundation funds projects in medicine, life sciences and the physical sciences. Particular areas of interest include innovative medical investigations and applications, endangered animals and ecosystems, and climate change.

We are pleased to announce that the new OARS website is up and running (although the new Research Compliance and Undergraduate Research sections are still in development).   If you haven't had a chance to check it out yet, we hope you will soon.  Once you've visited, we'd be grateful if you'd give us five minutes of your time to let us know how we're doing by completing a brief eight-question survey at https://miamioh.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_erhRsEFwwWVP6m1 Finally, don't forget to update any bookmarks you may have to material on our old website!

The Bureau of Reclamation's (Reclamation's) Title XVI Water Reclamation and Reuse program (Title XVI) is an important part of WaterSMART. For purposes of the Title XVI Program, a water reuse project is a project that reclaims and reuses municipal, industrial, domestic, or agricultural wastewater and naturally impaired groundwater and/or surface waters. Reclaimed water can be used for a variety of purposes such as environmental restoration, fish and wildlife, groundwater recharge, municipal, domestic, industrial, agricultural, power generation, or recreation. Water reuse is an essential tool in stretching the limited water supplies in the Western United States. Title XVI projects develop and supplement urban and irrigation water supplies through water reuse, thereby improving efficiency, providing flexibility during water shortages, and diversifying the water supply.

The Division of Environmental Biology (DEB) supports fundamental research on populations, species, communities, and ecosystems. Scientific emphases range across many evolutionary and ecological patterns and processes at all spatial and temporal scales. Areas of research include biodiversity, phylogenetic systematics, molecular evolution, life history evolution, natural selection, ecology, biogeography, ecosystem structure, function and services, conservation biology, global change, and biogeochemical cycles. Research on organismal origins, functions, relationships, interactions, and evolutionary history may incorporate field, laboratory, or collection-based approaches; observational or manipulative experiments; synthesis activities; as well as theoretical approaches involving analytical, statistical, or computational modeling.

The Long Term Research in Environmental Biology (LTREB) Program supports the generation of extended time series of data to address important questions in evolutionary biology, ecology, and ecosystem science. Research areas include, but are not limited to, the effects of natural selection or other evolutionary processes on populations, communities, or ecosystems; the effects of interspecific interactions that vary over time and space; population or community dynamics for organisms that have extended life spans and long turnover times; feedbacks between ecological and evolutionary processes; pools of materials such as nutrients in soils that turn over at intermediate to longer time scales; and external forcing functions such as climatic cycles that operate over long return intervals. The Program intends to support decadal projects. Funding for an initial, 5-year period requires submission of a preliminary proposal and, if invited, submission of a full proposal that includes a 15-page project description. Proposals for the second five years of support (renewal proposals) are limited to an eight-page project description and do not require a preliminary proposal. Continuation of an LTREB project beyond an initial ten year award will require submission of a new preliminary proposal that presents a new decadal research plan.

The Great Lakes Restoration Initiative targets the most significant environmental problems in the Great Lakes ecosystem by funding and implementing federal projects that address these problems. One goal is to improve habitat and wildlife protection and restoration. Using funding from the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Partners for Fish and Wildlife (PFW) Program anticipates funding wetland and associated upland habitat restoration and enhancement projects for conservation of native Great Lakes fish and wildlife populations, particularly migratory birds. Restoration projects will be completed on privately owned (nonfederal/nonstate) lands. Emphasis will be placed on, but not limited to, completing projects within the watersheds of Great Lakes Areas of Concern. The Partners for Fish and Wildlife (PFW) Program is a voluntary, incentive-based program that provides direct technical assistance and financial assistance in the form of cooperative agreements to private landowners to restore and conserve fish and wildlife habitat for the benefit of federal trust resources. In the Great Lakes, PFW biologists from eight states coordinate with project partners, stakeholders, and other Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) programs to identify geographic focus areas and develop habitat conservation priorities within these focus areas. 

Section 104g of the Water Resources Research Act of 1984 requires that this competitive grant program focus on water problems and issues of a regional or interstate nature beyond those of concern only to a single State and which relate to specific program priorities identified jointly by the Secretary of the Interior and the water resources research institutes. Objectives of this program also include the following A. Promote collaboration between the USGS and university scientists in research on significant national and regional water resources issues. Proposals exhibiting substantial collaboration between the USGS and the applicant are encouraged and will receive extra weight in the evaluation and selection process. Collaborative proposals should describe in detail the respective roles of the USGS and the applicant in the proposed work. Potential applicants seeking collaborative opportunities are encouraged to contact USGS Water Science Center Directors.

Recognizing disciplinary differences and priorities, NSF's investment in research and development in undergraduate STEM education encompasses a range of approaches. These approaches include: experiential learning, assessment/metrics of learning and practice, scholarships, foundational education research, professional development/institutional change, formal and informal learning environments, and undergraduate disciplinary research. Both individually and integrated in a range of combinations, these approaches can lead to outcomes including: developing the STEM and STEM-related workforce, advancing science, broadening participation in STEM, educating a STEM-literate populace, improving K-12 STEM education, encouraging life-long learning, and building capacity in higher education.

The Bureau of Reclamation's Upper Colorado Region is requesting applications for the Water Conservation Field Service Program (WCFSP). Many, if not most, of the Bureau of Reclamation projects in the Upper Colorado Region have been in operation for several decades and are still using practices and procedures that represent state-of-the-art technology at the time the project was constructed. Much can be done to advance these projects to 2000's technology with the accompanying increase in water use efficiency. Likewise, per capita urban water use in various locations within the Upper Colorado Region is among the highest in the nation.

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.

The Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative (GoMRI) announced today that it plans to award up to $105 million to support research consortia investigating the effect, and the potential associated impact, of hydrocarbon releases on the environment and public health, as well as to develop improved spill mitigation, oil detection, characterization, and remediation technologies.  The funding under this program, known as RFP-IV, will support research in the Gulf of Mexico conducted by consortia of four or more institutions between 2015 and 2017.  It is anticipated that each team will be funded at levels between $1 million and $7.5 million per year. 

Kinship Conservation Fellows is a ground-breaking environmental leadership program that emphasizes market-based solutions to environmental problems. Kinship's dynamic global network of 174 Fellows in 46 countries and 6 continents is collaborative, entrepreneurial, and dedicated to effective conservation.

The Five Star/Urban Waters Restoration Program seeks to develop community capacity to sustain local natural resources for future generations by providing modest financial assistance to diverse local partnerships for wetland, forest, riparian and coastal habitat restoration, stormwater management, outreach and stewardship with a particular focus on water quality, watersheds and the habitats they support

NOAA delivers funding and technical expertise to restore Great Lakes coastal habitats. These habitats support valuable fisheries and protected resources; improve the quality of our water; provide recreational opportunities for the public's use and enjoyment; and buffer our coastal communities from the impacts of changing lake levels. Projects funded through NOAA have strong on-the-ground habitat restoration components that provide social and economic benefits for people and their communities in addition to long-term ecological habitat improvements. Through this solicitation, NOAA seeks to openly compete funding available for habitat restoration in U.S. Great Lakes Areas of Concern (http://www.epa.gov/glnpo/aoc/) under the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative as anticipated in the President's FY2014 Budget. Applications should be submitted for any project that is to be considered for this funding, even for those projects already submitted as applications to other NOAA competitions. Competition will ensure that the most beneficial restoration projects are selected to realize significant ecological gains. Applications selected for funding through this solicitation will be implemented through a grant or cooperative agreement, with awards dependent upon the amount of funds made available to NOAA for this purpose by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. NOAA anticipates up to $4 million may be available for Great Lakes coastal habitat restoration; typical awards for on the ground implementation are expected to range between $500,000 and $2 million. NOAA will also accept proposals for engineering and design of habitat restoration projects; typical awards are expected to range between $75,000 and $350,000. Funds will be administered by the Great Lakes Region of NOAA's Restoration Center (RC).

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), as part of its Science to Achieve Results (STAR) program, is seeking applications to conduct research on and demonstration of human and ecological impacts of treated wastewater applications (reclaimed water and wastewater reuse), and water conservation practices including the use of non-traditional water sources as well as more comprehensive long-term management and availability of water resources.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), as part of its Science to Achieve Results (STAR) program, is seeking applications to conduct research on and demonstration of human and ecological impacts of treated wastewater applications (reclaimed water and wastewater reuse), and water conservation practices including the use of non-traditional water sources as well as more comprehensive long-term management and availability of water resources.

The Graduate Fellowship Program awards at least two new PhD fellowships each year to students who are interested in careers related to marine ecosystem and population dynamics, with a focus on modeling and managing systems of living marine resources. The emphasis will be on the development and implementation of quantitative methods for assessing marine ecosystems, for assessing the status of fish, invertebrate, and other targeted species stocks, and for assessing the status of marine mammals, seabirds, and other protected species. Fellows will work on thesis problems of public interest and relevance to NMFS under the guidance of NMFS mentors at participating NMFS Science Centers or Laboratories. The NMFS-Sea Grant Fellowships in Population and Ecosystem Dynamics meets NOAA's Mission goal of "Protect, Restore and Manage the Use of Coastal and Ocean Resources Through Ecosystem-Based Management".