Cooperative Ecosystems Studies Unit, Great Rivers CESU | G17AS00028

Opportunity Information: Apply for G17AS00028

The Cooperative Ecosystems Studies Unit, Great Rivers CESU (Funding Opportunity Number G17AS00028) is a discretionary federal research funding opportunity offered by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) within the Department of the Interior. It is issued as a cooperative agreement, which generally indicates the agency expects to have substantial involvement during the project period (for example, coordination on technical direction, deliverables, or data and reporting requirements). The opportunity falls under the Science and Technology and other Research and Development activity category and is associated with CFDA number 15.808.

The focus of the award is research on fire-forest carbon dynamics, meaning work that improves understanding of how wildfire and related disturbance regimes influence forest carbon storage, carbon fluxes, and broader ecosystem carbon processes over time. The project is designed to use historic data as a foundation, then build out updated research methods and modeling approaches. A core objective is to produce landscape-scale and ecosystem process models that can represent and compare different management choices and climate scenarios, supporting more defensible projections of carbon outcomes under changing conditions. In practice, this typically implies integrating historical fire records, forest inventory or vegetation datasets, climate and weather information, and potentially remote sensing products, then translating those inputs into models capable of testing alternative future trajectories (such as differing fire regimes, fuels treatments, restoration strategies, or climate-driven shifts in disturbance frequency and severity).

Funding is intended to support a PhD-level student as a central contributor to the research, along with associated resources and materials necessary to complete the analysis and modeling work. This suggests the project has a strong capacity-building and workforce-development component, pairing advanced academic training with applied federal research needs. The overall award has a stated ceiling of $186,606 and USGS anticipates making one award, indicating a single, targeted project rather than a broad competition with multiple funded recipients.

Eligibility is limited to a CESU partner, specifically within the Great Rivers Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit network, which is reflected in the "Eligible Applicants" field noting "Others" with clarification in additional eligibility text. CESUs are partnership networks that connect federal agencies with universities and other organizations to conduct research, technical assistance, and education aligned with public land and resource management priorities, so this opportunity is structured for an institution already participating in that cooperative framework.

Key timing details show the opportunity was created on December 21, 2016, with an original closing date of January 6, 2017. The short application window is consistent with a targeted cooperative agreement intended for a defined partner pool. Overall, the grant supports applied, model-driven research that leverages historical information to produce decision-relevant tools for understanding and forecasting how fire and forest management interact with climate to shape carbon dynamics across landscapes.

• The Department of the Interior, Geological Survey in the science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Cooperative Ecosystems Studies Unit, Great Rivers CESU" 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 Dec 21, 2016.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Jan 06, 2017. (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 $186,606.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 1 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification).

Apply for G17AS00028

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