Cooperative Agreement for CESU-affiliated Partner with Pacific Northwest Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit | G22AS00396

Opportunity Information: Apply for G22AS00396

This grant opportunity is a US Geological Survey (USGS) cooperative agreement aimed at improving how land managers in northern New Mexico protect the endangered Jemez Mountains salamander (JMS) while also reducing the risk of severe wildfire. Led by the USGS Northern Rocky Mountain Science Center (NOROCK) in collaboration with the USGS Alaska Science Center, the project focuses on the Valles Caldera National Preserve (VALL) in the Jemez Mountains. The core problem is that roughly half of VALLs forested landscape is considered potential salamander habitat, yet that habitat is highly vulnerable to high-severity wildfire, which is widely viewed as the biggest threat to the species. At the same time, VALL is actively working to reintroduce fire and implement fuel reduction treatments to prevent catastrophic burns, but managers do not yet have clear, site-specific evidence about how those treatments may affect the salamander or the habitat features it depends on.

The JMS is described as a subterranean, endemic salamander that spends most of its life below the surface and typically comes aboveground mainly to feed and reproduce. It relies heavily on protective cover objects such as logs and rocks, which help provide cooler, moister microclimates. Temperature sensitivity is a major concern: around 12.7 degrees C is cited as optimal, while 33.5 degrees C is lethal. Because wildfire and some fuel treatments can alter forest structure, ground cover, and soil conditions, they can directly affect the availability of cover objects and the microclimate that keeps the salamander within a safe temperature and moisture range. The opportunity is therefore designed to generate practical information that links wildfire severity and fuel management actions to measurable habitat characteristics and to the salamanders food base.

The funded work centers on three connected research components. First, recipients will sample soil and litter invertebrates, including both microarthropods and macroarthropods, across different management units and wildfire-affected units. This matters because these invertebrates represent key food resources for the salamander, and their abundance and community composition can shift after fire or mechanical thinning as the forest floor dries, warms, or loses organic material. Second, the project will quantify soil chemistry variables in the same units, specifically nitrogen, phosphorus, and pH, to understand how fire and treatments influence nutrient dynamics that can cascade through the ecosystem and affect prey availability and habitat quality. Third, the effort includes evaluating experimental forest management approaches to identify which strategies best maintain or improve habitat characteristics that benefit JMS, helping managers balance fuels work with endangered species stewardship.

Monitoring associated with these experimental management approaches is expected to track several on-the-ground metrics that are likely to matter either directly to the salamander or indirectly through effects on its prey and shelter. The opportunity specifically calls out measuring soil moisture and soil temperature, along with soil organic matter and nutrient levels (nitrogen and phosphorus). Together, these measurements help characterize whether a treatment is creating a hotter, drier forest floor with reduced litter and downed wood, or maintaining the cool, moist conditions typically associated with salamander persistence. The overall deliverable is applied science that forest managers at VALL can use to make better-informed decisions about where, when, and how to apply fuel reduction and prescribed fire in areas that overlap with potential salamander habitat.

Administratively, this is a discretionary funding opportunity issued as a cooperative agreement, meaning the USGS expects substantial involvement during the project rather than a hands-off grant. It is offered under the Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit (CESU) Program, which is a partnership framework used by federal agencies to support research, technical assistance, and education with affiliated institutions. Eligibility is limited to organizations that are active partners in the Pacific Northwest CESU. The opportunity is listed under CFDA 15.808, with a stated award ceiling of $43,572. The funding opportunity number is G22AS00396, it was created on June 17, 2022, and the original closing date was July 18, 2022. The sponsoring agency is the US Geological Survey.

• The Geological Survey in the science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Cooperative Agreement for CESU-affiliated Partner with Pacific Northwest Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit" 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 2022-06-17.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2022-07-18. (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 $43,572.00 in funding.
• Eligible applicants include: Others.

Apply for G22AS00396

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