Improve the management of wild cervid CWD-affected areas

This Cooperative Agreement award from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (USDA APHIS) under the Wildlife Services program (CFDA 10.028) provides $248,315 to Colorado State University to improve management of chronic wasting disease (CWD) in wild cervid populations in the Rocky Mountain National Park. Key activities include:

• Using paired-pool RT-QuIC and/or PMCA techniques to systematically sample and test feces and plant samples in the park for CWD prions. This aims to better understand environmental CWD contamination and transmission dynamics.

• Modeling the impacts of prescribed burning on CWD prion contamination through controlled laboratory incineration experiments with experimentally contaminated feces and plants. The findings will inform best practices for CWD management through controlled burns.

The award period runs from September 1, 2024 to August 31, 2025. The results of this research will directly benefit federal and state wildlife management agencies working to address the ongoing spread of this incurable disease affecting elk and other free-ranging cervid populations.

Activities to be performed include use paired-pool RT- quic and/or pmca to systematically sample and test feces and plant samples in the rocky mountain national park for CWD prions; model prescribed burning in the laboratory using controlled incineration of experimentally contaminated feces and plants. Funding priority: improve the management of wild cervid CWD-affected areas. Understanding and estimating environmental CWD prion CON tamination in romo will lead to a greater understanding of CWD transmission there and in nature generally. Determining whether simulated controlled burning in a laboratory setting, and assessing samples collected before and after wildfires in romo will greatly assist in identifying the best policies and practices for management of this incurable disease that continues to spread across north america at an alarming rate and threatens romo ELK herds, a very popular attraction that draws millions of visitors annually, and other free-ranging cervid populations. Stakeholders that directly benefit from this proposed work include federal and state agencies that monitor and manage CWD, including wildlife biologists at romo, national park service and colorado parks and wildlife, USDA aphis, the national wildlife research center, US fish and game and other wildlife management agencies in states where CWD is endemic or that border states with CWD. There is no sub award.