Cooperative Agreement G11AC20272

The National Science Foundation (NSF) awarded a $303,942 Project Grant under the Geosciences program (CFDA 47.050) to the University of Arizona, doing business as the Arizona Board of Regents, to conduct collaborative research on assessing past and future droughts in the Colorado River Basin. The primary objectives of this 3-year project are to: 1) extend tree-ring reconstructions of drought in the Colorado River Basin back 2,000 years, 2) characterize the severe drought that occurred in the 2nd...

The Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District, in collaboration with the Kawuneeche Valley Ecosystem Restoration Collaborative (KVERC), received a $1,182,400 Project Grant award from the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Reclamation under the Aquatic Ecosystem Restoration Program (CFDA 15.580). The award will fund a study and design project to restore the Kawuneeche Valley in Rocky Mountain National Park to a natural beaver-willow ecosystem. Key activities include developing...

The University of Colorado received a $888,273 Cooperative Agreement award from the U.S. Geological Survey under the National and Regional Climate Adaptation Science Centers (CFDA 15.820) program. The project will develop and deliver detailed quantitative projections of 21st century water balance, water availability, and ecological drought metrics across the contiguous United States. This will be accomplished through ecosystem water balance modeling with a daily time step and multiple soil...

The Southern Nevada Water Authority (SNWA) will receive $540,365 from the Bureau of Reclamation under the Applied Science Grants program to expand the forecasting capabilities of the Lakes Mead and Mohave Model (LM3). The LM3 is a 3D hydrodynamic and water quality model encompassing Lakes Mead, the Colorado River below Hoover Dam, and Lake Mohave. SNWA will update the LM3 monthly using new Colorado River Management Model Simulation and Effects Program projections released by Reclamation. The...

The Bureau of Reclamation awarded a $133,700 Project Grant under the SECURE Water Act - Research Agreements (CFDA 15.560) program to The Regents of the University of Colorado (CU) on July 17, 2024. The funding supports a research project that will explore incorporating a Many Objective Robust Decision Making (MORDM) analytical approach into Reclamation's midterm (2-5 year) operational projections for the Colorado River system. This approach aims to provide more robust and nuanced insights into...

Under this $649,970 Cooperative Agreement awarded by the Bureau of Reclamation under the SECURE Water Act - Research Agreements program (CFDA 15.560), the recipient Research Triangle Institute (RTI International) aims to pilot distributed modeling and enhanced snow products at two River Forecast Centers. The project will evaluate and apply distributed modeling techniques coupled with advanced snow data to enhance river flow forecasting capabilities at the Colorado Basin River Forecast Center...

This Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation (CFDA 47.083 - Integrative Activities) will provide $299,789 to the Nevada System of Higher Education's Desert Research Institute (DRI) to develop new understanding of how Forecast-Informed Reservoir Operations (FIRO) can be used to improve ecosystem management while also meeting water supply, flood management, and other high priority objectives in the western United States. The project aims to identify and quantify potential...

This Project Grant award of $700,000 from the National Science Foundation's Geosciences Program (CFDA 47.050) is focused on improving computational models that describe the relationship between climate and streamflow. The project aims to address uncertainty in these models caused by the influence of human actions on the water cycle, with a specific focus on representing the impacts of dams, which control about 75% of annual runoff in the continental United States. The project will develop a...

The Department of the Interior Bureau of Reclamation awarded $215,000 under the Applied Science Grants program to develop an interactive web-based tool for efficient wildfire hydrologic simulation. Texas A&M University at Kingsville will partner with various state and federal entities to integrate remotely sensed data into a hydrologic model and equip watershed managers with a user-friendly workflow to quickly post-process variables associated with fire and drought. This will allow for...

This Cooperative Agreement award from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Research and Data Collection program (CFDA 15.808) provides $145,400 to Colorado State University (CSU) to conduct research and monitoring activities related to riparian ecosystem restoration in the western United States. The key objectives include: Participating in the science team and working groups for Minute 323 of the U.S.-Mexico Water Treaty, which involves delivering water for active restoration of riparian sites in...