Cooperative Agreement for affiliated Partner with the Colorado Plateau Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit
Closed Posted
- Opportunity number
- G26AS00054
- Agency
-
US Geological Survey
Department of the Interior
- Applications due
- Award size
- Up to $400,000
Opportunity facts
- Assistance listings
- Funding instrument
- Cooperative Agreement
- Category
-
- Science and Technology and other Research and Development
- Eligible applicants
-
- Other
- Points of contact
-
- Rachel Miller rachelmiller@usgs.gov (703) 571-1819
Opportunity details come from Grants.gov. Updated .
About this opportunity
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is seeking a Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit (CESU) partner to conduct riparian plant physiological experiments and data synthesis along the Colorado River ecosystem between Glen Canyon Dam and Lake Mead. The research aims to evaluate how dam operations impact plant communities through experimental and modeling approaches, focusing on understanding plant species' responses to daily flow fluctuations and their interactions. Eligible applicants must be participating partners of the Colorado Plateau CESU Program, with proposals evaluated across four key criteria: research purpose and objectives (25 points), technical approach (25 points), budget justification (25 points), and qualifications/experience (25 points). The proposal must be submitted through Grants.gov by January 13, 2026, and will require a comprehensive project abstract following strict formatting guidelines. Evaluation will be conducted by USGS technical personnel who will review and score submissions to determine the final award recipient.
The grant opportunity offers approximately $400,000 over five years, with $83,688 available in the first budget year, under the USGS Research and Data Collection program (CFDA 15.808). The research will be performed in the Colorado River ecosystem, spanning the geographical area between Glen Canyon Dam and Lake Mead in Arizona, with a focus on collecting and analyzing existing monitoring data alongside new experimental research. The project's performance period is anticipated to be five years, during which researchers will investigate how hydropower-related flow patterns influence riparian plant communities and develop insights that could inform future ecosystem management strategies.
Synopsis
The USGS is offering a funding opportunity to a CESU partner for conducting riparian plant physiological experiments and a synthesis of existing data to evaluate how plant interactions are mediated by dam operations by using species occurring along the Colorado River between Glen Canyon Dam and Lake Mead (the Colorado River ecosystem, CRe) and historic data that includes ground-based monitoring data of riparian vegetation along the Colorado River in Arizona and broad-scale regional datasets. Both existing data and new data will be required to complete the research. While large monitoring datasets exist for the CRe, key relationships between hydropower derived flow patterns and plant communities are poorly understood. Additionally, plant interactions are likely altering how plant communities respond to changes in dam operations and these interactions have not been accounted for prior research. Daily fluctuating flows related to hydropower generation can alter riparian plant communities, but how these flows are promoting or hindering species in the CRe is difficult to disentangle from other key flow patterns (periods of high flows and lows flows) in field observations. Experiments are therefore necessary to examine how riparian plant species differ in their responses to daily fluctuating flows, thereby providing insight into which do better under hydropower conditions. Further, ten years of vegetation monitoring in the CRe suggest that the presence and influence of some plant species alter the plant communities observed in the field. These interactions could be altering how the plant community is responding to dam operations, prohibiting a clear understanding of how dam operations could be leveraged to improve vegetation resource conditions. Thus, two lines of research, conducting new experiments and modeling with existing data, are needed. The questions that underpin this research are:1. Which plant species benefit or suffer from daily fluctuations created by a hydropower dam?2. How do plant species interact with one another along a regulated river, and how are these interactions mediated by flow conditions?
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