The Vermont Center For Ecostudies, Inc.

The Vermont Center For Ecostudies, Inc., a tax-exempt nonprofit organization based in White River Junction, Vermont, conducts applied wildlife research and habitat monitoring as a prime recipient of federal grants (77% of recent awards) and as a sub-recipient on state and foundation-administered wildlife conservation programs. The organization operates as a prime on federal grant awards with the Department of the Interior and the Department of Agriculture, and subcontracts under state fish and wildlife departments and university partners. The organization does not hold federal contract vehicles or prime federal contracts; recent purchase orders from the Fish and Wildlife Service for bumblebee and butterfly inventory work represent occasional transactional contract activity, not a standing contracting relationship.

Vermont Center For Ecostudies' customer base concentrates heavily within the Department of the Interior. Fish and Wildlife Service Region 5 accounts for ten awards (combined potential value $50 thousand) and represents the single largest contract/grant customer by award count; the broader Fish and Wildlife Service places eight additional awards. The Department of Agriculture Forest Service Washington Office Acquisitions and the National Park Service Northeast Region round out the federal grantor set. The organization has worked with eleven distinct federal agencies across its recent portfolio, though activity is dominated by Interior-led wildlife science grants.

The organization's capability portfolio focuses on migratory bird population dynamics, habitat assessment, and forest ecosystem health monitoring. Representative work includes a $15,000 purchase order from Fish and Wildlife Service for bumblebee population analysis at Missisquoi National Wildlife Refuge in Swanton, Vermont (August 2026, concluding April 2027); a $17,500 butterfly inventory project at the same refuge (awarded June 2023, completed September 2024); and three prime federal grants from Department of Interior Acquisitions studying Bicknell's thrush habitat and population dynamics across New England and Caribbean overwintering zones (awarded July 2023, September 2025, and August 2026, spanning through August 2028). As a sub-recipient, the organization works under Vermont Department of Fish and Wildlife on breeding bird atlas, vernal pool atlas, and butterfly atlas work, and under the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation on invasive plant management guidance for grassland landowners in the Champlain and Connecticut River valleys.

Activity has grown recently — two awards per year through 2023 and 2024, rising to six in 2025 and four in 2026 — though the combined potential value of the award portfolio remains modest at $243 thousand. The dollar-to-potential-value divergence (obligated dollars of $4.2 million against a combined potential value of only $243 thousand) reflects the organization's sustained operational status on long-term, renewable federal grants rather than single-transaction procurement. Three awards reach ultimate completion within the next twenty-four months, carrying combined potential value of $15 thousand in recompete exposure.