Chihuahuan Desert Upland Vegetation and Soils Status Reports | P18AS00424

Opportunity Information: Apply for P18AS00424

The grant opportunity titled "Chihuahuan Desert Upland Vegetation and Soils Status Reports" (Funding Opportunity Number P18AS00424) is a National Park Service effort under the U.S. Department of the Interior focused on producing status-report style summary statistics for key ecological "vital signs" in upland desert environments. The work is tied specifically to long-term natural resource monitoring in two parks in Texas: Big Bend National Park and Guadalupe Mountains National Park. The central purpose is not new field experimentation, but the analysis and reporting of existing monitoring data to describe current conditions and indicators of ecosystem health.

The project’s technical objective is to calculate and compile summary statistics for a defined set of vegetation and soil metrics commonly used in arid-land monitoring. On the vegetation side, this includes perennial plant cover (how much ground is occupied by long-lived plant species), perennial plant diversity (variety and distribution of perennial species), the frequency of uncommon plant species (how often rare or less common species occur on sampled plots), and the cover of exotic plants observed on the plots (non-native species presence and abundance, which can indicate invasion pressure and shifts in community composition). On the soils side, the vital signs include soil cover (the proportion of ground covered by rock, litter, bare soil, or vegetation), biological soil crusts (the living surface layer of lichens, mosses, cyanobacteria, and fungi that stabilizes soil and influences nutrient cycling), and soil aggregate stability (a measure of how well soil clumps hold together, often linked to erosion resistance and overall soil condition). Together, these outputs help park managers understand trends, identify areas of concern (such as increasing exotic cover or declining crusts), and support decisions about resource protection and restoration priorities.

Administratively, this opportunity is categorized as discretionary and uses a cooperative agreement funding instrument, indicating a partnership-style arrangement where the agency may expect substantial involvement in the project (such as collaboration on methods, review of products, or coordination with monitoring protocols). The funding activity category is natural resources, and the CFDA number listed is 15.945, which corresponds to National Park Service assistance programs. The eligible applicant type is limited to nonprofit organizations with IRS 501(c)(3) status, excluding institutions of higher education, reflecting the intended partner pool for this specific tasking.

In terms of timing and competitiveness, the listing is explicitly a Notice of Intent rather than an open solicitation. No applications are being accepted because the task agreement is being issued under an existing cooperative agreement (P16AC00027) that had already been awarded through a competitive process. In practice, that means this announcement is informational: it signals the government’s intent to fund a specific, predefined piece of work with an existing partner, rather than inviting new applicants to compete. The anticipated award structure reflects that reality, with an expected number of awards of one.

The financial details indicate an award ceiling of $44,894, which suggests a relatively focused analytical and reporting effort rather than a large multi-year research program. The deliverable implied by the title and description is a set of status reports (or a comparable analytical report package) summarizing conditions of upland vegetation and soils at the two parks using the specified vital signs. The opportunity was created on July 11, 2018, and it has no application closing date because it is not accepting proposals.

• The Department of the Interior, National Park Service in the natural resources sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Chihuahuan Desert Upland Vegetation and Soils Status Reports" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 15.945.
• This funding opportunity was created on Jul 11, 2018.
• Applicants must submit their applications by This is a Notice of Intent only. This Task Agreement is being awarded under Cooperative Agreement P16AC00027 which was already awarded under a competitive process. No applications are being accepted at this time.. (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 $44,894.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 1 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Nonprofits having a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education.

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