Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit, Rocky Mountain CESU | G19AS00048

Opportunity Information: Apply for G19AS00048

This grant opportunity, titled "Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit, Rocky Mountain CESU" (Funding Opportunity Number G19AS00048), is a discretionary funding announcement from the Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). The award will be made as a cooperative agreement, which typically means the USGS expects to have substantial involvement in the work as it is carried out, rather than simply providing funds with minimal federal participation. The activity falls under science and technology and other research and development, and it is listed under CFDA number 15.808. The opportunity was created on April 15, 2019, with an original application closing date of April 29, 2019, indicating a short application window that suggests the project may have been designed for a specific, time-sensitive research need or for an eligible partner already engaged in related work.

The purpose of the project is to support research focused on species distribution modeling (SDM) as it relates to biological invasions. In practical terms, the work is aimed at improving the tools and workflows used to predict where invasive species are likely to occur now or in the future, based on environmental conditions and other predictors. Species distribution models are often used in invasive species management to prioritize surveillance, early detection, and targeted control efforts. By improving how these models are built and delivered to end users, the project supports better decision-making for land and resource managers who need timely, interpretable, and credible model outputs.

A major emphasis of the funded work is on model development and delivery, not just theoretical modeling. One stated priority is improving processing time by moving toward high performance computing (HPC). That points to a need to run SDMs faster, at larger spatial extents, at finer resolution, or across more scenarios (for example, multiple climate projections, time steps, or alternative predictor sets). Many SDM workflows can become computationally intensive when they involve large environmental datasets, ensembles of algorithms, repeated cross-validation, or thousands of species or occurrences. Transitioning to HPC can reduce runtimes, allow more robust validation, and make it feasible to routinely update models as new data come in.

Another key component is refining a tool used to visualize and evaluate SDM outputs. This suggests the project is not limited to generating maps, but also focuses on helping users understand model performance and uncertainty. Visualization and evaluation tools can include interfaces or software features that display predicted suitability, confidence intervals or uncertainty layers, response curves, variable importance, threshold analyses, and comparison of competing models. Improving these tools makes the outputs more transparent and actionable, especially for stakeholders who may not be specialists in statistical modeling but still rely on the results for planning and management.

Eligibility is restricted to CESU partners, specifically within the Rocky Mountain Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit network, with the listing indicating "Others" and a note to consult the additional eligibility language. CESUs are partnerships between federal agencies and universities or other research organizations that streamline collaborative research supporting natural resource management. Because the opportunity is tied to the CESU mechanism, it is meant for institutions that are already part of that partnership structure and can operate under CESU cooperative agreement terms.

In terms of funding scale and competition, the opportunity anticipates a single award (Expected Awards: 1) with an award ceiling of $48,801. That level of funding suggests a focused project, potentially a discrete software/workflow enhancement, a pilot implementation of HPC-enabled modeling, or an incremental improvement to an existing modeling and visualization system rather than a large multi-year field program. Overall, the opportunity is best understood as targeted applied research and tool development to speed up invasive species distribution modeling and improve how model results are presented and assessed for real-world use.

• The Department of the Interior, U. S. Geological Survey in the science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit, Rocky Mountain CESU" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 15.808.
• This funding opportunity was created on Apr 15, 2019.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Apr 29, 2019. (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 $48,801.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 1 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification).

Apply for G19AS00048

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