Cooperative Agreement for CESU-affiliated Partner with Chesapeake Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit | G23AS00403

Opportunity Information: Apply for G23AS00403

The US Geological Survey (USGS) is offering a discretionary funding opportunity under the Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit (CESU) Program for a partner organization that is already affiliated with the Chesapeake Watershed CESU. The purpose of this cooperative agreement is to strengthen technical capacity and speed up the creation of practical, decision-ready information that can be used by stakeholders and shared with the public to support management across the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Because it is structured as a cooperative agreement rather than a standard grant, the project is expected to involve substantial collaboration with USGS during the work, not just at the reporting stage.

The opportunity is built around three connected goals that are meant to advance together, not sequentially. First, the project should develop biodiversity mapping tools that help guide landscape conservation and restoration. In practice, this typically points to improving how biodiversity is mapped and visualized across the watershed so that partners can identify priority habitats, restoration opportunities, and areas where conservation actions are likely to produce the greatest ecological benefit. Second, the project should improve the predictive power and usefulness of land use change forecasts. This signals a focus on making land change modeling more accurate and more relevant to real-world planning, such as producing forecasts that are easier for decision makers to interpret, that better capture drivers of development or conservation, or that integrate with scenario planning used by watershed partners. Third, the work should provide data and assessments related to protected lands, which generally includes improving inventories, spatial data, and analyses that describe what lands are protected, the type and durability of protections, and how those protected areas contribute to broader watershed goals such as habitat connectivity, water quality protection, or climate resilience.

This funding is issued through the CESU framework, which is a national network of partnerships intended to deliver research, technical assistance, and education through collaboration among federal agencies and participating partner institutions. Eligibility is restricted: applicants must be a participating partner of the Chesapeake Watershed Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit Program. The agency administering the opportunity is the US Geological Survey, and the assistance is categorized under Science and Technology and other Research and Development. The opportunity is identified as Funding Opportunity Number G23AS00403, with CFDA number 15.808. The listed award ceiling is $300,000, and the original closing date provided is July 21, 2023.

• The Geological Survey in the science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Cooperative Agreement for CESU-affiliated Partner with Chesapeake Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit" 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 2023-06-13.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2023-07-21. (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 $300,000.00 in funding.
• Eligible applicants include: Others.

Apply for G23AS00403

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