Development and Implementation of Biological Assessment Tools for Wade-able Streams in Eastern Alaska | P19AS00566

Opportunity Information: Apply for P19AS00566

This funding opportunity, titled "Development and Implementation of Biological Assessment Tools for Wade-able Streams in Eastern Alaska" (Funding Opportunity Number P19AS00566), is a National Park Service cooperative agreement under the U.S. Department of the Interior focused on strengthening how stream health is measured across eastern Alaska. The core problem the project is meant to address is that mining and other human-caused disturbances may have affected stream ecosystems in the region, including waters within or near Denali National Park and Preserve, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, and Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve, yet there has not been a comprehensive, quantitative evaluation of those potential impacts. In practice, that gap makes it harder for managers and scientists to make consistent, defensible decisions about current biological condition, trends over time, and where restoration or protective actions might be most needed.

The central objective of the agreement is twofold. First, it aims to produce a rigorous, region-wide assessment of potential anthropogenic impacts on wade-able stream ecosystems in eastern Alaska. Second, it is designed to develop an optimized macroinvertebrate-based biological assessment tool specifically tailored to the ecological conditions of eastern Alaska streams that can be used in wade-able systems. Macroinvertebrates (such as aquatic insects and other small stream-dwelling organisms) are commonly used in biomonitoring because their community composition responds predictably to stressors like sedimentation, metals, altered flow, and habitat disturbance. By using these organisms to build biological indices, the project intends to improve the accuracy and precision of biological condition determinations, not just at individual stream reaches but also at broader regional scales. In other words, the tool is expected to support both site-level assessments (a specific stream segment) and larger-scale comparisons or summaries across eastern Alaska.

The opportunity is categorized under discretionary funding and uses a cooperative agreement instrument, which typically implies substantial involvement or collaboration from the federal agency during the project rather than a more hands-off grant relationship. The activity categories listed for the opportunity include Environment, Information and Statistics, and Natural Resources, reflecting that this work combines field-based ecological monitoring with analytical and index-development components. The CFDA number associated with the opportunity is 15.945.

In terms of funding and award structure, the listed award ceiling is $345,000, with one expected award. Although the eligible applicant category is "Public and State controlled institutions of higher education," the notice makes clear that this posting is a notice of intent to award to Utah State University and that applications will not be accepted from any other entity. The opportunity was created on August 21, 2019, and the original closing date is shown as August 27, 2019, which aligns with the notice-of-intent format rather than an open competitive solicitation.

Overall, the grant is essentially about building the scientific and analytical foundation needed to evaluate stream condition in eastern Alaska in a consistent, quantitative way and then converting that foundation into a practical biological assessment framework centered on macroinvertebrate communities. The expected end result is a set of biological assessment indices that park and resource managers can apply to wade-able streams to make reliable determinations of biological condition and to better detect and interpret impacts associated with mining and other human activities across key protected areas in the region.

• The Department of the Interior, National Park Service in the environment, information and statistics, natural resources sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Development and Implementation of Biological Assessment Tools for Wade-able Streams in Eastern Alaska" 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 Aug 21, 2019.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Aug 27, 2019 This is a notice of intent to award to Utah State University. Applications will not be accepted from any other entity.. (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 $345,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 1 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Public and State controlled institutions of higher education.

Apply for P19AS00566

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