Description
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Science Applications Program supports landscape-scale conservation by working collaboratively with other Department of the Interior agencies and external partners on landscape-level shared priorities. A primary function of Science Applications is to identify and consult on a peer-to-peer basis with State Fish and Wildlife agencies on the most important conservation and management issues. Science Applications facilitates the co-development of science, research and planning needs with partners and provides resources to support shared strategies for fish and wildlife conservation. Focal activities for Science Applications include: Collaborative Landscape Conservation Science Applications supports landscape-scale conservation by establishing and leading collaborations across multiple jurisdictions to meet shared goals. Components of Collaborative Landscape Conservation include developing frameworks to identify shared landscape-scale conservation goals and objectives, providing strategies for monitoring progress, supporting coordination for allocation of pooled resources toward shared conservation needs, and identifying science and research needed to advance conservation (see also Science Planning and Support). Supporting At-Risk and Listed Species Science Applications supports conservation of federally listed and at-risk species, providing internal science capacity and/or external funding for science that supports Species Status Assessments and listing decisions, in addition to facilitating collaborative partnerships that can implement conservation to prevent additional listings and/or support downlisting or delisting. Science Planning and Support Science Application’s approach to Collaborative Landscape Conservation and species support depends on the foundation of best-available science. Science Applications identifies, through collaboration with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service programs, other Department of the Interior agencies, and State Fish and Wildlife agencies, shared actionable science needs that can support conservation delivery. Science Applications provides internal technical capacity and/or funds external scientific studies that continuously improve best-available science to provide decision support for conservation. The Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Units (CESU) Network is a national consortium of federal agencies, tribes, academic institutions, state and local governments, nongovernmental conservation organizations, and other partners working together to support informed public trust resource stewardship. The CESU Network provides research, technical assistance, and education to federal land management, environmental, and research agencies and their partners. Eligible applications for this NOFO are the more than 450 non-Federal partners of the CESU Network. The mission of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is working with others to conserve, protect, and enhance fish, wildlife, plants, and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. Science Applications supports the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service mission by working with partners to achieve landscape conservation that benefits fish, wildlife, plants, and their habitats across multiple jurisdictions. This program and funding opportunity supports the following Department of the Interior Priorities for Financial Assistance: Create a conservation stewardship legacy second only to Teddy Roosevelt: The program and funding opportunity will support the development of essential information to improve the collaborative management of invasive aquatic species across multiple jurisdictions to achieve conservation goals shared across Federal and State Fish and Wildlife agencies. Restore trust and be a good neighbor: The program and funding opportunity will foster the development of trust between State and Federal agencies and with the scientific community. Projects to be funded through this announcement will be co-developed by a partnership of Federal and non-federal partners. Strike a regulatory balance: This program and funding opportunity will improve the best-available science needed to support listing and de-listing decisions. Identification of Priority Information Needs To develop science that supports collaborative landscape conservation and at-risk species, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Science Applications Program (based out of the Albuquerque, NM Regional Office) in Interior Regions 6, 7, and 8 has been facilitating and convening other Service programs and State Fish and Wildlife agencies to identify high-priority challenges for specific aquatic invasive species that limit our collective ability to achieve and deliver landscape-scale conservation for at-risk and federally listed species. Partners directly involved in this effort include biologists and resource managers from Arizona Game and Fish Department, New Mexico Department of Game and Fish, Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Geological Survey, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service programs (Ecological Services, Refuges, and Fisheries and Aquatic Conservation) from Interior Regions 6, 7, 8, and 10. Science Applications is also identifying research needs that, if supported, could help overcome those shared challenges. In the southwestern United States, where scarce water resources support myriad species of conservation priority, native and invasive non-native aquatic species compete for limited habitat and resources; invasive species must be addressed in order to achieve our shared conservation objectives for native species. Purpose Some success has been achieved in control and removal of invasive aquatic species in some locations. In order to improve the scale and effectiveness of this work, there is a need to advance: 1) our understanding of invasive species distributions and impacts on native species and their habitats in Arizona and New Mexico, and 2) the practice of invasive species control. This Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) is intended to support both topics through a competitive funding announcement. The Science Applications Program is soliciting proposals on collaborative landscape-scale applied scientific research that will address at least one of the following invasive non-native species: 1) American bullfrogs (Lithobates catesbeianus), and 2) crayfish (e.g., northern [virile] crayfish [Orconectes virilis], red swamp crayfish [Procambarus clarkii], rusty crayfish [Faxonius rusticus]). Research must specifically address control techniques, inventory and monitoring (I&M) to support management decision-making or document effectiveness of invasive species control, novel I&M protocol development and/or determination of how these species impact native Federal or State-listed or at-risk species (e.g., Apache trout [Oncorhynchus apache], Chiricahua leopard frog [Lithobates chiricahuensis], Gila trout [Oncorhynchus gilae], lowland leopard frog [Lithobates yavapaiensis], narrow-headed gartersnake [Thamnophis rufipunctatus], northern Mexican gartersnake [Thamnophis eques megalops], and Sonora mud turtle [Kinosternon sonoriense]) in terms of population viability, abundance, survival, productivity, and distribution/range at various stages of life history. At-risk are generally considered to be those species not currently listed where collaborative conservation actions can help preclude the need for listing. Research must have conservation and management outcomes that will benefit State Fish and Wildlife agencies and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and other agencies and partners with management responsibility for native and invasive aquatic species. On-the-ground research and monitoring must be conducted in Arizona and/or New Mexico (hereafter project region). This on-the-ground research must be coordinated with the appropriate State agency(ies). Projects proposing the development of novel technology for control or monitoring techniques in a laboratory setting (e.g., genetic techniques) can be completed outside of geography specified above, provided that the techniques developed remotely are directly applicable for on-the-ground work in the project region. For this announcement, all proposed scientific projects must be fully completed with deliverables (including all collected and developed data) and final report within 3 years of the award date. To be considered for funding research outcomes for proposals must have direct management and conservation implications, and projects must be at least one of the following project categories. Project Categories Quantification of the impacts of invasive bullfrogs and/or crayfish on native fish and wildlife in the project region. Proposals must address science needs for state species of greatest conservation need, federally listed (threatened and/or endangered) species, and/or at-risk species. Examples of projects that may be considered for this funding category include: Investigation of the physiological and demographic consequences, and the associated drivers (e.g., predation, competition, disease), of interactions between bullfrogs and/or crayfish and native fish and wildlife species at all stages of life history. Metapopulation dynamics, resiliency, and susceptibility of populations of native fish and wildlife species and their habitats in relation to bullfrogs and/or crayfish introduction, invasion, and colonization. Quantifying changes in food web and trophic dynamics in bullfrog and/or crayfish-invaded aquatic communities (e.g., before-after-impact-assessment) and impacts on native fish and wildlife species. Development and testing of innovative control techniques for invasive bullfrogs and crayfish within the project region. Proposals for on-the-ground research on control techniques must clearly identify how the river, basin, or watershed being proposed for research will benefit from experimentation and specify how methods are not harmful to native species and the realized population and ecological benefits of these methods for native species. Development, testing, and validation of innovative and novel mechanical, chemical, biological, and/or genetic control techniques for bullfrogs and/or crayfish across all stages of life history. Demonstration of large-scale applications, economic feasibility, and absence of negative impacts on native species or the environment. On-the-ground research must be conducted within the project region. Laboratory-based assessments may be completed outside of the project region; however, proposals must clearly state how developed techniques could be implemented on-the-ground within the project region. Inventory and monitoring of bullfrogs and/or non-native crayfish to assess threats to native species and/or support implementation of native species recovery actions. Examples of projects that may be considered for this funding opportunity include: Presence-absence surveys of crayfish across the project region that support planning and implementation of on-the-ground conservation and recovery work. A census of waters and bullfrog populations in key geographies (e.g., watersheds) within the project region targeted for recovery of native fish and wildlife species. Evaluation of the degree to which control efforts for bullfrogs and/or crayfish promote (or do not promote) native species recovery, and how results may have varied due to environmental variability or habitat setting (e.g., prey availability, physical setting of aquatic habitat), interspecific interactions (e.g., competition, predation), and population dynamics and demography (e.g., survival, reproduction, population growth, dispersal). Development of techniques and demonstration of successful translocations, reintroductions, and recolonization/reestablishment of native fish and wildlife species in previously bullfrog- and/or crayfish-invaded aquatic communities and ecosystems. Measuring the population response (e.g., abundance, productivity, survival) of native species to bullfrog and/or crayfish control. Investigation of changes in habitat selection by native species as a result of bullfrog and crayfish control.