Evaluating status of native grasslands for masked bobwhites and other endemic birds in the Sonoran Desert of Mexico

The summary for the Evaluating status of native grasslands for masked bobwhites and other endemic birds in the Sonoran Desert of Mexico Federal Grant is detailed below. It contains information such as the Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) number, who is eligible for the grant, how much grant money will be awarded, important deadlines, and a sampling of similar government grants. Verify the accuracy of the data FederalGrants.com provides by visiting the webpage noted in the Link to Full Announcement section or by contacting the appropriate person listed in the Grant Announcement Contact section. If these sections are incomplete, please visit the website of the government agency that is offering this grant.


	Federal Grant Title:	Evaluating status of native grasslands for masked bobwhites and other endemic birds in the Sonoran Desert of Mexico
	CFDA Number:	15.660
	CFDA Description:	Endangered Species - Candidate Conservation Action Funds
	Federal Agency Name:	Region 2
	Category of Funding Activity:	Natural Resources
	Category Explanation:	Information not provided
	Opportunity Category:	Discretionary
	Funding Opportunity Number:	NWRS-R2-MBW
	Document Type:	Modification to Previous Grants Notice
	Funding Instrument Type:	Cooperative Agreement
	Posted Date:	Aug 25, 2009
	Creation Date:	Dec 29, 2009
	Original Closing Date for Applications:	Sep 01, 2009
	Current Closing Date for Applications:	Sep 01, 2009
	Archive Date:	Oct 01, 2009
	Expected Number of Awards:	1
	Estimated Total Program Funding:	$20,000
	Federal Grant Award Ceiling:	$20,000
	Federal Grant Award Floor:	$8,000
	Cost Sharing or Matching Requirement:	No

Applicants Eligible for this Grant: Unrestricted (i.e., open to any type of entity above), subject to any clarification in text field entitled "Additional Information on Eligibility"
Additional Information on Eligibility: Information not provided
Grant Description: Recent years show rapid declines in populations of masked bobwhite's (Colinus virginianus ridgwayi). Few, if any, birds remain in Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge (BANWR), their sole location within the United States, and numbers continue falling in the one known population within Sonora, Mexico. Causes include habitat loss directly from cattle and buffle grass (Cenchus ciliaris), while climate warming increases droughts and therefore reduces forage and nesting cover. The USF&W along with partners in Sonara, Mexico share a number of goals for the recovery of this species. These include locating other release sites in the U.S. to reestablish a second population, reintroducing two or more populations in Mexico, and maintaining and increasing the existing populations in Mexico (USFWS 1995). These targets require knowing if habitat or populations of remaining bobwhites exist, their location, their size, land ownership and other spatial, biological and social considerations. The subtropical grasslands that formerly occurred in the more mesic portions of the Sonoran Desert in southern Arizona and Sonora, Mexico are extremely endangered ecosystems. . Unadapted to grazing by large herbivores, and requiring periodic fires for their maintenance, these grasslands have been almost entirely replaced by desert scrub or thorn scrub communities when not converted to buffle grass pasture. So pervasive have been these replacements that most of the grassland fauna of these former communities including the white-tailed hawk (Buteo albicaudatus), Rufous-winged sparrow (Aimophila carpalis), and Sonoran green toad (Bufo rentiformis) are now rare species. As above, the principal grassland indicator of these grasslands, the masked bobwhite (Colinus virginianus ridgwayi), may be extinct in the wild. Biologists in the USA and Mexico agree that the persistence of these species hinges on knowing where other populations may endure, and the location and amount of remaining habitat.
Link to Full Grant Announcement: Information not provided
Grant Announcement Contact: Dr. Grant Harris U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service PO Box 1306 Albuquerque, NM 87103 Phone: 505-248-6817 Fax: 505-248-6874

grant_harris@fws.gov [grant_harris@fws.gov]
Similar Government Grants: • Fiscal Year 2011 Candidate Conservation Action Funds; • Opportunity FWS-ES-BCC-10; • Evaluation and Improvement in Desert Bighorn Sheep Population Estimates; • Opportunity NWRS-R2-20130-10-01; • Endangered Species - Candidate Conservation Implementation