Chronic Wasting Disease - Whitetail Deer - Kansas

The summary for the Chronic Wasting Disease - Whitetail Deer - Kansas grant is detailed below. This summary states who is eligible for the grant, how much grant money will be awarded, current and past deadlines, Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) numbers, 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 as the Grant Announcement Contact. If any section is incomplete, please visit the website for the Fish and Wildlife Service, which is the U.S. government agency offering this grant.

Chronic Wasting Disease - Whitetail Deer - Kansas: This opportunity is for a project to assess whitetail deer densities, habitat use and movement patterns in and adjacent to Quivira National Wildlife Refuge, Kansas, so as to evaluate the risk of Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) spread on and adjacent to the refuge. Successful applicant is expected to coordinate research efforts with USFWS, the US Army Corps of Engineers, and Kansas Dept. of Wildlife and Parks. Successful applicant is required to provide up to 20 GPS telemetry collars for use for up to a three year period as in-kind support for the project. Funds may be used for purchase of trail cameras, salaries for technicians or graduate students, travel to and from the study areas, and supplies. Quivira NWR will provide housing for the field study team, a 4-wheel drive vehicle and fuel for use on the refuge, and shop facilities for repairs and maintenance of project equipment. Minimum tasks to be performed are as follows: 1)Place GPS radio transmitters on a minimum of 17 deer to determine: Seasonal movements of deer on and off the refuge; Level of contact between deer that use the refuge and deer in adjacent areas; Extent of buck concentrations during summer, concentrations of does and fawns during late winter, and sites of group foraging on wheat fields and other favored habitats; Use of bait piles placed in conjunction with hunting operations adjacent to the refuge; Use of extensive salt rich outcroppings associated with water-bodies on the refuge; Survival rates of radio-collared bucks and does. 2) Conduct surveys to determine long-term deer population trends on QNWR: Continue conventional spot-light surveys (conducted since 1989); Implement distance-sampling (concurrent with conventional spot-light surveys) to estimate deer density; Evaluate the feasibility of developing a correction formula that relates density of deer (based on distance sampling) to conventional spotlight survey counts; If a correction formula is feasible, use the formula to estimate past densities from previous spot-light counts. Coordinate with KDWP to compare density estimates on QNWR with the results of concurrent KDWP surveys conducted in the area. 3)Evaluate use of bait piles by deer: Opportunistically document locations of bait piles, type of bait present, and frequency of re-baiting; Use GPS collar data to determine timing and frequency of deer use of specific bait piles. Successful applicant is expected to submit a final report of research findings, along with recommended measures to minimize risks of disease transmission to the Quivira National Wildlife Refuge. In addition, applicant will produce three peer-reviewed publications that document: Seasonal movement patterns of deer on and off the refuge; Annual deer population trends and seasonal concentrations on the refuge; Use of bait piles and other foraging sites.