Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit, Colorado Plateau CESU

The summary for the Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit, Colorado Plateau CESU 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 Geological Survey, which is the U.S. government agency offering this grant.

Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit, Colorado Plateau CESU: The Grand Canyon Protection Act (GCPA) and Glen Canyon Dam Environmental Impact Statement (GCDEIS) direct the Secretary of the Interior.... "To establish and implement long-term monitoring programs and activities that will ensure that Glen Canyon Dam is operated in a manner consistent with that of Section 1802..." of the GCPA. The goals of the USGS's Grand Canyon Monitoring and Research Center (GCMRC) are to develop monitoring and research programs and related scientific activities that evaluate short-and long-term impacts of the Glen Canyon Dam on the biological, cultural, and physical resources of the Colorado River Ecosystem (CRE). The GCMRC also provides information concerning resources of the CRE specified annually by the Adaptive Management Work Group (AMWG) and the Secretary of the Interior Long-term monitoring of all vital resources aids in detecting and quantifying changes related to dam operations. Research efforts focus on 1) interpreting and explaining trends, 2) determining causal relationships, and 3) defining inter-relationships among physical, biological and cultural processes. These scientific activities are performed by researchers at GCMRC and Northern Arizona University, who specialize in terrestrial, fisheries and aquatic biology; limnology; geomorphology; hydrology; archeology; GIS, DBMS, and computer sciences. Research is often done as a collaborative effort on interdisciplinary problems. Research results are then used to refine the conceptual model of the impacts of dam operations on the CRE. In addition to monitoring and research activities, the GCMRC develops information management programs to ensure information is properly archived and transferred to managers, stakeholders and science organizations. GCMRC research combined with information on predictions of future reservoir storage, is used to evaluate the proposed flow regimes designed to protect and/or enhance the CRE. GCMRC scientific activities are intended to determine the effects of Record of Decision (ROD) dam operations and other management actions primarily on downstream natural, recreational, and cultural resources of the CRE. GCMRC activities include limited investigations into tributaries (e.g., the Little Colorado and Paria Rivers) and reservoirs (e.g., Lake Powell). The AMWG in drawing these boundaries on the geographic scope of GCMR scientific activities acknowledge that these constraints may inhibit the ability to distinguish the effects of dam operations on CRE resources from other effects. Therefore, scientific information from programs outside the GCDAMP is often needed as a means of strengthening the understanding of the entire CRE. The GCMRC conducts many kinds of research and monitoring activities including integrated terrestrial resource monitoring of abundance and distribution of riparian vegetation, animal communities, and their interdependencies on various habitat and environmental factors. Downstream fishery assessments in the Grand Canyon also involve monitoring of native and non-native fish populations, the integration of field data into population dynamics models and stock assessment procedures. Mapping of terrestrial habitats is conducted using remote sensing imagery, ground based surveys, and GIS techniques to help understand changes in the distribution and abundance of sediment, vegetation, seasonal patterns etc. Current research support interests include (but are not limited to) ground based surveys, bathymetry, GIS mapping, remote sensing and associated photogrammetric techniques, programming support of specialized experimental telemetry, instrumentation control, web, database, GIS, and modeling. The main objectives of this agreement are designed to provide technical support of GCMRC activities. There are six tasks that are contained within the current cooperative program: Objective 1) Coordinate interaction of biological resources experts with GCMRC staff. Objective 2) Provide GIS support on GCMRC Mapping projects for the Colorado River corridor. Objective 3) Process and analyze ground based surveys from the NAU long-term monitoring sites using Sokkia survey, IVS 3d Fledermaus software packages. Processing includes translation and rotation into the current GCMRC control network, construction of Digital Elevation models, and output of ASCII and AutoCAD DXF format ancillary datasets. Objective 4) Process, othro-rectify, and produce elevation models from remote sensing imagery. Objective 5) Participate in field work including surveying, bathymetry, and ground truthing. Objective 6) Provide general programming assistance in varying languages and environments