Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit, Rocky Mountain CESU | G20AS00075

Opportunity Information: Apply for G20AS00075

The Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit, Rocky Mountain CESU grant opportunity (Funding Opportunity Number G20AS00075) is a discretionary U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) funding call issued through the Department of the Interior. It is structured as a cooperative agreement, meaning the work is expected to be carried out in close collaboration with USGS rather than as a standalone research grant. The USGS Southwest Biological Science Center is seeking to fund one project, with an anticipated single award and a maximum funding level (award ceiling) of $200,000. The opportunity was created on May 28, 2020, with an original closing date of June 12, 2020, and it falls under the Science and Technology and other Research and Development activity category (CFDA 15.808).

Eligibility is limited to members of the Rocky Mountain Cooperative Ecosystems Studies Unit (CESU) Program. In practice, that means the competition is not open to the general public or all universities; it is targeted to a specific network of partner institutions that participate in the Rocky Mountain CESU. The intent is to strengthen interagency and partner cooperation by pairing USGS scientific priorities with CESU partner capabilities, such as university researchers or other qualified CESU-affiliated organizations.

Scientifically, the project is focused on ecological research along the Colorado River in Arizona, with direct relevance to Grand Canyon ecosystem dynamics. The core purpose is to improve understanding of how nutrients, especially phosphorus, influence the river ecosystem. The requested proposal is expected to lay out a clear, defensible approach for developing a phosphorus budget for the Colorado River ecosystem. A phosphorus budget typically involves tracking the sources, transport, storage, and downstream movement of phosphorus through the river system over time, so that managers and scientists can understand when and where phosphorus enters the system, how it is transformed or retained, and how it may affect productivity and food-web processes.

A central requirement is to measure phosphorus inputs from two key source categories: releases from Lake Powell and contributions from tributary streams. Lake Powell releases can influence the mainstem Colorado River water chemistry and sediment regime, while tributaries can deliver pulses of sediment and nutrients that reshape conditions downstream. The opportunity highlights that the CESU partner will play a major role in quantifying relationships between sediment and phosphorus, including how silt, clay, and turbidity relate to phosphorus concentrations or loads. This is important because phosphorus often attaches to fine sediment particles; understanding these linkages can help researchers estimate phosphorus transport from readily measured indicators like turbidity, especially during dynamic conditions.

Another emphasized research need is capturing phosphorus inputs during tributary flooding events. These events can be short-lived and highly variable, yet they may account for a large share of annual sediment and nutrient delivery. The notice points out a practical field challenge: many of these tributary floods occur in remote locations and in ungagged streams, meaning there may be no permanent monitoring stations and limited real-time data. As a result, proposals would likely need to describe strategies for sampling, event-based monitoring, remote sensing or modeling approaches, surrogate relationships (for example, turbidity-to-phosphorus regressions), or other methods that can reliably quantify nutrient loads when direct measurements are difficult.

Overall, this funding opportunity supports applied, field-relevant ecosystem science with strong management implications for the Colorado River and Grand Canyon. By building a phosphorus budget that explicitly accounts for Lake Powell releases, tributary contributions, sediment-phosphorus dynamics, and episodic flood-driven inputs, the project aims to clarify how nutrient delivery and transport shape ecological conditions in one of the most scientifically and culturally significant river corridors in the United States.

• The Department of the Interior, U. S. Geological Survey in the science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit, Rocky Mountain CESU" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 15.808.
• This funding opportunity was created on May 28, 2020.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Jun 12, 2020. (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 $200,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 1 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification).

Apply for G20AS00075

[Watch] Creating a grant proposal using the step-by-step wizard inside the applicant portal: