Large Mammal response to wildfire and landscape-scale forest restoration in the Jemez Mountains | P17AS00084

Opportunity Information: Apply for P17AS00084

The National Park Service, within the Department of the Interior, offered a discretionary cooperative agreement opportunity titled "Large Mammal response to wildfire and landscape-scale forest restoration in the Jemez Mountains" (Funding Opportunity Number P17AS00084; CFDA 15.945) to support applied natural resources research in northern New Mexico. The project focus is the Jemez Mountains, specifically lands managed by the National Park Service at Valles Caldera National Preserve (VALL) and by the US Forest Service on the Santa Fe National Forest. The central problem driving the work is that decades of fire suppression, logging, and overgrazing have altered Southwestern forest conditions by increasing tree densities and fuel loads. Those changes are linked to more frequent and severe wildfires, reduced biodiversity, and declining habitat quality for key large mammals, particularly mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus), elk (Cervus canadensis), and black bears (Ursus americanus). In response to these degraded conditions, land managers have called for restoration efforts that better reflect historic forest structure and more natural fire regimes, but they also need solid, site-specific evidence about how wildlife respond to these interventions and to wildfire itself.

This funding opportunity supports research that is intentionally integrated with forest restoration treatments, so the effectiveness of restoration can be evaluated alongside wildlife responses. The proposed work continues a long-term study that began in 2012, when researchers started capturing mule deer, elk, and black bears and fitting them with GPS collars to track movement patterns and habitat use over time. With continued funding, the effort was planned to extend through at least 2019, allowing the project to compare animal behavior and habitat selection across multiple years and varying conditions, including before and after restoration treatments and in areas affected by recent wildfires. This long-term design is important because large mammal responses to habitat change are not always immediate, and annual variation in weather, forage, and disturbance can strongly influence movement and space use.

The project objectives emphasize two closely connected outcomes. First, it aims to measure changes in forage abundance associated with restoration treatments and wildfire, recognizing that forage quantity and quality are major drivers of where deer and elk concentrate and how bears use the landscape. Second, it seeks to determine how mule deer, elk, and black bears select habitat and use space under different conditions created by restoration activities and fire, using GPS collar data to document shifts in movements, home ranges, and patterns of use across the landscape. Together, these results are intended to provide practical guidance on how large mammals respond to management actions designed to reduce fuel loads and wildfire risk, information that will become increasingly valuable as more landscape-scale restoration projects are implemented throughout the Southwest.

From an administrative standpoint, the opportunity anticipated a single award with an award ceiling of $100,000. Eligible applicants were limited to public and state-controlled institutions of higher education, reflecting the research-focused nature of the work and the expectation of technical capacity to conduct wildlife capture and collaring, habitat and forage monitoring, and rigorous analysis. The posting was created on February 15, 2017, with an original closing date of February 24, 2017, indicating a short application window typical of targeted cooperative agreements where the agency expects close coordination during project implementation.

The ultimate management value of the project is explicitly tied to decision-making at Valles Caldera National Preserve. By clarifying how restoration treatments and wildfire influence the distribution and behavior of deer, elk, and bears, the findings are meant to directly inform preserve management actions, including planning around public access and visitor use. In other words, the study is not just documenting wildlife ecology in the abstract; it is designed to produce defensible, place-based evidence that helps managers balance restoration goals, wildfire risk reduction, and the on-the-ground realities of how large mammals move through and occupy the restored and burned landscapes visitors experience at VALL.

• The Department of the Interior, National Park Service in the natural resources sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Large Mammal response to wildfire and landscape-scale forest restoration in the Jemez Mountains" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 15.945.
• This funding opportunity was created on Feb 15, 2017.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Feb 24, 2017. (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 $100,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 1 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Public and State controlled institutions of higher education.

Apply for P17AS00084

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