Western Alaska Landscape Conservation Cooperative Terrestrial Systems FY16-FY17 | F15AS00464

Opportunity Information: Apply for F15AS00464

The Western Alaska Landscape Conservation Cooperative (Western Alaska LCC) Terrestrial Systems FY16-FY17 grant opportunity (Funding Opportunity Number F15AS00464) is a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service-funded cooperative agreement program designed to support applied science projects that help resource managers and decision makers respond to climate-driven changes across western Alaska. The Western Alaska LCC operates as a self-directed partnership guided by a Steering Committee made up of representatives from 14 State, Federal, and Tribal organizations. It is part of a broader network of Landscape Conservation Cooperatives, with five LCCs in Alaska and twenty-two across North America, created to improve coordination and shared science across large landscapes where environmental change and management responsibilities cross jurisdictional boundaries.

At its core, the opportunity funds work that strengthens landscape-scale conservation planning by improving the coordination, development, and sharing of practical scientific information. A defining feature of the Western Alaska LCC mission is its emphasis on landscape-level conservation that also recognizes terrestrial-marine connections, reflecting how changes on land can cascade into rivers, estuaries, and coastal systems (and vice versa). Congress provides seed funding for the LCC through the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and this particular announcement targets the LCCs Terrestrial Systems focus for fiscal years 2016 and 2017. The central theme tying funded projects together is: informing decision makers about climate change effects on terrestrial habitat features and how those changes affect important resources and services in western Alaska. In practice, that means the program is looking for projects that translate climate-related habitat change into information that is directly useful for subsistence, species management, conservation prioritization, and planning under uncertainty.

The funding opportunity is organized into three project categories. Category 1 focuses on patterns of change and resulting impacts on the phenology (the timing of seasonal biological events such as migration, breeding, flowering, green-up, or freeze-up related availability) and the distribution of subsistence resources, harvested species, or other species that are important for management decisions. Projects in this category would typically examine whether climate change is shifting when resources are available, where key species occur, and how those shifts affect harvest opportunities, wildlife management, or ecosystem interactions. Category 2 supports identification and synthesis work aimed at pinpointing hotspots of change as well as places that appear highly resilient or relatively stable in the face of climate stressors. This category is essentially about mapping and prioritizing: pulling together existing information and/or generating analyses that reveal where rapid transformation is occurring, where refugia may exist, and where conservation or monitoring investments might deliver the greatest benefit. Category 3 targets changes in terrestrial habitat characteristics and their impacts on important resources or services in western Alaska, which can include shifts in vegetation structure, permafrost and soil conditions, hydrology, fire regimes, or other habitat features, and then connecting those changes to outcomes managers care about, such as wildlife habitat suitability, ecosystem services, access for subsistence, or broader landscape function.

Administratively, the program is classified as a discretionary opportunity and uses a cooperative agreement funding instrument, which generally implies a more substantial level of federal involvement or collaboration during the project compared to a standard grant. The opportunity is listed under CFDA 15.669 and spans multiple activity categories, including environment, natural resources, science and technology, and other research and development, reflecting its applied research and decision-support purpose. Eligibility is listed as unrestricted, meaning a wide range of applicant types may apply rather than limiting the competition to a narrow class of institutions.

In terms of scale and timing, the announcement was created on 2015-09-17 with an original closing date of 2015-11-02. The award ceiling is $300,000, and the program anticipated making about eight awards. Taken together, the structure and priorities make it clear that the Western Alaska LCC was seeking projects that go beyond documenting climate change in the abstract and instead produce actionable, decision-relevant outputs for western Alaska, especially where climate-driven shifts in terrestrial habitats affect subsistence resources, managed species, and the location of both vulnerable and resilient areas across the landscape.

• The Fish and Wildlife Service in the environment, food and nutrition, information and statistics, natural resources, science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Western Alaska Landscape Conservation Cooperative Terrestrial Systems FY16-FY17" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 15.669.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2015-09-17.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2015-11-02. (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 $300,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 8 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Unrestricted.

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