American Pronghorn Habitat Connectivity, Wupatki National Monument, Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument, Grand Canyon National Park | Apply Online

Opportunity Summary:

This National Park Service (NPS) funding opportunity, titled "American Pronghorn Habitat Connectivity, Wupatki National Monument, Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument, Grand Canyon National Park" (Funding Opportunity Number P15AS00156), focused on reversing long term habitat fragmentation problems affecting American pronghorn on the Coconino Plateau in northern Arizona. The core conservation issue is that pronghorn numbers in Arizona have dropped dramatically since the late 1800s, and the most severe pressures in the last few decades have come from land development that breaks up habitat into smaller, less connected blocks. Pronghorn are especially sensitive to barriers: they struggle to cross typical livestock range fences and tend to avoid highways even more strongly, which can cut off access to seasonal resources and isolate groups of animals.

A central driver for the project is evidence that U.S. Highway 89 (US 89) functions as a major movement barrier near Wupatki National Monument (WUPA). Telemetry work around WUPA dating back to 1992 documented how the highway limits pronghorn movement, and more recent genetic studies reinforced the concern by showing that US 89, along with other major highways on the plateau, contributes to long term separation of pronghorn into distinct subpopulations within the habitat blocks created by those roads. The opportunity also explicitly ties habitat connectivity to climate change adaptation: as temperatures rise and conditions become more variable, pronghorn are expected to need to travel farther to find reliable summer range and water, making barriers like fences and highways even more consequential for survival and population resilience.

The project was designed as a partnership effort, using NPS Natural Resource funding to support coordinated work among multiple state and federal agencies, private ranches, and nonprofit organizations. The stated landscape scale goal was ambitious: reconnect approximately 2,700 square miles of pronghorn habitat across the Coconino Plateau. Rather than being a purely planning focused grant, it emphasized measuring real biological responses. The work planned to collect new pronghorn telemetry data and compare pronghorn movements after connectivity improvements to earlier "control" movement data collected during 2007 to 2010. The announcement notes that landscape level planning and broad implementation of modification projects began in 2011, suggesting the grant would help expand, validate, and refine treatments that were already being rolled out across the region.

The stated research and management objectives centered on testing which connectivity modifications actually work and then translating those findings into practical, defensible design guidance. Key objectives included evaluating the effectiveness of different habitat connectivity treatments, developing valid design specifications for pronghorn friendly highway crossings and range fence configurations, and examining pronghorn habitat use in areas where juniper reduction has occurred (since vegetation structure can influence forage, sightlines, and movement). Another major objective was prioritization: identifying the most important connectivity areas and corridors to focus resources, including corridors that are likely to matter more under climate driven habitat change scenarios. In other words, the project was intended to produce both on the ground improvements and decision ready information about where to act next and how to build future projects so they are more likely to succeed.

A particularly notable deliverable described in the announcement is that the research would directly support planning for a dedicated pronghorn passage across US 89 near WUPA, potentially the first pronghorn specific passage of its kind in Arizona. The expectation was that the telemetry based findings and design testing would not only inform that crossing, but also provide results that could be reused for future connectivity actions, especially as managers begin planning at finer scales under warming and drying conditions.

Administratively, this was a discretionary grant offered as a cooperative agreement under CFDA 15.944 (Natural Resource Stewardship). It anticipated a single award with an estimated total funding amount of $37,269, and it did not require cost sharing or matching funds. The posting date was June 2, 2015, with an original and final closing date of June 12, 2015; it is archived as of June 13, 2015 and is no longer accepting applications. Eligibility was listed as "Others" with additional clarification referenced in the full announcement, and the listing describes it as a non competitive Notice of Intent to Award, which generally indicates NPS intended to make an award to a specific partner rather than run an open competition. The agency contact listed for access issues was Todd Wilson (ToddWilson@nps.gov), and the announcement referenced Grants.gov for additional information.

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