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FAQs: BLM Utah Migratory Bird Monitoring Project (Funding Opportunity Number L16AS00113)

What is the BLM Utah Migratory Bird Monitoring Project?

This opportunity is a cooperative agreement offered by the U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management (DOI-BLM) to strengthen and coordinate migratory bird monitoring across Utah. The emphasis is on building a more standardized, long-term statewide monitoring approach so that bird population information is reliable and usable for land management and conservation decisions.

What is the main goal of this funding opportunity?

The core goal is to move Utah toward a standardized statewide migratory bird monitoring approach and establish a long-term monitoring system that produces data useful for BLM decision-making. The project is meant to improve how monitoring is designed, coordinated, managed, and maintained over time.

Why is coordinated migratory bird monitoring important in Utah?

Migratory birds are difficult to monitor consistently because they may not return to the exact same sites each year and because their life cycles depend on large landscapes that cross administrative boundaries. The BLM is aiming to reduce fragmented monitoring efforts and replace them with coordinated approaches that can be compared and combined across organizations and scales.

What problems is the project trying to address?

The project is intended to address gaps that arise when monitoring is inconsistent or not comparable across areas, organizations, or years. It also focuses on improving statistical design so monitoring results are scientifically defensible and can detect trends over time, rather than simply collecting more observations without a long-term framework.

How will the monitoring data be used by BLM?

The monitoring information is intended to be integrated into land management and conservation decisions. The opportunity highlights uses such as evaluating how management actions influence bird populations, understanding the effects of landscape alteration and climate change, improving knowledge of species distributions, and supporting mitigation planning by clarifying which actions may benefit or harm bird populations and habitats.

What kinds of management actions are mentioned as relevant to bird population evaluation?

The description specifically mentions evaluating how management actions like vegetation treatments and changing disturbance patterns influence bird populations. It also references vegetation treatments connected to greater sage-grouse conservation efforts as part of the broader context where monitoring can help track ecosystem responses.

Does the opportunity focus on short-term surveys or long-term monitoring?

It emphasizes establishing a long-term monitoring system. The intent is to generate long-term monitoring data that can be applied regionally and support future land management decisions, rather than producing isolated, one-off datasets.

What does the BLM mean by improving the statistical design of monitoring?

The opportunity calls for a concerted improvement in statistical design so that results are scientifically defensible and capable of detecting population changes and trends over time. This reflects a focus on monitoring approaches that support reliable inference, not just raw counts or opportunistic observations.

Is data management part of the project?

Yes. The opportunity explicitly notes that monitoring information should be housed and maintained in a modern data management system, with data that are accessible, consistently updated, and usable into the future.

What public benefits are expected from the project?

The public benefit is framed around migratory birds as ecosystem indicators. By tracking birds over the long term, land managers and the public can better understand how ecosystems are responding to multiple pressures at once, including climate change, vegetation treatments, and broader land management decisions. The resulting dataset and monitoring framework are expected to support better-informed choices aimed at protecting migratory bird species and the habitats they rely on.

How does this project support coordination with other agencies?

The project is expected to strengthen coordination and discussions with other agencies, including the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, by providing a more complete statewide foundation of monitoring information that can be shared and used across partners.

What is the funding instrument type for this opportunity?

The instrument type is a cooperative agreement. This signals that BLM anticipated substantial involvement or collaboration during the project, rather than a hands-off arrangement.

Which federal agency is offering this opportunity?

The opportunity is offered by the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI), Bureau of Land Management (BLM).

What is the Funding Opportunity Number?

The Funding Opportunity Number is L16AS00113.

What is the CFDA number and program category?

The opportunity is listed in the Natural Resources category with CFDA 15.231.

Is this a discretionary funding opportunity?

Yes. It is described as a discretionary funding opportunity.

Who is eligible to apply?

Eligibility is listed as unrestricted, meaning it is open to any type of entity, subject to any additional eligibility language that may be included in the full notice.

How many awards did BLM expect to make?

The expected number of awards was one.

What is the maximum funding amount available?

The award ceiling is $165,000.

When was the opportunity posted and what was the closing date?

The opportunity was posted on May 12, 2016, and the closing date was July 12, 2016.

What geographic scope does the project focus on?

The project is focused on Utah, with an emphasis on statewide coordination and producing monitoring data that can be applied regionally for land management decisions.

Why does the opportunity emphasize standardized monitoring instead of separate efforts?

The BLM notes that fragmented monitoring efforts are difficult to compare or combine, which limits their usefulness for detecting trends and informing management at larger scales. Standardization and coordination are highlighted as the way to create comparable data across organizations, places, and time.

How does the project relate to mitigation planning?

The monitoring information is intended to support mitigation planning by clarifying which actions may be benefiting or harming bird populations and habitats, and by identifying where adjustments to management may be needed based on observed outcomes.