Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit, Great Lakes Northern Forest CESU | Apply Online

Opportunity Summary:

The Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit, Great Lakes Northern Forest CESU grant opportunity (Funding Opportunity Number G14AS00112) was a US Geological Survey (USGS) discretionary funding announcement issued as a cooperative agreement to support a focused research project led through the USGS Alaska Science Center. The core purpose of the project was to develop and test remote sensing approaches, particularly the use of satellite imagery, as a practical tool for monitoring polar bears on Wrangel Island and the Chukotka Peninsula. In plain terms, the agency was looking to fund work that could determine whether modern satellite data can reliably detect polar bears or polar bear use of land, and whether those observations can be translated into useful estimates of abundance and habitat use over time.

The scientific motivation behind the opportunity was tied to how polar bears in the Chukchi Sea region are increasingly using land for key life history activities. Existing satellite radio collar data indicate that a large share of pregnant females in this population, cited as up to 75 percent, den on Wrangel Island and nearby Herald Island. At the same time, more bears have been observed using Wrangel Island during summer, especially during years when sea ice reaches its seasonal minimum and bears are more likely to spend time ashore. The announcement framed this changing land use as an important monitoring challenge: managers and researchers need ways to track denning behavior, summering patterns, and broader land-based trends in a region that is remote and logistically difficult to survey consistently.

A major practical problem highlighted in the description is that satellite radio collars, while valuable, are expensive to deploy and typically yield small sample sizes. That limits the ability to infer long-term population-level patterns, especially across broad areas like Wrangel Island and the Chukotka Peninsula. The grant therefore emphasized remote sensing as a potentially more cost-effective and scalable alternative. If satellite imagery could be shown to work for detecting polar bears or estimating their presence and distribution on land, it could enable more frequent, broader monitoring and improve the capacity to measure long-term trends in habitat use and denning activity without relying solely on capture-and-collar efforts.

Administratively, this opportunity sat within the CESU framework, meaning eligibility was restricted to partners in the Great Lakes Northern Forest Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit network. CESUs are formal partnerships designed to connect federal agencies with universities and other research organizations to deliver applied research, technical assistance, and education. The announcement listed the eligible applicant category as "Others" but clarified that applicants had to be participating partners of that specific CESU. Only one award was expected.

The funding details were modest and specific. The estimated total funding amount was $14,687, with no cost sharing or matching requirement. The CFDA number associated with the opportunity was 15.808 (U.S. Geological Survey Research and Data Collection). The activity category was listed as Science and Technology and other Research and Development. The posting timeline shows it was posted June 26, 2014, created July 8, 2014, originally closed July 8, 2014, and later reflected a current closing date of July 18, 2014, with an archive date of September 26, 2014. The award ceiling and floor were both listed as 0, which typically indicates that the specific award amount is determined by the project and budget review rather than being constrained by a preset range in the listing.

For applicants or interested parties who needed the full announcement package, the notice pointed to Grants.gov as the source for complete details and provided a USGS contact for access issues: Faith Graves, 703-648-7356, fgraves@usgs.gov. Overall, the opportunity was a targeted, applied research solicitation aimed at determining whether satellite-based remote sensing could become a reliable, lower-cost monitoring method for polar bear abundance and land use dynamics in a rapidly changing Arctic environment.

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