Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit, Rocky Mountain CESU | Apply Online

Opportunity Summary:

This grant opportunity (Funding Opportunity Number 10HQPA0060) is a USGS-funded Cooperative Agreement issued through the Rocky Mountain Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit (CESU) Program. It supports science and technology research focused on understanding how the native mountain pine beetle (MPB) may affect forest ecosystems along Colorado's Front Range, where MPB pressure is expanding eastward beyond the areas that have been most intensively studied to date. The USGS Rocky Mountain Geographic Science Center (RMGSC) is seeking a single awardee to carry out targeted research that helps managers and scientists anticipate ecological impacts and improve management decisions as MPB encounters new host species, stand conditions, and human-use landscapes.

The core problem driving the opportunity is that the MPB epidemic has been well documented in lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta) forests west of the Continental Divide, but conditions in the Front Range differ in ways that could change beetle behavior and outcomes. In lower-elevation Front Range forests, ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) is the dominant tree species and is also a suitable MPB host. These ponderosa pine systems have also experienced a long, mixed history of management actions such as thinning and prescribed burning, sometimes in combination and sometimes not at all, depending on land ownership and agency priorities. Because of these differences, there is limited evidence available to confidently predict whether MPB will build to outbreak (epidemic) levels in ponderosa pine, what mortality patterns might look like over time, and which stand or site characteristics might make forests more or less vulnerable. The agency is essentially funding work to close that knowledge gap so entomologists, forest managers, and researchers can move from educated guesses to defensible, data-driven expectations and strategies.

The funded research is organized around two main questions. First, the recipient is expected to investigate whether MPB will transition from its current primary host, lodgepole pine, to a secondary host species, ponderosa pine, and whether the beetle can reach epidemic population levels in ponderosa pine. The announcement indicates this should be addressed using field studies and/or laboratory experiments that directly examine MPB host selection behavior and track MPB-caused mortality over time in both lodgepole and ponderosa pine. In practical terms, this implies collecting evidence on beetle preference and success across hosts (for example, attack rates, successful colonization, and subsequent tree mortality), and documenting how those patterns change as the outbreak progresses or as beetle pressure varies spatially and temporally.

Second, the recipient is expected to evaluate how the prior management history of ponderosa pine stands influences resilience to MPB infestation. This is framed as a comprehensive field study comparing forests treated in different ways, including thinning, prescribed burning, thinning plus burning, and untreated stands. The comparison is expected to span areas managed by multiple agencies, reflecting the real-world patchwork of Front Range land management. The study is expected to assess vulnerability factors at multiple scales, including tree-level (for example, tree size or condition), stand-level (for example, density or structure), and site-level (for example, topographic or environmental setting) variables associated with short- and long-term susceptibility to MPB attack. The overall goal is to determine whether and how management actions that alter stand structure or fuels also change beetle impacts and forest resilience, and to translate those findings into guidance that can inform future treatments.

From an administrative standpoint, the opportunity is discretionary, with an estimated total funding amount of $62,000 and an expectation of one award. No cost sharing or matching is required. Eligibility is limited to organizations that are official participating partners in the Rocky Mountain CESU Program, since the award is issued under the CESU partnership framework that supports research, technical assistance, and education collaborations. The funding falls under CFDA 15.808 (U.S. Geological Survey Research and Data Collection). The opportunity was posted May 11, 2010, with an original and final closing date of May 20, 2010, and it was later archived June 19, 2010. The listed agency contact for access issues is Faith Graves, Contract Specialist, at 703-648-7356.

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