Evaluation of coastal grizzly population and harvest monitoring methodologies | Apply Online

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

1) What is this government grant notice?

This is a National Park Service (NPS) Notice of Intent (NOI) to make a single, non-competitive cooperative agreement award for a project titled "Evaluation of coastal grizzly population and harvest monitoring methodologies."

2) Is this a call for applications or proposals?

No. The notice is not a call for applications. It signals the agency's plan to issue a task agreement rather than run a competitive application process.

3) What type of award is planned?

The planned instrument type is a cooperative agreement.

4) How many awards does the agency expect to make?

The opportunity states there is one expected award.

5) What is the estimated total funding amount?

The estimated total funding amount listed is $155,000.

6) Is cost sharing or a match required?

No. The notice states there is no cost-sharing or matching requirement.

7) Who is the intended recipient?

The intended recipient identified in the notice is Mississippi State University.

8) Why is the award described as non-competitive?

Based on the notice, NPS is announcing its intent to make a single-source award under existing authority and an existing cooperative agreement framework, rather than soliciting multiple applications.

9) What agreement framework will be used to make the award?

The notice indicates the agency plans to issue a task agreement under the Gulf Coast Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit (CESU) Master Cooperative Agreement (P12AC51051).

10) What authority is cited for this approach?

The notice references Department of the Interior authority described in 505 Departmental Manual 2.12C.

11) What is the project category or area of work?

The project sits within the natural resources category and supports research and training tied to National Park System resource management.

12) What species/population is the project focused on?

The work focuses on coastal brown bear populations, noting that the term "coastal grizzly" is used in some contexts.

13) What is the main purpose of the project?

The project is designed to strengthen how coastal bear populations and harvest are evaluated and tracked, with an emphasis on practical decision support for wildlife managers.

14) What does the project mean by identifying "drivers" of population change?

The project aims to clarify which factors are most likely to drive changes in bear populations, including ecological and human-related pressures that could affect population size and structure.

15) What is a "conceptual population model" in this context?

In this notice, a conceptual population model refers to a structured way of organizing cause-and-effect relationships between influential factors and population outcomes, so managers can use it to think through how different pressures may affect the population.

16) What are "monitoring metrics" and what will the project do with them?

Monitoring metrics are the indices or measures agencies use to infer population trends, estimate abundance, track demographic changes, or evaluate harvest effects. The project will inventory and describe metrics already in use for both population monitoring and harvest monitoring.

17) Will the project create new field datasets?

The notice describes a structured evaluation phase that uses hypothetical but realistic datasets constructed to represent a range of scenarios. It does not state that new field datasets will be collected as part of this evaluation.

18) Why use hypothetical but realistic datasets?

The notice indicates these datasets will be built to reflect scenarios based on the influential factors identified earlier, allowing researchers to test how well different monitoring approaches perform under different conditions managers might realistically face.

19) How will monitoring approaches be evaluated?

The evaluation is management-oriented and will assess whether each metric can detect meaningful change, how quickly it can detect change, and how prone it is to errors such as false positives or false negatives.

20) What kinds of errors are considered in the evaluation?

The notice explicitly mentions false positives (detecting a change when none exists) and false negatives (missing a real change).

21) Will costs and workload be considered when comparing monitoring options?

Yes. The notice states the project will weigh practical burden, including expected cost and effort required to implement each monitoring approach.

22) What is the intended output for managers?

The project intends to provide a quantitative comparison of tradeoffs among monitoring strategies so agencies can choose approaches that fit their goals, risk tolerance, budgets, and operational constraints.

23) How will the project support decision-making within the agency?

The notice states the effort is positioned to feed directly into an ongoing structured decision-making process, providing defensible analysis to help decision-makers choose monitoring systems and harvest-related indicators aligned with management objectives.

24) What is the funding opportunity number?

The funding opportunity number listed is NPS NOI 14 ARO 45357.

25) What assistance listing (CFDA) is associated with this notice?

The notice references CFDA 15.945, "Cooperative Research and Training Programs, Resources of the National Park System."

26) When was this notice posted?

The notice was posted on May 5, 2014.

27) What were the original and current closing dates?

Both the original and current closing date listed are May 6, 2014.

28) Why does it show such a short window between posting and closing?

The notice is described as a single-source, non-competitive intent notice rather than a competitive solicitation, which aligns with the short posting-to-closing timeframe shown.

29) What does it mean that the notice was archived?

The notice was archived on June 5, 2014. In context, this reflects its role as a time-bound notice of intent rather than an open, competitive funding opportunity.

30) Who can be contacted for access issues related to the full announcement?

The listed contact is Rose McClelland, Contracting Specialist at the National Park Service.

31) What are the contact details provided?

Phone: 504-589-3882. Email: rosemcclellans@nps.gov.

32) Where does this project fit in relation to National Park System management?

The notice describes the work as supporting National Park System resource management by improving evaluation and monitoring methodologies that inform wildlife and harvest-related management decisions.