Conservation Assessment and Mapping Products for Rio Grande Fishes | F17AS00117

Opportunity Information: Apply for F17AS00117

The Department of the Interior, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced a cooperative agreement opportunity titled Conservation Assessment and Mapping Products for Rio Grande Fishes (Funding Opportunity Number F17AS00117). The goal is to produce updated, partner-vetted conservation assessment and mapping products for fish species in the Rio Grande basin by compiling and normalizing species and environmental datasets, running and refining assessment models, and delivering final tools and reporting that can support conservation planning and decision-making.

The work is organized into a clear sequence of project phases that emphasize coordination with technical experts and stakeholders. First, the project initiates partner meetings to bring together relevant agencies, organizations, and regional experts. These meetings are meant to agree on the foundational pieces of the assessment, including the final species list to be assessed, how species will be prioritized or weighted relative to one another, and how the assessment itself will be parameterized (in other words, what assumptions, scoring rules, and model settings will be used). This early coordination step is intended to prevent disconnects later by ensuring the technical approach and conservation priorities are aligned across partners before major analysis begins.

Next, the project focuses on species and environmental data collection and normalization. It builds from prior products, specifically referencing Cohen et al. 2013, and expands those datasets to address gaps in existing species data. This may include improving the underlying models if current approaches are outdated or insufficient, and ensuring the environmental coverage layers needed for analysis are available and consistent across the geography and species being assessed. A major emphasis here is standardization: cleaning, formatting, and harmonizing datasets so that information from different sources can be compared and integrated reliably, which is often one of the most time-consuming steps in basin-wide mapping and assessment efforts.

After data preparation, the effort shifts to building, parameterizing, and testing the assessment tool itself. The opportunity description makes it clear that the tool will go through multiple iterations. Those iterations are intended to check whether early parameter choices and decisions about what data to include lead to results that make practical sense to scientists and managers. Preliminary model runs are circulated among project staff and collaborators for review, comments, and approval, creating a feedback loop where technical results are tested against on-the-ground expertise and partner expectations before anything is finalized.

Once partners are satisfied that the model behavior is sound and the inputs are appropriate, the project proceeds to the final model build. This is the stage where the assessment framework and datasets are locked in and the final runs are produced, generating the definitive conservation assessment outputs and mapping products intended for use by the partner community.

The deliverables include a final report provided to project partners, along with presentations and webinars to disseminate results and discuss how to interpret and use them. The project also documents partner and stakeholder feedback, not just as meeting notes, but as a practical roadmap for future augmentation of the assessment. In other words, the end of the project is not treated as a dead end; it is set up so the assessment can be updated, expanded, or refined in later efforts based on identified needs, remaining data gaps, or evolving conservation priorities.

Administratively, this is a discretionary funding opportunity using a cooperative agreement, which typically indicates substantial involvement or collaboration with the federal agency during the project rather than a hands-off grant. The opportunity lists CFDA numbers 15.669 and 15.670 and was created on February 15, 2017, with an original closing date of February 21, 2017. The expected number of awards is one, with an award ceiling of $42,000. It is explicitly described as a single-source award issued under Department of the Interior policy provisions that allow non-competitive awards based on an unsolicited proposal and unique qualifications, meaning the agency intended to fund a specific applicant deemed uniquely suited to perform the work. Eligibility is labeled as "Others" with additional clarification referenced in the full announcement text.

• The Department of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service in the information and statistics, natural resources sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Conservation Assessment and Mapping Products for Rio Grande Fishes" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 15.669, 15.670.
• This funding opportunity was created on Feb 15, 2017.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Feb 21, 2017 This Single Source Award is being awarded in accordance with Department of the Interior Policy 505 DM 2.14 B (1) Unsolicited Proposal, and (4) Unique Qualifications, which allows for award without competition to an applicant.. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $42,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 1 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification).

Apply for F17AS00117

[Watch] Creating a grant proposal using the step-by-step wizard inside the applicant portal: