August 9, 2021

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Funding Opportunity: Winter Habitat Assessment and Modeling for Rocky Mounting Elk around Dworshak Reservoir

Request for Statements of Interest
Funding Opportunity Announcement

Funding Opportunity No: W912EF-21-2-RFP-0002
CFDA No: 12.630
Statutory Authority: 10 USC 2358
Project Title: Winter Habitat Assessment and Modeling for Rocky Mountain Elk around Dworshak Reservoir.
Announcement Type: Initial announcement
Issue Date: 9 August 2021
Statement of Interest/Qualifications Due Date: 9 September 2021 2:00 PM PST
Full Application Package Due Date, if Invited: 16 September 2021 2:00 PM PST.
Estimated Award Ceiling: $50,000.
Estimated Total Program Funding (optional): $150,000

Eligible Applicants – This opportunity is restricted to non-federal partners of the Pacific Northwest Cooperative Ecosystems Studies Unit (CESU).

Section VII: Agency Contact
Sara Edwards, Grants Specialist
US Army Corps of Engineers, Walla Walla District
201 3rd Ave
Walla Walla, WA 99362
sara.edwards@usace.army.mil
509-527-7216

Dworshak Dam near Orofino, Idaho was built in 1973 by the US Army Corps of Engineers (COE). It created a 55 mile reservoir (at full pool) and inundated 16,000 acres of forested land considered to be important elk winter range. In the mid 1970’s The Idaho Department of Fish and Game (IDFG) and The United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) worked with the COE to develop a plan to mitigate for the lost elk habitat, “Plan For Development of Rocky Mountain Elk Habitat, Dworshak Dam and Reservoir”. The plan established the Grandad Elk Mitigation Area consisting of 6,900 acres at the confluence of the North Fork and Little North Fork of the Clearwater Rivers. Although the measurable goals and objectives outlined in the 1977 plan have largely been dismissed, winter habitat conditions in the lower North Fork of the Clearwater drainage may be an important factor for the proliferation of the North Fork elk herd. The COE continues to have a mandate to manage the Grandad Elk Mitigation Area for the purpose of improving winter habitat for elk.

The COE has managed the mitigation area for elk winter range since the late 1970s with varying success. The original north-facing, clear-cut and burn treatment units, designed to produce elk winter forage, are now almost exclusively young overstocked forest stands that are producing little winter forage. The south-facing units have largely been eaten down by elk and are also producing little winter forage. Within the last 20 years new strategies have been employed to improve elk winter habitat within the Grandad Elk Mitigation Area. The success of these strategies and how they may have worked to improve the North Fork Elk Herd are unknown. Research to determine the winter forage potential on varying sites within the lower North Fork drainage, if and to what extent past and current treatments have reached forage potentials and how important these conditions are to the proliferation of the North Fork Elk Herd is critical to establishing future elk management goals and objectives for the Grandad Mitigation Area.