November 21, 2023

Department of the Interior Research Opportunity: Natural Resource Condition Assessment for Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument

Background

This project will provide the National Park Service (NPS) with a Natural Resource Condition Assessment (NRCA) of Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument (KAWW; Attachment 1). NRCAs rely on existing data and expertise from a variety of NPS and non-NPS sources to provide a snapshot-in-time evaluation of resource conditions for a subset of important park natural resources and indicators. As with all other NPS NRCAs, the current project will be multidisciplinary (ecological) in scope, employ hierarchical indicator frameworks, identify or develop logical reference conditions/values to compare current condition data against, emphasize spatial evaluation of conditions and geospatial map products, summarize key findings at the park or park area (e.g., watershed boundary) levels, and follow national NRCA guidelines and standards for study design and reporting products.

Funds Available

NPS has $50,000 – $75,000 available for this project; this includes the CESU overhead rate of 17.5%. Non-federal partners within the CESU system with a current NPS master cooperative agreement are eligible to apply.

Project Timeline

The deadline for responding to this request for Letters of Interest is January 19, 2024. The funding decision for a start in late summer 2024 will be announced by February 16, 2024. A cooperative agreement will be put in place by September 13, 2024. The project is expected to take two years to complete.

Contact

Direct questions and letters of interest to Brian Mitchell, brian_mitchell@nps.gov. The deadline for responding to this request for LOI is January 19, 2024.

See attachment for more details and LOI requirements.