Deadline for applying 03-15-2024
Link to full application and details
The National Park Service (NPS) is requesting proposals from partners of the Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Units (CESU) Network to synthesize, analyze and summarize multiple files, sources of literature, agency records, university records and other NGO records on the distribution and abundance of birds in Mojave National Preserve to assist in the development of fire management plan revisions.
Mojave National Preserve has been afflicted with 3 major wildland fires over the past 15 years, affecting over 206,000 acres. As a result, vegetation structure and composition has shifted dramatically, particularly for the Joshua tree and pinyon/juniper woodlands. The faunal component expected to be most affected are the birds. Birds comprise the greatest percentage of federally and California State listed species, species of concern and sensitive species lists for the Mojave National Preserve. However, there is no fire management plan objective to protect or conserve these birds or their habitats. This is largely due to lack of knowledge on distribution and abundance of birds. The data exists, but it is disjointed and scattered across multiple files, sources of literature, agency records, university records and other NGO records.
To assist development of fire management plan revisions, bird information needs to be compiled from all these multiple sources and synthesized into a geospatial product that highlights important bird areas. This could be followed by opportunities for field observations to address gaps in information or verify existing data using point counts, breeding bird surveys or other transect counts.
This funding opportunity announcement is intended to request assistance of university faculty and student programs or bird observatory expertise to synthesize, analyze and summarize all the multiple sources of information collected from the past concerning birds in the Mojave National Preserve. Specifically, the request is to:
1. Mine relevant data from various sources across multiple federal and state agencies, universities, museums and non-governmental organizations.
2. Compile a dataset depicting bird species, habitats, and geospatial information for use in GIS. Primary emphasis will be on federal and/or California state listed species, USFWS Birds of Conservation Concern, California and Nevada BLM Sensitive, and NPS/MNP sensitive species. This totals 14 species.
3. Develop a map-based product depicting distribution, relative abundance (if known), and knowledge gaps.
4. Conduct some field observations (up to 30 percent of funds) in areas with knowledge gaps and to verify other findings.
5. Based on the above data, provide a final report of sensitive bird distribution, status, and further recommendations for fire management on protection, conservation and restoration.