Grants / Department of the Interior / Geological Survey

G24AS00235: Cooperative Agreement for CESU-affiliated Partner with Pacific Northwest Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit

Closed Closed February 22, 2024 Opportunity G24AS00235 ☆ Save

This grant is closed. A newer notice from the same program is open now: Cooperative Agreement for affiliated Partner with Alaska Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit (G27AS00066). Status: Closes December 7, 2026 (30 days left). It is in our archive of Geological Survey notices from 2024.

• Award ceiling$138,000
• Award floor$58,000
• Cost sharingNot required
• Funding typeCooperative Agreement

Key dates

Who can apply

This opportunity was open to the applicants described in the notice.

• Others (see text field entitled "Additional Information on Eligibility" for clarification)

This financial assistance opportunity is being issued under a Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit (CESU) Program. CESU’s are partnerships that provide research, technical assistance, and education. Eligible recipients must be a participating partner of the Pacific Northwest Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit (CESU) Program.

Is this a realistic fit?

• Past U.S. Geological Survey Research and Data Collection awards averaged $557,251; this notice allows up to $138,000 per award.
• Most of the program's money (84% over five years) went to colleges and universities.
• No cost sharing or match is required.

What the grant funds

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Fort Collins Science Center (FORT) is offering a funding opportunity to a CESU partner to help summarize, compare, and develop guidance related to federal land and water management agencies’ current methods for collecting information on visitor numbers and other visitor-related data. Improved visitation estimates and understanding of other visitor-related data (e.g., visitor demographics, visitor satisfaction) can help improve planning at an agency level as well as at the recreation site level. Better estimates can also assist external visitor service providers in planning and providing services to visitors of our public lands and waters. While the importance of recreation data is well-established, the methods and quality of visitor-related data collected vary widely from agency to agency. Characterizing visitation on federally managed lands and waters is a significant challenge because many sites have multiple unmonitored access points and are remote in nature. With limited operating budgets, federal agencies must be efficient in designing and implementing data collection efforts. Furthermore, although consistency in data collection methods is desirable, there is enormous diversity in the types of federal lands and waters and recreational opportunities available to visitors, so the most accurate and cost-effective data collection methodology often differs across sites. In 2017, there was a report published comparing visitation estimation methods across federal agencies; however, there is a need to update and expand on this report to further increase transparency and comparability of recreation monitoring programs across agencies (see Leggett et al., 2017 for the full report, available here: https://www.doi.gov/sites/doi.gov/files/uploads/final.task1_.report.2017.04.25.pdf). This opportunity will also involve partnering with the DOI Office of Policy Analysis (PPA) as well as the USGS. This project will expand USGS knowledge of methods used to estimate visitation and other visitor data on federally managed lands and waters, with a goal of providing information that is useful to federal agencies that manage public lands and waters for recreation.

Category: Science and Technology and other Research and Development.

Applying now

This notice no longer takes applications. Apply under the newer notice, G27AS00066, which is open now.

The notice on Grants.gov keeps its full text and attachments, which is useful for planning a resubmission.