Grants / Department of the Interior / Geological Survey

G26AS00054: Cooperative Agreement for affiliated Partner with the Colorado Plateau Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit

Closed Closed January 13, 2026 Opportunity G26AS00054 ☆ Save

This grant is closed. A newer notice from the same program is open now: Cooperative Agreement for affiliated Partner with the Colorado Plateau Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit (G27AS00084). Status: Closes November 30, 2026 (23 days left). It is in our archive of Geological Survey notices from 2025.

• Award ceiling$400,000
• Award floor$1
• Total funding$400,000
• Expected awards1
• 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 Units (CESU) Program. CESU"s are partnerships that provide research, technical assistance, and education. Eligible recipients must be a participating partner of the Colorado Plateau Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit.

Is this a realistic fit?

• Past U.S. Geological Survey Research and Data Collection awards averaged $557,251; this notice allows up to $400,000 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 USGS is offering a funding opportunity to a CESU partner for conducting riparian plant physiological experiments and a synthesis of existing data to evaluate how plant interactions are mediated by dam operations by using species occurring along the Colorado River between Glen Canyon Dam and Lake Mead (the Colorado River ecosystem, CRe) and historic data that includes ground-based monitoring data of riparian vegetation along the Colorado River in Arizona and broad-scale regional datasets. Both existing data and new data will be required to complete the research. While large monitoring datasets exist for the CRe, key relationships between hydropower derived flow patterns and plant communities are poorly understood. Additionally, plant interactions are likely altering how plant communities respond to changes in dam operations and these interactions have not been accounted for prior research. Daily fluctuating flows related to hydropower generation can alter riparian plant communities, but how these flows are promoting or hindering species in the CRe is difficult to disentangle from other key flow patterns (periods of high flows and lows flows) in field observations. Experiments are therefore necessary to examine how riparian plant species differ in their responses to daily fluctuating flows, thereby providing insight into which do better under hydropower conditions. Further, ten years of vegetation monitoring in the CRe suggest that the presence and influence of some plant species alter the plant communities observed in the field. These interactions could be altering how the plant community is responding to dam operations, prohibiting a clear understanding of how dam operations could be leveraged to improve vegetation resource conditions. Thus, two lines of research, conducting new experiments and modeling with existing data, are needed. The questions that underpin this research are:1. Which plant species benefit or suffer from daily fluctuations created by a hydropower dam?2. How do plant species interact with one another along a regulated river, and how are these interactions mediated by flow conditions?

Category: Science and Technology and other Research and Development.

Applying now

This notice no longer takes applications. Apply under the newer notice, G27AS00084, which is open now.

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