Controlling certain invasive aquatic species in Arizona and New Mexico | F20AS00160

Opportunity Information: Apply for F20AS00160

The grant opportunity titled "Controlling certain invasive aquatic species in Arizona and New Mexico" is a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) Science Applications Program funding announcement focused on applied research that helps agencies manage invasive aquatic species at a landscape scale. The program is designed to bring federal and state partners together around shared conservation problems, then fund practical science that can directly guide management decisions. In this case, the emphasis is on improving cross-jurisdictional coordination and the best-available science needed to protect native aquatic wildlife in the Southwest, where limited water resources make ecosystems especially vulnerable to invasive species.

The core conservation problem the funding targets is the spread and impact of invasive American bullfrogs (Lithobates catesbeianus) and non-native crayfish (including species such as northern virile crayfish, red swamp crayfish, and rusty crayfish) in Arizona and New Mexico. These invaders can compete with native species, prey on them, alter habitat conditions, and disrupt food webs, which is a major concern for native species that are already federally listed, state-listed, or considered at-risk. The opportunity is grounded in a coordinated priority-setting process led by the USFWS Science Applications Program out of Albuquerque, working with Arizona Game and Fish Department, New Mexico Department of Game and Fish, the Bureau of Land Management, the U.S. Geological Survey, and multiple USFWS programs (including Ecological Services, Refuges, and Fisheries and Aquatic Conservation) across several Interior Regions. The intent is to fund projects that address the shared gaps these partners have identified as limiting effective invasive species management and native species recovery.

Projects funded under this Notice of Funding Opportunity are expected to generate outcomes that translate into real conservation and management actions, not just general academic knowledge. Proposals must focus on at least one of the target invasive groups (bullfrogs and/or crayfish) and must address one or more of the following applied needs: improving control techniques, conducting inventory and monitoring work that supports management decisions or documents control effectiveness, developing new inventory and monitoring protocols, and/or determining how these invasive species affect native species at different life stages. The announcement highlights native species of concern that could benefit from this work, including Apache trout, Gila trout, Chiricahua leopard frog, lowland leopard frog, narrow-headed gartersnake, northern Mexican gartersnake, and Sonora mud turtle, among others. Impacts of interest include changes to population viability, abundance, survival, productivity, and distribution or range, which signals that the agency is looking for research that can be used to evaluate recovery progress and guide where and how interventions should occur.

The opportunity lays out three broad categories of fundable work. The first category is quantifying impacts of invasive bullfrogs and/or crayfish on native fish and wildlife in the project region. This can include studies on demographic and physiological effects and the drivers behind them (for example, predation pressure, competition, or disease), analyses of metapopulation dynamics and habitat resiliency related to invasion and colonization, and food web or trophic changes in invaded systems, including before-after impact assessments. The second category is developing and testing innovative control techniques within Arizona and New Mexico, with clear expectations that methods should be evaluated for effectiveness, scalability, economic feasibility, and lack of harm to native species and the environment. The third category is inventory and monitoring to map distributions and assess threats, support planning for recovery actions, and evaluate whether and when invasive species control actually results in measurable native species recovery. Example activities include presence-absence surveys, censuses of bullfrog populations and waters in key recovery geographies, and evaluations that explain why control outcomes vary (such as differences in habitat setting, prey availability, physical site conditions, interspecific interactions, or population dynamics). The announcement also allows for work on restoring native populations after invasive control, including demonstrating successful translocations, reintroductions, recolonization, and measuring native population responses and habitat-use changes following control efforts.

Geographically, the funding is anchored in on-the-ground work conducted in Arizona and/or New Mexico, and that field work must be coordinated with the appropriate state agency partners. There is flexibility for laboratory-based development of novel technologies (including genetic or other advanced methods) to occur outside the region, but only if those methods are clearly intended for practical deployment in the Arizona and New Mexico project area. A firm performance expectation is included: projects must be fully completed within three years of the award date, including submission of all deliverables, all collected or developed data, and a final report. This is meant to keep projects tightly focused on producing usable management tools and findings on a timeline that matches agency planning and operational needs.

Eligibility is tied to the Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Units (CESU) Network. Applicants must be non-federal CESU partners (the network includes universities, tribes, NGOs, and state and local governments that collaborate with federal agencies on research and technical assistance). The funding instrument is a cooperative agreement, which typically means substantial federal involvement during the project, such as coordination, technical input, and alignment with partner needs throughout the work. The opportunity is listed as discretionary funding within the natural resources area (CFDA 15.678), with an award ceiling of $500,000. The original closing date for applications was July 30, 2020.

Finally, the opportunity is framed as supporting Department of the Interior priorities in three ways: building a conservation stewardship legacy through improved invasive species management information; strengthening trust and collaboration by co-developing projects with state, federal, and scientific partners; and supporting balanced regulatory decision-making by improving the science base relevant to listing, downlisting, or delisting determinations for species affected by invasive aquatic predators and competitors. The overall message is that this funding is meant to produce decision-ready science, practical field-tested techniques, and shared monitoring approaches that agencies can apply across watersheds and jurisdictions to reduce bullfrog and crayfish impacts and improve outcomes for vulnerable native species in Arizona and New Mexico.

• The Fish and Wildlife Service in the natural resources sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Controlling certain invasive aquatic species in Arizona and New Mexico" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 15.678.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2020-06-29.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2020-07-30. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $500,000.00 in funding.
• Eligible applicants include: Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Nonprofits having a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Nonprofits that do not have a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Private institutions of higher education, Others.

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