Accessible Decision Support Tools | USGS 18 FAC 0055

Opportunity Information: Apply for USGS 18 FAC 0055

This notice describes a U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) intent to make a single, non-competitive cooperative agreement award for a project called Accessible Decision Support Tools. It is explicitly not a call for proposals or applications. The effort is led by the USGS Northwest Climate Science Center (NW CSC) and would fund EcoAdapt, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, to develop practical, easy-to-use decision support materials that help natural resource managers quickly identify and prioritize ecological drought adaptation options in the Northwestern United States. The anticipated federal funding amount is $25,000, with no cost share, for a short performance window running from April 6, 2018 through August 31, 2018, under CFDA 15.820. The named points of contact include USGS staff (Joseph Riccomini as the listed USGS contact) and project leads at EcoAdapt and USGS.

At its core, the project is about turning a broad, sometimes overwhelming set of drought adaptation ideas into an organized, manager-friendly set of choices that can be compared side by side. The notice frames several widely used “best practices” for prioritizing adaptation actions: spreading risk across multiple approaches and time horizons; selecting actions that actually reduce climate-related vulnerabilities; favoring actions that are feasible socially, politically, technically, and financially; and considering how reversible an action is if conditions change or if the action produces unintended consequences. The decision support tools are meant to make these considerations concrete, so managers can more quickly sort through options and decide what to do first, what to pilot, and what might require more research or partner coordination.

A major deliverable is a structured list of ecological drought adaptation actions, categorized across five adaptation approaches that also map to different timeframes. These categories include resistance (near-term actions meant to prevent impacts from reaching a resource), resilience (near- to mid-term actions that help resources withstand impacts or recover), response (longer-term actions that accommodate change and support transition under new conditions), knowledge (actions centered on monitoring, research, and learning across time), and collaboration (coordination and capacity-building across agencies and landscapes, relevant across time). By sorting actions this way, the project aims to help managers see whether they are overly reliant on one type of approach (for example, mostly near-term resistance actions) and where a more balanced portfolio might be needed to “spread risk” across uncertain drought futures.

Beyond categorizing actions, EcoAdapt is expected to work with scientific experts and practitioners to score and visualize how well actions perform on a few key dimensions. First is effectiveness: how likely an action is to reduce vulnerability, using a high/moderate/low scale. Importantly, the notice also asks for effectiveness over time (near-, mid-, and long-term) to flag actions that may work as short-term stopgaps that “buy time” versus actions that are more durable over decades. Second is feasibility: in a workshop setting, managers and scientists would evaluate both technical feasibility (can it be done) and socio-political feasibility (can it realistically be implemented given social, financial, and political barriers). These scores are then combined into an overall feasibility ranking. The project calls for figures that plot actions on an effectiveness-versus-feasibility chart, a common adaptation planning technique that helps users quickly identify “high-high” actions that may be good first priorities, as well as high-effectiveness but lower-feasibility actions that may be worth pursuing through partnerships, phased implementation, or targeted barrier reduction.

A third screening factor is reversibility, reflecting an adaptive management mindset. Participants would rate how easy it is to undo an action if needed (easy/moderate/hard), considering cost, staff time, how long reversal would take, and risks to the resource. The project then produces tables that combine reversibility with feasibility, effectiveness, and effectiveness timeframe so managers can distinguish between low-regret actions that are relatively easy to reverse and higher-stakes interventions that may demand stronger evidence, careful design, pilot testing, or more intensive monitoring once implemented.

The notice also outlines broader project objectives and products that support NW CSC’s mission to provide actionable climate science for natural resource management and conservation. EcoAdapt is expected to evaluate and synthesize the best available science on ecological drought adaptation actions, highlight real-world examples of climate-informed drought management in practice, and identify key tools and resources that support decision-making. The stated products include a spreadsheet documenting the literature base and evidence used to support specific adaptation actions (filterable by sector relevance such as wildlife or agriculture, species or habitat focus, ecosystem benefits and tradeoffs, and ecoregion), a peer-reviewed synthesis report summarizing findings and practical tools, and a Northwest-focused fact sheet highlighting effective ecological drought adaptation actions. The budget is described as supporting workshop(s) and the creation of final products.

USGS anticipates substantial involvement, which is why the award instrument is a cooperative agreement rather than a more hands-off grant. USGS leadership and staff at the Northwest Climate Science Center are expected to actively co-produce the work with EcoAdapt, including reviewing and approving the scope of work, scientific methods, timeline, outreach and technology transfer, data management, and budget elements. The notice also states that data and products developed through the partnership will be USGS property, while still intended for dissemination through publications and web-based decision support tools, potentially including jointly developed story map-style materials, consistent with USGS data management and peer review requirements.

Finally, the document explains why the award is planned as single-source rather than competed. USGS cites “unique qualifications” for EcoAdapt, pointing to the specialized experience of EcoAdapt staff, particularly Rachel M. Gregg and Jessi Kershner, in developing methodologies to identify, assess, and synthesize climate adaptation actions and translate technical information into usable decision formats for managers. The justification emphasizes that the proposed work builds on established, previously applied approaches EcoAdapt has used across multiple regions and topics (such as fire, sea level rise, freshwater resources, and terrestrial ecosystems), making EcoAdapt uniquely positioned to deliver the requested drought adaptation decision support products within the limited timeframe and budget.

• The Department of the Interior, U. S. Geological Survey in the environment sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Accessible Decision Support Tools" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 15.820.
• This funding opportunity was created on Mar 08, 2018.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Mar 22, 2018. (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 $25,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 1 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Nonprofits having a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education.

Apply for USGS 18 FAC 0055

[Watch] Creating a grant proposal using the step-by-step wizard inside the applicant portal: