Cooperative Agreement for CESU-affiliated Partner with Great Lakes Northern Forests Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit | G23AS00223

Opportunity Information: Apply for G23AS00223

This opportunity (Funding Opportunity Number G23AS00223) is a U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) cooperative agreement aimed specifically at partners within the Great Lakes Northern Forests Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit (CESU). The project is focused on providing computer-based ecosystem modeling to support nutrient adaptive management in Lake Erie, with the work intended to run for up to one year. In practical terms, the grant is meant to strengthen the scientific and technical backbone behind Lake Erie nutrient management decisions by improving the way agencies and partners evaluate how the lake responds to nutrient reductions and other ongoing stressors.

The work will directly support the Lake Erie Data and Modeling Working Group, which operates under the Adaptive Management Task Team tied to the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement (GLWQA) Nutrient Annex. The Nutrient Annex is the binational framework that guides efforts to reduce nutrient loading and harmful algal blooms, and the modeling work funded here is intended to feed into that adaptive management process. USGS notes that this CESU-funded effort is designed to complement its ongoing Great Lakes research, particularly work examining how nutrients interact with invasive species and other pressures affecting ecosystem health. Alongside generating modeling results, the project also positions USGS to provide scientific leadership within the broader adaptive management team by ensuring modeling approaches and outputs are credible, comparable, and useful for decision-making.

A central expectation is close collaboration between the CESU partner and USGS through the Lake Erie Data and Modeling Working Group. Rather than simply running a single model, the project emphasizes coordinated model selection and comparison. Key tasks include selecting an appropriate set of ecosystem models, identifying what data are required to run those models well, and then acquiring, harmonizing, and synthesizing the necessary datasets so that the modeling is consistent and defensible. The team is also expected to define modeling scenarios (for example, different nutrient reduction strategies or combinations of nutrient changes with other stressors) and compare modeled outputs across models as well as against observed, in-lake outcomes. This reflects a common adaptive management need: understanding not only what one model predicts, but how different modeling approaches align or diverge, and how well they reproduce real-world conditions.

In addition to the collaborative planning and data work, the CESU partner is expected to contribute hands-on technical modeling capacity using their in-house ecosystem model or models. That includes calibrating and validating the chosen model(s) and running test simulations for the agreed-upon scenarios. Calibration and validation are explicitly important here because the end users are relying on these tools to inform management decisions; the grant is not just supporting exploratory analysis, but work intended to improve predictive capability and confidence in scenario results. Ultimately, the deliverable value is improved ability to anticipate Lake Erie ecosystem responses to nutrient management actions while accounting for concurrent stressors, thereby strengthening the adaptive management cycle of planning, implementing actions, monitoring outcomes, and updating strategies based on evidence.

Administratively, this is a discretionary financial assistance award using a cooperative agreement mechanism, which typically indicates substantial involvement and collaboration with the federal agency during the project period (as opposed to a more hands-off grant). The activity falls under Science and Technology and other Research and Development, with CFDA number 15.808. Eligibility is limited to entities that are already participating partners in the Great Lakes Northern Forests CESU, so it is not open to the general public or organizations outside that partnership network. The opportunity lists an award ceiling of $52,960, was created on 2023-02-02, and had an original closing date of 2023-03-02.

• The Geological Survey in the science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Cooperative Agreement for CESU-affiliated Partner with Great Lakes Northern Forests Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 15.808.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2023-02-02.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2023-03-02. (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 $52,960.00 in funding.
• Eligible applicants include: Others.

Apply for G23AS00223

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