Sentinel Sites of the Western Hemisphere: connecting the conservation dots along the mountains of the Americas to improve protected area resiliency & biological diversity | P17AS00385

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What is the name of this National Park Service grant opportunity?

The opportunity is titled "Sentinel Sites of the Western Hemisphere: connecting the conservation dots along the mountains of the Americas to improve protected area resiliency and biological diversity."

What is the Funding Opportunity Number (FON)?

The Funding Opportunity Number is P17AS00385.

What type of funding opportunity is this?

This is a discretionary funding opportunity from the U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, offered as a cooperative agreement.

What does it mean that the award is a cooperative agreement?

Based on the description, a cooperative agreement structure indicates active involvement from the National Park Service (NPS) in the project, consistent with a partnership model rather than a fully independent, recipient-only effort.

What is the main purpose of the grant?

The purpose is to help park managers strengthen protected area resilience by learning across borders. The project focuses on documenting and analyzing real, on-the-ground management efforts across multiple parks to identify both site-specific realities and shared patterns that can improve conservation outcomes.

What core problem or need is this project trying to address?

The project responds to the idea that many day-to-day management challenges in protected areas are shared across very different countries, climates, and political contexts. By comparing these challenges and management responses across strategically chosen sites, the project aims to generate practical insights for adaptive management and biodiversity conservation.

How is this project different from an abstract policy or strategy study?

The opportunity emphasizes "where the rubber meets the road" management realities: day-to-day decisions, constraints, and opportunities facing protected area managers, rather than focusing primarily on abstract policy debates.

What does "sentinel sites" mean in this opportunity?

In this context, "sentinel sites" are a set of strategically chosen parks and park systems along the mountainous spine of the Western Hemisphere used as a backbone for comparison and learning. Together, they are meant to tell a connected story of conservation challenges and management responses across the Americas.

Which parks and park systems are included as the sentinel sites?

Five parks and park systems are identified:

• Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve (Alaska, USA)
• Rocky Mountain National Park (Colorado, USA)
• Parks within Costa Rica's Arenal-Tempisque Conservation Area (Costa Rica)
• Huascaran National Park (Peru)
• Bernardo O'Higgins National Park (Chile)

What geographic or ecological concept connects these sites?

The sites are connected by their placement along the mountainous spine of the Western Hemisphere. The project uses this connected geography as a framework for comparing conservation challenges across latitudes, elevations, ecosystems, and governance contexts.

What kinds of topics or disciplines does the project bring together?

The project is framed as a comparative analysis that blends ecology with human dimensions. It considers ecological factors (ecosystems, stressors, conservation strategies) and sociopolitical factors (governance structures, community relationships, public expectations, and institutional capacities) that shape what managers can do in practice.

What is meant by "comparative ecology" in this opportunity?

The opportunity describes building on comparative ecology to understand how different ecosystems, stressors, and conservation strategies play out across latitudes and elevations, using the sentinel sites as points of comparison.

How do human and sociopolitical factors fit into the analysis?

The project examines how governance structures, relationships with communities, public expectations, and institutional capacities influence the realistic options available to protected area managers and the effectiveness of conservation actions.

Does the project aim to standardize management across the parks?

No. The opportunity explicitly notes that differences among the sites are not treated as problems to be ironed out. Instead, differences are positioned as a way to "celebrate the power of place" while still identifying shared issues and opportunities that can strengthen conservation through connectedness and collaboration.

What outputs are expected from the project?

The intended outputs are both narrative and practical. The project is expected to produce a "story" that can serve as a foundation for engaging communities around more sustainable futures, while also generating actionable items for park managers and helping build longer-term professional networks among protected area practitioners.

Is the "story" only for public communications?

No. The description emphasizes that the "story" is not just public-facing messaging. It is intended to support community engagement and also contribute to practical management outcomes.

What kind of benefits to park managers does the opportunity emphasize?

The opportunity emphasizes usable, real-world management insights, actionable items for managers, and strengthened professional linkages that help managers learn from counterparts facing similar pressures in other regions.

What is the activity category for this opportunity?

The activity category is Natural Resources.

What is the CFDA number listed for this opportunity?

The CFDA is 15.945.

Who is eligible to apply?

Eligibility is limited to public and state-controlled institutions of higher education.

What does the eligibility limitation suggest about the project model?

It suggests the work is expected to be carried out through a university-led partnership model, with active involvement from NPS consistent with the cooperative agreement structure.

How much funding is available?

The award ceiling is $50,000, indicating modest funding intended for a focused, targeted effort.

How many awards are expected?

The opportunity indicates an expectation of one award.

Is this intended to be a large, multi-year research program?

No. The description characterizes the opportunity as a small, targeted cooperative agreement, with modest funding and a single expected award, indicating a focused, pilot-style project.

When was the opportunity created and when did it close?

The opportunity was created on June 16, 2017, with an original closing date of June 26, 2017, reflecting a short application window typical of some targeted federal partnership calls.

What larger context does the opportunity mention about the National Park Service?

The project is framed around the NPS being in a moment of transition, with its role being re-examined by the public and with conservation work increasingly requiring both local credibility and international awareness.

What is the central idea behind "connecting the conservation dots"?

The central idea is that by comparing real management challenges and responses across a connected set of parks, the project can identify common patterns and transferable lessons that strengthen adaptive management, improve protected area resilience, and support biological diversity across the Americas.