Analysis of Late Pleistocene and Holocene Environmental Change and Landscape Evolution in White Sands National Monument | P17AS00654

Opportunity Information: Apply for P17AS00654

This funding opportunity, titled "Analysis of Late Pleistocene and Holocene Environmental Change and Landscape Evolution in White Sands National Monument," is a National Park Service effort under the U.S. Department of the Interior focused on supporting scientific work that improves understanding of how the White Sands landscape and environment changed from the Late Pleistocene through the Holocene. In practical terms, the project scope centers on reconstructing environmental conditions and landscape evolution over roughly the last tens of thousands of years, a period that includes major climatic shifts, changes in hydrology, and the development and movement of dune and playa systems that define the monument. The work is positioned as natural resources research, with outputs intended to inform park science, resource stewardship, and long-term management decisions tied to geologic and environmental change.

The announcement is listed as a discretionary funding action, but it is not a standard open competition. The closing status is identified as a "Notice of Intent to Award," meaning the agency announced its intent to make an award rather than soliciting proposals from the broader community. As a result, it functions more like a public posting of a planned award than a request for applications, and prospective applicants generally would not submit materials in response unless the agency later reissues the opportunity in a competitive form.

The funding instrument is a cooperative agreement, which typically indicates that the National Park Service expects to be substantially involved in the project during performance. Compared with a traditional grant, cooperative agreements often involve active collaboration such as coordinating research design with park staff, aligning data collection with park priorities and permitting requirements, facilitating access to park sites, reviewing interim deliverables, and integrating results into NPS resource management frameworks. This structure is commonly used when the federal partner anticipates ongoing coordination, shared decision-making, or close technical involvement throughout the project lifecycle.

Eligibility is limited to public and state-controlled institutions of higher education. That means the intended recipient would be a qualifying university or similar public institution capable of conducting interdisciplinary environmental and geoscience research, often involving fields like geology, geomorphology, paleoclimatology, paleoecology, sedimentology, geochronology, and related analytical methods. Since the project concerns Late Pleistocene and Holocene change, the scientific approach could reasonably include dating techniques, sediment and stratigraphic analyses, interpretation of landform evolution, and synthesis of environmental proxies to reconstruct past conditions. While the posting does not list specific tasks or methods, the title and theme strongly suggest an emphasis on understanding how climatic variability and geomorphic processes shaped the White Sands system over time.

The opportunity number is P17AS00654 and it falls under CFDA 15.945, which corresponds to National Park Service-related assistance programs. The posting indicates an anticipated single award (Expected Awards: 1), with an award ceiling of $41,290. That ceiling reflects the maximum amount planned for the cooperative agreement under this notice. The creation date for the opportunity record is August 14, 2017, which also helps place it in context as a specific, time-bound funding action tied to a particular planned collaboration rather than a recurring, open solicitation.

In summary, this is a National Park Service cooperative agreement intended to fund one public university partner to analyze and interpret Late Pleistocene and Holocene environmental change and landscape evolution at White Sands National Monument, with a modest budget cap of $41,290. Because it is explicitly labeled as a Notice of Intent to Award rather than an application request, the main takeaway is that it documents a planned award to an eligible higher education institution for research supporting NPS natural resource science and management rather than inviting new proposals from the general applicant pool.

• The Department of the Interior, National Park Service in the natural resources sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Analysis of Late Pleistocene and Holocene Environmental Change and Landscape Evolution in White Sands National Monument" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 15.945.
• This funding opportunity was created on Aug 14, 2017.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Notice of Intent to Award, not a request for applications. (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 $41,290.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 1 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Public and State controlled institutions of higher education.

Apply for P17AS00654

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