Preserving Forest Ecosystems | P17AS00605

Opportunity Information: Apply for P17AS00605

The Preserving Forest Ecosystems grant opportunity (Funding Opportunity Number P17AS00605) is a discretionary funding announcement from the U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service. It uses a cooperative agreement funding instrument, which typically means the National Park Service expects to stay actively involved with the recipient during the project rather than simply issuing funds and stepping back. The program sits in the Natural Resources activity category and is associated with CFDA number 15.931. The opportunity was created on August 3, 2017, with an original closing date of August 10, 2017, indicating a very short application window.

At its core, the project is designed to support on-the-ground forest and ecosystem management work through the placement of three AmeriCorps members who would assist GRSM staff. The members would help implement a broad set of resource management tasks that directly affect forest health and resilience. The work includes monitoring and treating hemlocks, which commonly refers to responding to hemlock decline issues such as pest pressures and associated stressors. It also includes controlling exotic (invasive) plants, a key conservation activity because invasive species can displace native vegetation, alter habitat structure, and change ecosystem processes.

In addition to forest protection and invasive plant management, the scope extends to native plant stewardship and restoration. AmeriCorps members would participate in native seed harvest and propagation efforts, which support the production of locally appropriate plant material for restoration projects and can help maintain regional genetic integrity. The project also includes restoring native grasslands and wetlands and planting native species, both of which are labor-intensive activities that often require coordinated field work, follow-up maintenance, and careful monitoring to ensure that restoration goals are met. Another major component is forest health inventory and mapping, suggesting that members would help collect field data, document conditions, and contribute to spatial products that guide management decisions and track ecological change over time.

Beyond field and technical work, the opportunity explicitly includes public-facing and capacity-building elements. The AmeriCorps members would assist with education programs and lead volunteer groups, helping extend the park or program staff's ability to deliver outreach, stewardship events, and hands-on conservation days. They may also support other resource management projects as needed, which signals some flexibility for the host site to assign members to priority tasks that arise during the service term. The opportunity also emphasizes that members will receive educational and training opportunities, indicating a workforce development angle alongside the direct conservation outcomes.

In terms of funding details, the award ceiling is listed as $27,000. The announcement lists expected awards as 0, which can sometimes appear in older or administrative postings and does not necessarily reflect whether the project was ultimately funded; it may indicate that the posting is tied to a specific cooperative arrangement or that the expected award count was not populated in the public listing. Eligible applicants include county governments and additional eligible entities described under an "Additional Information on Eligibility" section (not provided in the excerpt), which suggests there may be other allowable applicant types beyond counties depending on the full notice.

Overall, the opportunity is best understood as a targeted National Park Service-supported cooperative effort to strengthen forest and ecosystem conservation capacity by embedding three AmeriCorps members into a practical, field-based resource management program. The intended outputs are improved forest health monitoring and treatment, reduced invasive plant impacts, expanded native plant propagation and restoration work in grasslands and wetlands, and stronger public engagement through education and volunteer leadership, all while providing structured training and experience for the AmeriCorps participants.

• The Department of the Interior, National Park Service in the natural resources sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Preserving Forest Ecosystems" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 15.931.
• This funding opportunity was created on Aug 03, 2017.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Aug 10, 2017. (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 $27,000.00 in funding.
• Eligible applicants include: County governments, Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification).

Apply for P17AS00605

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