CESU GLNF: Early Detection and Control of Invasive Mussels - APIS | NPS NOIP19AC00256

Opportunity Information: Apply for NPS NOIP19AC00256

This grant opportunity, titled "CESU GLNF: Early Detection and Control of Invasive Mussels - APIS" (Funding Opportunity Number NPS NOIP19AC00256), is a National Park Service (NPS) cooperative agreement intended to support early detection and response work focused on invasive mussels in and around Apostle Islands National Lakeshore (APIS) in Lake Superior. It is a discretionary financial assistance award under CFDA 15.945, with an anticipated single award up to $99,700. The opportunity was posted on June 14, 2019, with an original closing date of June 24, 2019, and it serves as public notice that the NPS planned to make this award without competition.

The project centers on invasive zebra mussels (and the broader risk posed by zebra and quagga mussels) because of their well-documented ecological and economic impacts on freshwater systems. Although Lake Superior was long considered less susceptible to widespread establishment, zebra mussels were confirmed in 2015 within APIS, creating an urgent need to understand where they are present, how far they have spread, and what risks they pose to native mussel communities and the larger aquatic ecosystem. The effort is framed not only as a resource management need for the park, but also as a protective measure for local livelihoods, since both commercial and sport fishing are important to the regional economy, including tribal communities that rely on these waters.

A major objective of the agreement is to determine the extent of zebra mussel infestation within and adjacent to the park boundaries. This includes field surveys and assessment work aimed at locating infestations and documenting their distribution, with particular attention to areas where invasive mussels could threaten native mussel populations. The scope also includes pilot manual control efforts, meaning small-scale, hands-on management actions designed to test the feasibility and effectiveness of physically removing or suppressing zebra mussels in priority locations, likely to inform future response strategies.

A key partnership component is close coordination with the Red Cliff tribe. The announcement explicitly describes working with the Red Cliff tribe to survey areas of concern along coastal areas of the Red Cliff reservation. This indicates that the project is designed to operate across jurisdictional boundaries in a way that recognizes shared waters, shared risks, and the importance of aligning monitoring and response actions with tribal priorities, knowledge, and resource management needs.

The intended recipient is Northland College, identified because it is a member of the Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit (CESU) in the Great Lakes Northern Forest network. CESUs are structured to support collaborative research and technical assistance among federal agencies, universities, and other partners, and this award is consistent with that model. The public purpose of the award is research and the creation of new knowledge, paired with dissemination of results. In practical terms, that means the project is expected to produce findings that are useful not only to scientists, but also to the general public and to tribal, agency, and local stakeholders who need understandable, actionable information about invasive mussel threats and management options.

Because the funding instrument is a cooperative agreement, the NPS is expected to have substantial involvement in the work rather than acting only as a pass-through funder. The announcement describes that involvement as jointly developing the project scope, goals, and survey locations, and providing technical and logistical support. Examples of that support include sharing relevant park reports and existing data (including GPS locations), providing safety training and orientation to park resources, and reviewing and coordinating final reports. This structure suggests that project outputs are meant to directly inform NPS management decisions at APIS while also strengthening regional coordination on invasive species detection and control.

• The Department of the Interior, National Park Service in the natural resources sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "CESU GLNF: Early Detection and Control of Invasive Mussels - APIS" 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 Jun 14, 2019.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Jun 24, 2019. (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 $99,700.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 1 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification).

Apply for NPS NOIP19AC00256

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