Cooperative Agreement for CESU-affiliated Partner with Colorado Plateau Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit | G22AS00350

Opportunity Information: Apply for G22AS00350

This funding opportunity, issued by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Fort Collins Science Center in partnership with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), supports a cooperative agreement aimed at making public lands planning more inclusive and equitable. The core purpose is to improve how marginalized, underrepresented, and/or Tribal communities are represented in land management planning processes, specifically by using Public Participatory Geographic Information Systems (PPGIS). In practice, the project focuses on collecting and applying spatially specific information about how different groups use, value, and relate to public lands and waters, so that these perspectives are not overlooked when agencies make planning decisions.

A key piece of the project is the use of VaMPIRE (Values Mapping for Planning in Regional Ecosystems), an open-source online PPGIS tool developed by the USGS Social and Economic Analysis (SEA) branch. VaMPIRE is designed to gather map-based public input about values and uses tied to specific places. The opportunity emphasizes flexibility in engagement methods: data can be gathered online through the VaMPIRE platform, but also offline through approaches such as workshops or focus groups. This matters because communities that are historically underrepresented in formal planning processes may face barriers to online participation or may prefer community-based, facilitated settings that better align with cultural norms, trust-building needs, or access constraints.

The project is framed around a practical planning need. Federal agencies like the BLM are required to consider public input when developing or revising Resource Management Plans, which guide land use decisions over large areas and long time horizons. Traditional public comment methods often produce non-spatial feedback that can be hard to translate into place-based planning decisions. By contrast, PPGIS produces spatially explicit data showing where certain values or activities are concentrated, and it can also help explore how uses and values might shift under different land use change scenarios. This kind of information can strengthen planning by making public input more actionable, comparable across groups, and easier to integrate with ecological and land management datasets.

Beyond improving data quality for decision-making, the opportunity is explicitly tied to equity outcomes. Understanding the uses and values of diverse visitors and communities can make planning more fair by identifying whose priorities have been missing, undercounted, or mischaracterized. The cooperative work is intended to expand USGS capability and knowledge around PPGIS methods that are appropriate for engaging diverse and underrepresented populations. The methods developed through this effort are expected to be piloted in Southeastern Utah first, then adapted for use in other locations and potentially other scientific or planning contexts, implying the deliverables should be transferable rather than narrowly tailored to a single case.

Administratively, this is a discretionary funding opportunity using a cooperative agreement mechanism, meaning the federal agency is likely to have substantial involvement during the project rather than simply issuing a grant with minimal interaction. The opportunity is issued under the Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit (CESU) Program, a network of partnerships that support research, technical assistance, and education linked to public lands and natural resource management. Eligibility is limited to organizations that are already participating partners in either the Colorado Plateau CESU or the Rocky Mountain CESU, which narrows the applicant pool to established CESU affiliates.

The source details list the opportunity title as "Cooperative Agreement for CESU-affiliated Partner with Colorado Plateau Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit" with funding opportunity number G22AS00350. It falls under the Science and Technology and other Research and Development activity category and is associated with CFDA number 15.808. The award ceiling is $240,000. The opportunity was created on 2022-05-05 and had an original closing date of 2022-06-20. Overall, the funding supports applied social science and participatory mapping work that helps agencies like the BLM meet planning requirements while improving representation of communities that have not historically had equal voice in public lands decision-making.

• 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 Colorado Plateau 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 2022-05-05.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2022-06-20. (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 $240,000.00 in funding.
• Eligible applicants include: Others.

Apply for G22AS00350

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